| 1 | p.boxed |
| 2 | | The player in first has a different set of pieces, |
| 3 | | moving generally like a queen but capturing (almost) as usual. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | figure |
| 6 | img.img-center(src="/variants/Empire/Board.png") |
| 7 | figcaption.text-center Initial deterministic setup. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | p. |
| 10 | Empire Chess is a chess variant designed in 2020 by Couch Tomato, the third |
| 11 | asymmetric game. This game pits the army of the "Empire" (gold) against the |
| 12 | original chess army (the "Kingdom", black). The Empire's unique feature is |
| 13 | that its pieces move like queens but attack differently. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | h3 General Rules |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ol |
| 18 | li The Empire (gold) always moves first. |
| 19 | li The Empire cannot castle. |
| 20 | li. |
| 21 | As the Empire's pawns start on the third rank, they do not have the |
| 22 | option to move two spaces or be captured by en passant. Kingdom pawns |
| 23 | retain the ability to move two spaces initially and to be captured via |
| 24 | en passant. |
| 25 | li Pawns on either side can only promote to a queen. |
| 26 | li. |
| 27 | An additional method of victory is available: called campmate. |
| 28 | Campmate is achieved by moving one's king into the final rank |
| 29 | without being check. |
| 30 | li Stalemate and repetition are both losses. |
| 31 | li. |
| 32 | Facing kings — The King and Kaiser (Imperial King) may not face |
| 33 | each other on a file or rank, similar to Xiangqi. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | h3 Imperial Pieces |
| 36 | |
| 37 | p. |
| 38 | There are five new units unique to the Empire: 2 Siege Towers, 2 Eagles, |
| 39 | 2 Cardinals, 1 Duke, and 2 Soldiers. The bottom rank are all stronger than |
| 40 | their Kingdom counterparts with the exception of the Duke. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | ul |
| 43 | li. |
| 44 | Kaiser (K) — The Imperial king is called the Kaiser and has a |
| 45 | different symbol, but is essentially the same as the Kingdom's King, |
| 46 | also using the same abbreviation (K) — the change is purely |
| 47 | aesthetic and thematic. |
| 48 | li. |
| 49 | Soldier (S) — The Soldiers are the two pawn-like pieces replacing |
| 50 | the two middle pawns. These act like promoted soldiers in Xiangqi and |
| 51 | can move one square orthogonally in any direction except backwards. |
| 52 | |
| 53 | p. |
| 54 | The remaining pieces are divergent pieces, pieces that move differently |
| 55 | than they attack (such as pawns). Imperial pieces all move as queens, |
| 56 | but attack like their Kingdom counterpart except for the Duke. |
| 57 | |
| 58 | ul |
| 59 | li. |
| 60 | Siege Tower (T) — The Siege Tower, or Tower for short, moves like a |
| 61 | Queen but attacks like a Rook. |
| 62 | li Eagle (E) — The Eagle moves like a Queen but attacks like a Knight. |
| 63 | li. |
| 64 | Cardinal (C) — The Cardinal moves like a Queen |
| 65 | but attacks like a Bishop. |
| 66 | li Duke (D) — The Duke moves like a Queen but attacks like a King. |
| 67 | |
| 68 | figure |
| 69 | img.img-center(src="/variants/Empire/EagleMoves.png") |
| 70 | figcaption.text-center Eagle's moves (green) & captures (red). |
| 71 | |
| 72 | h3 Piece valuation |
| 73 | |
| 74 | p The following simplified values are used by the bot: |
| 75 | |
| 76 | table |
| 77 | tr |
| 78 | th Kingdom piece |
| 79 | th Value |
| 80 | th Imperial piece |
| 81 | th Value |
| 82 | tr |
| 83 | td Pawn |
| 84 | td 1 |
| 85 | td Pawn |
| 86 | td 1 |
| 87 | tr |
| 88 | td Queen |
| 89 | td 9 |
| 90 | td Duke |
| 91 | td 4 |
| 92 | tr |
| 93 | td Bishop |
| 94 | td 3 |
| 95 | td Cardinal |
| 96 | td 4 |
| 97 | tr |
| 98 | td Knight |
| 99 | td 3 |
| 100 | td Eagle |
| 101 | td 7 |
| 102 | tr |
| 103 | td Rook |
| 104 | td 5 |
| 105 | td Siege Tower |
| 106 | td 7 |
| 107 | tr |
| 108 | td Soldier |
| 109 | td 2 |
| 110 | td - |
| 111 | td - |
| 112 | |
| 113 | h3 More information |
| 114 | |
| 115 | p |
| 116 | | See |
| 117 | a(href="https://www.pychess.org/variant/empirechess") Empire Chess |
| 118 | | on pychess-variants, where you can also play this variant. |