2 Most pieces look as usual but behave differently.
3 They generally move like an orthodox queen,
4 but capturing rules are more complex.
7 This variant comes from an attempt to fix some issues with Baroque variant,
8 which "favors the defense over the attack, and is lacking in clarity"
9 (from the introduction of the Rococo rules; see the link at the bottom of
14 p Pieces names refer to the way they capture, which is described later.
18 li Knight : Long Leaper
20 li Queen : "Pushme-Pullyu"
21 li King : King (same behavior as in standard chess)
23 Besides, a new piece is introduced: the immobilizer, written by the letter
24 'M'. It is represented by an upside-down rook:
26 figure.diagram-container
28 | fen:91/91/91/5m4/91/91/91/4M5/91/91:
29 figcaption Immobilizers on e3 and f7.
31 p The board is of size 10x10 to facilitate captures, as explained below.
33 h3 Non-capturing moves
35 p The king moves (and captures) as usual.
38 Cannon Pawns move without capturing two ways: either a single step in any
39 direction, or, they may leap over an adjacent piece of either side to the
40 empty square just beyond.
42 figure.diagram-container
44 | fen:91/91/91/91/4b5/4P5/5Q4/91/91/91 e4,d4,d5,d6,f6,f5,e7,g3:
45 figcaption Squares where the pawn can move to (without capturing).
47 p All other pieces move like an orthodox queen.
50 When a piece is next to an enemy immobilizer, it cannot move but
51 is allowed a special "suicide" move: it can disappear by "capturing" the
52 immobilizer (to trigger the move on the interface).
57 As said above, the king captures as usual. However, all other pieces have
58 a new way of capturing - when they can. Indeed the immobilizer doesn't
59 capture, and the swapper can only capture a piece when it stands next to him.
60 In this case he disappears as well in the process.
63 The edge of the board can be reached only by capturing, only if landing on
64 the edge is the only way to do some capture, and that there exist no other
65 such captures with a smallest move length. The move length is the distance
66 between the initial and destination squares.
71 Cannon pawns capture by leaping over an adjacent piece (the mount), landing
72 on the opposing piece just beyond the mount.
74 figure.diagram-container
76 | fen:91/91/91/4p5/4b5/1rB1P5/5Q4/2p3q3/91/91 e7,g3:
77 figcaption Possible pawn captures.
79 h4 "Pushme-Pullyu" (Queen)
82 The queen captures on the square just after where she stops (if any
83 opponent's piece stands there), and also on the square initially just behind
84 her. It is a combination of a Withdrawer and an Advancer, as described on
85 the rules page on chessvariants (see the link at the bottom).
87 figure.diagram-container
89 | fen:91/91/91/91/2bQ4r1/91/91/91/91/91 h6:
91 Any move to the right will capture the bishop; only a move to the marked
92 spot will also capture the rook.
97 The rook can swap its position with any enemy piece in the attacking
98 line of an orthodox queen, as illustrated below.
100 figure.diagram-container
102 | fen:91/91/7k2/91/91/91/2n7/2R7/91/91:
104 | fen:91/91/7R2/91/91/91/2n7/2k7/91/91:
105 figcaption Before and after a rook swap with the king.
108 Moreover, if the rook stands just next to an enemy piece (like the knight
109 here), it can choose to capture it by a "kamikaze" attack: indeed it get
110 self-destroyed in the process.
115 The Long Leaper, Immobilizer and Chameleon behave as in the Baroque
116 variant playable on this site: please refer to these rules description. There
117 is only one change is in the immobilizing rules, which are simpler here:
118 immobilizers powers are not canceled by the chameleons.
123 The game ends by checkmate or stalemate as in standard chess.
124 Just pay attention to the capturing rules :)
130 a(href="https://www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/rococo.html") Rococo variant
131 | on chessvariants.com.
133 p Inventors: Peter Aronson and David Howe (2002)