| 1 | p.boxed |
| 2 | | The player in second has a different set of pieces, |
| 3 | | mostly coming from Chinese and Korean chess. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | figure.diagram-container |
| 6 | .diagram |
| 7 | | fen:rneakenr/8/1c4c1/1ss2ss1/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR: |
| 8 | figcaption Initial deterministic setup. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | p. |
| 11 | Synochess is a variant designed in 2020 by Couch Tomato. |
| 12 | The idea is to permit the western chess army (white) to fight |
| 13 | against the xiangqi or Chinese chess army (black) in a fair manner. |
| 14 | The white army is called the Kingdom, while the black army represents |
| 15 | an amalgamation of xiangqi and janggi (Korean chess) |
| 16 | and is called the Dynasty. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | p. |
| 19 | The name Synochess is based off an earlier name, Sinochess, but it was |
| 20 | changed as the Dynasty became less "Sino" (as in Chinese) and more a |
| 21 | mixture of Chinese and Korean. Instead, the prefix syn- means together. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | ul |
| 24 | li The Kingdom (white) always moves first. |
| 25 | li The Dynasty (black) cannot castle. |
| 26 | li Dynasty soldiers do not promote (on last rank). |
| 27 | |
| 28 | h3 Special Rules |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ul |
| 31 | li. |
| 32 | King Faceoff — As in Xiangqi, Kings may not face each other |
| 33 | (on a file or rank). |
| 34 | li. |
| 35 | Reinforcement Soldiers — Black starts with two soldiers in hand. |
| 36 | Instead of moving a piece on the board, the Dynasty player can drop a |
| 37 | soldier onto an open square in rank 5. |
| 38 | li Campmate — A king that reaches the final rank wins the game. |
| 39 | li. |
| 40 | Stalemate — As in Xiangqi, stalemates |
| 41 | and moves repetitions are a loss. |
| 42 | |
| 43 | h3 Dynasty Pieces |
| 44 | |
| 45 | p. |
| 46 | Four new units on the Dynasty side: 6 Soldiers (2 start in |
| 47 | hand), 2 Cannons, 2 Elephants, and 1 Advisor. |
| 48 | p. |
| 49 | The Chariots are equal to the Rooks and use the same abbreviation (R) |
| 50 | — the difference is purely cosmetic. Similarly, the Kings are the |
| 51 | same, but just appear different. |
| 52 | |
| 53 | ul |
| 54 | li. |
| 55 | Soldier (S) — The Soldiers can move one square orthogonally forward, |
| 56 | or lateraly. |
| 57 | li Advisor (A) — The Advisor moves and captures exactly like a king. |
| 58 | li. |
| 59 | Cannon (C) — The Cannon moves like a rook, but needs an |
| 60 | intervening piece in-between to achieve a capture. |
| 61 | It cannot hop over another cannon, however. |
| 62 | li. |
| 63 | Elephant (E) — The Elephant is a leaping piece that moves |
| 64 | diagonally one or two spaces. |
| 65 | |
| 66 | figure.diagram-container |
| 67 | .diagram.diag12 |
| 68 | | fen:8/6P1/5P2/4e3/3P1p2/8/8/8 c3,c7,d4,d6,g3,f6,g7: |
| 69 | .diagram.diag22 |
| 70 | | fen:3B4/3P4/8/1P1c1p1P/8/3c4/8/3N4 d8,d6,c5,e5,h5,d4: |
| 71 | figcaption Elephant & Cannon movements. |
| 72 | |
| 73 | h3 Piece valuation |
| 74 | |
| 75 | p The following simplified values are used by the basic bot: |
| 76 | |
| 77 | table |
| 78 | tr |
| 79 | th Kingdom piece |
| 80 | th Value |
| 81 | th Dynasty piece |
| 82 | th Value |
| 83 | tr |
| 84 | td Pawn |
| 85 | td 1 |
| 86 | td Soldier |
| 87 | td 2 |
| 88 | tr |
| 89 | td Queen |
| 90 | td 9 |
| 91 | td Elephant |
| 92 | td 2.75 |
| 93 | tr |
| 94 | td Bishop |
| 95 | td 3 |
| 96 | td Advisor |
| 97 | td 2.75 |
| 98 | tr |
| 99 | td Knight |
| 100 | td 3 |
| 101 | td Cannon |
| 102 | td 3 |
| 103 | tr |
| 104 | td Rook |
| 105 | td 5 |
| 106 | td Knight |
| 107 | td 3 |
| 108 | tr |
| 109 | td - |
| 110 | td - |
| 111 | td Chariot |
| 112 | td 5 |
| 113 | |
| 114 | h3 More information |
| 115 | |
| 116 | p |
| 117 | | See |
| 118 | a(href="https://www.pychess.org/variant/synochess") Synochess |
| 119 | | on pychess-variants, where you can also play this variant. |