| 1 | p.boxed |
| 2 | | "Capturing" a piece creates an union, |
| 3 | | which your opponent can still use on his turn. |
| 4 | | Enter an union to release your piece. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | p. |
| 7 | The variant's name means "Chess of Peace" in Esperanto. |
| 8 | Paco-Sako was invented by Felix Albers in 2017, and further developped |
| 9 | also by Rolf Kreibaum and Raimond Fluijt. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | p |
| 12 | | You can learn more about the variant's history and buy nice dedicated |
| 13 | | pieces (and boards) on the official website |
| 14 | a(href="http://pacosako.com/") pacosako.com |
| 15 | | . The variant is playable online at |
| 16 | a(href="http://pacoplay.com/") pacoplay.com |
| 17 | | . You're invited to play over there instead :-) |
| 18 | | Besides, they have cuter unions' drawings. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | h3 Basic rules |
| 21 | |
| 22 | p. |
| 23 | There are no captures in this game: only unions of pieces, |
| 24 | which are released when replaced by another friendly piece. |
| 25 | The goal is to create an union with the enemy king. |
| 26 | I like to think of unions as "pieces dancing together", so both |
| 27 | terms will be used on this page. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | figure.showPieces.text-center |
| 30 | img(src="/images/pieces/Pacosako/wc.png") |
| 31 | img(src="/images/pieces/Pacosako/bc.png") |
| 32 | img(src="/images/pieces/Pacosako/bt.png") |
| 33 | img(src="/images/pieces/Pacosako/wv.png") |
| 34 | figcaption Some union pieces. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | p. |
| 37 | At each turn, a player chooses either one of his pieces or an union piece; |
| 38 | let's write this piece A. |
| 39 | ul |
| 40 | li. |
| 41 | Case 1: A is a dancing piece. Then, it's only allowed to move |
| 42 | to a vacant square according to our piece's type. |
| 43 | li. |
| 44 | Case 2: A is a standard piece. |
| 45 | It can then be moved anywhere but on our own (normal) pieces. |
| 46 | "Capturing" an enemy piece creates an union composed of both pieces. |
| 47 | "Capturing" an union releases our piece formerly in union, |
| 48 | which has to be moved immediately by the same player. It can in turn |
| 49 | release another piece, thus following a chain of unions. |
| 50 | |
| 51 | p |
| 52 | | This may appear confusing at first reading, but is simpler than it seems. |
| 53 | | See for example this |
| 54 | a(href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ2JLsFvfxI") gameplay video |
| 55 | | , or another one from the same YouTube channel. |
| 56 | |
| 57 | figure.diagram-container |
| 58 | .diagram.diag12 |
| 59 | | fen:4k3/8/2q5/8/4O3/2w2B2/8/5K2: |
| 60 | .diagram.diag22 |
| 61 | | fen:4k3/8/2Y5/8/4s3/2S5/8/5K2: |
| 62 | figcaption Before and after the chaining move Bxe4, Ne4xc3, Qc3xc6. |
| 63 | |
| 64 | h3 Special moves, additional notes |
| 65 | |
| 66 | p. |
| 67 | "Capturing" an union en passant releases our dancing piece from the |
| 68 | intermediate square. |
| 69 | |
| 70 | p Promotion occur when any pawn (in union or not) reaches its final rank. |
| 71 | |
| 72 | p. |
| 73 | Attacks on the king are ignored in this implementation: you can run |
| 74 | or remain into "check". So, castling conditions are quite permissive. |
| 75 | Also, if you form an union with your king but end dancing with the |
| 76 | other king on the other end of the chain, the game is a draw. |
| 77 | span.warning This does not follow (at all) the official rules. |
| 78 | |
| 79 | figure.diagram-container |
| 80 | .diagram.diag12 |
| 81 | | fen:rnbq1r2/1ppppp1k/p6p/4P1OP/1PPP3c/3B4/P2V1PP1/R2QK1N1: |
| 82 | .diagram.diag22 |
| 83 | | fen:rnbq1r2/1ppppp1k/p7/4P1dP/1PPPn2c/3B4/P2V1PP1/R2QK1N1: |
| 84 | figcaption. |
| 85 | Left: Bd3(+) can be covered by Right: h6xg5 (releasing the knight), Ne4. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | p. |
| 88 | Canceling an union move is forbidden. For example if a bishop is |
| 89 | dancing with a queen, and makes the move e5 to g3, the other player cannot |
| 90 | move it back to e5 just after. This is also non-official. |
| 91 | |
| 92 | h3 More information |
| 93 | |
| 94 | p |
| 95 | | The authors wrote |
| 96 | a(href="/variants/Pacosako/manual.pdf") a manual |
| 97 | | with many more diagrams and explanations. |