2 | The player in first has a different set of pieces,
3 | moving generally like a queen but capturing (almost) as usual.
6 img.img-center(src="/variants/Empire/Board.png")
7 figcaption.text-center Initial deterministic setup.
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.
18 li The Empire (gold) always moves first.
19 li The Empire cannot castle.
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.
23 li Pawns on either side can only promote to a queen.
25 One can win by bringing the king into the final rank without being check.
26 This situation is called "campmate".
27 li Stalemate and repetition are both losses.
29 The King and Kaiser (Imperial King) may not face
30 each other on a file or rank.
35 There are five new units unique to the Empire: Siege Towers, Eagles,
36 Cardinals, Duke, and Soldiers. The bottom rank pieces are all stronger than
37 their Kingdom counterparts with the exception of the Duke.
41 Kaiser (K) — The Imperial king is called the Kaiser and has a
42 different symbol, but the change is purely aesthetic and thematic:
43 it behave like an orthodox king.
45 Soldier (S) — The Soldiers are the two pawn-like pieces replacing
46 the two middle pawns. They can move one square orthogonally forward,
50 The remaining pieces are "divergent" pieces: they move differently
51 than they attack (such as pawns). Imperial pieces all move as queens,
52 but attack like their Kingdom counterpart except for the Duke.
56 Siege Tower (T) — The Siege Tower, or Tower for short,
58 li Eagle (E) — The Eagle attacks like a Knight.
59 li Cardinal (C) — The Cardinal attacks like a Bishop.
60 li Duke (D) — The Duke attacks like a King.
63 img.img-center(src="/variants/Empire/EagleMoves.png")
64 figcaption.text-center Eagle's moves (green) & captures (red).
68 p The following simplified values are used by the bot:
107 //h3 More information
111 a(href="https://www.pychess.org/variant/empirechess") Empire Chess
112 | on pychess-variants, where you can also play this variant.