Baroque chess is a chess variant invented in 1962 by Robert Abbott. In 1963, at the suggestion of his publisher, he changed the name to Ultima, by which name it is also known. Abbott later considered his invention flawed and suggested amendments to the rules, but these suggestions have been substantially ignored by the gaming community, which continues to play by the 1962 rules. Since the rules for Baroque were first laid down in 1962, some regional variation has arisen, causing the game to diverge from Ultima.

Description

Baroque chess is usually played on a standard 8×8 chessboard with the standard Staunton design of chess pieces. The rules that follow are widely found on the internet, but other variants exist. One variant was popular among students at Cambridge University in 1974. The initial setup of the pieces is the same as in standard chess, except for two things that the players must first decide on – center counter symmetry, and corner counter symmetry.

Establishing the degree of symmetry

Center counter symmetry allows either player to decide whether to switch his king and Withdrawer ("queen") around, and then corner counter symmetry requires each player to decide which of his "rooks" will be turned upside down. (The one that remains upright is the Coordinator, and the one that is turned upside down is the Immobilizer.) After these two kinds of symmetries are determined, White moves first.

For purposes of recording the moves that are played in the game, it is sufficient to employ an algebraic form of notation, as in chess, and write the names of the pieces and the squares they are to be placed in. For instance, 1. Kd1 & We1, Ke8 & Wd8 (center counter symmetry), and 2. Ia1 & Ch1, Ih8 & Ca8 (corner counter symmetry).

If the symmetry resolution phases that are usually found at the start of the game could somehow be put off for later, then one may readily see how similar they are to the castling maneuvers in chess. They have the practical function of multiplying the number of games that are possible from the initial starting position.

Moving

In Baroque, the king is the only piece alone that is limited to moving exactly one square at a time; it moves and takes just like the king in chess. All of the remaining pieces on the first rank may move like the queen, in all directions. They have this power as a matter of privilege, as they are all considered to be noble pieces. This is a kind of privilege that attaches to them at the outset of the game, and is never diminished; they retain this privilege no matter where they go, except when they find themselves next to an Immobilizer (see below).

The pawns, on the other hand, move just like the rook moves in chess. Just as in chess, pawns are the peasants of this game. Unlike chess, pawns are never promoted to another kind of piece. (There is no special square to which pawns can be moved and then promoted.)

Capturing

All the pieces except for the king capture differently from their counterparts in chess, and all but the king and pawn have different names. The king is the only piece that captures, as chess pieces do, by moving into a square that is occupied by an enemy piece. All the other pieces capture enemy pieces in more complex ways. Friendly pieces are never allowed to capture other friendly pieces.

Pieces

The names of the pieces and rules for movement are as follows:

  • The king moves and captures like a standard chess king. There is no castling. The objective of the game is to capture the opposing king.
  • The pawns (or pincers or squeezers) move like standard chess rooks. A pawn captures any opposing piece horizontally or vertically between the square to which the pawn moved and a friendly piece (i.e. there may be no gaps between any of the three pieces). This is considered a of capture because it is similar to two people coming up on the sides of a person and taking hold of their arms to carry them off. Pawns never capture diagonally, only horizontally or vertically.

The remaining pieces all move like standard chess queens, but have unique methods of capture.

  • The Withdrawer (or Retreater), represented by the queen, captures by moving directly away from an adjacent piece.
  • The Long-leapers, represented by the knights, capture by jumping over an opposing piece in a straight line. A long-leaper may make multiple captures in the same line as long as each piece is jumped independently. Those variants of Baroque prohibiting multiple leaps call this piece the Leaper, and restrict it to capturing the first enemy piece it encounters, provided the next space is empty or open.
  • The Coordinator, represented by the unturned rook, captures any opposing piece that is on either of the two squares found at the intersection of its own file and the king's rank, and the intersection of the king's file and its own rank; these are found after the Coordinator has moved.
  • The Immobilizer (or Freezer), represented by the inverted rook, does not capture anything, but immobilizes all adjacent enemy pieces.
  • The Imitators (or Chameleons), represented by the bishops, copy the capturing rules of its victims. Imitators also immobilize enemy Immobilizers adjacent to them. Imitators cannot capture other Imitators. An Imitator can capture an enemy king by beginning its turn adjacent to it, and stepping into its square.

Diagrammed examples are indispensable to understanding the rules.

King

The white king moves Kc4-d5 delivering checkmate. Normally it would not be possible for the two kings to be adjacent, but here the black king is unable to move due to the white immobilizer on f4, thus the d5 square is not under attack by black, and the white king is not moving into check.

Note that White could not play Kc4-d4, as that would place his own king in check from the black Withdrawer. Capturing the Withdrawer with Kc4xd3 would result in stalemate, as black would then have no legal moves.

Pawn/Pincer

The white pawn (or Pincer) moves Pg4-d4, capturing the black Immobilizer and black pawn. The black Withdrawer on e5 is not captured because pawns capture only vertically and horizontally, not diagonally. The black Imitator (Chameleon) on d3 is not captured, because there is no white piece on d2. Finally, the black Long-leaper on g3 was safe because it moved between the two white pawns, rather than a white pawn moving to complete the custodial capture.

Withdrawer

The white Withdrawer moves Wg6-d3, capturing the black pawn on h7. The pawn on g7 and the Imitator (Chameleon) on h6 are unaffected because the Withdrawer did not move in their respective lines, but the Withdrawer could have captured either by a move in the g-file or sixth rank respectively. Note that the Withdrawer also gives check to the black king by threatening to move away on the d-file.

Long-Leaper

The white Long-Leaper moves Ld2-d4-d6-d8, capturing three black pieces. It might instead have captured the black Withdrawer with either Ld2-g5 or Ld2-h6. On the other hand, the black pawn on b2 and the black Chameleon on d1 are safe from the Long Leaper because there is no square on the opposite side on which the Long Leaper could land. Also the black pawns on f2 and g2 cannot be captured by Ld2-h2, because there is no space in between the two pawns which would allow the Long Leaper to make two separate jumps. A move of Ld2-b4 would be illegal because long leapers may not jump over friendly pieces. Some variations of Baroque forbid multi-leaping, if only because it is felt that the game is more playable if the Leaper is less powerful. By requiring the Leaper to stop its movement immediately after capturing the first piece, that objective is met.

Coordinator

The white Coordinator moves Cd4-f6, capturing black's Leaper on c6 and Immobilizer on f2. If White had played Cd4-d6 instead, he would have captured black's Leaper and pawn. This kind of capture can be visualized by imagining an invisible cross emanating from the square the king is sitting on, and another one from the square the Coordinator arrives at. The points where these two crosses intersect are the places where captures are possible. In the Netherlands (Delft, Utrecht) some play a variant of Ultima where playing Cd4-d6 would only capture black's Leaper, because the field of black's pawn was already under attack of white's coordinator, so the move Cd4-d6 wouldn't change the situation of the pawn on field d2.

Immobilizer

The white Immobilizer moves If3-d5, immobilizing five black pieces. The black Leaper on g4, which had been immobilized, is now free to move again.

An Immobilizer can never be captured by an Immobilizer, or Imitator (Chameleon). An Immobilizer can never be captured by a king or Withdrawer unless the variation popular in Cambridge is being played, in which case the Immobilizer itself must first be immobilized. When an Immobilizer comes into contact with an enemy Chameleon or Immobilizer, the two pieces freeze each other, after which neither can move unless the other is captured. In the version played at Cambridge, the power of an enemy Immobilizer to arrest a friendly piece's movement is defeated when another friendly Immobilizer or Chameleon is brought up to it, effectively cancelling out each other's power to arrest movement.

Some versions of Baroque allow an immobilized piece to commit suicide, i.e. be removed from the board, in lieu of the regular move of that player. There may be strategic reasons to open a line. For example, after the above diagrammed move, the black Leaper on c5 may wish to commit suicide, so that the other Leaper can capture the white Immobilizer by jumping over it on the fifth rank. White cannot hinder this plan, because the Immobilizer is itself immobilized by the black Chameleon.

Imitator

On the adjacent diagram, the white Imitator moves Xg6-e6-c6, capturing all seven black pieces except the king in one move and delivering check.

  • It captures the black withdrawer by moving away from it.
  • It captures the black long-leapers by jumping over them.
  • It captures three black pawns by surrounding them. (A chameleon can only capture pawns on a horizontal move or vertical move, not on a diagonal move.)
  • It captures the black coordinator by rank/file coordination with the white king.
  • It delivers check by moving adjacent to the black king.

In the Cambridge rules, this capture is not possible. The move is legal, but it captures only the two leapers, because the move is not a legal move for any of the other target pieces. In the absence of the two black leapers, the same move would capture the other five pieces.

Variants

Maxima

Maxima was invented by Roberto Lavieri in 2003. It is Baroque played on a somewhat larger board that is mostly rectangular and 8×9 (a2–h10) but for a couple of extra squares that are outside the board, located at d1 and e1 just behind the king and queen's squares. A matching pair of squares are also on the other side of the board, just beyond the black king and queen (d11 and e11). Although one objective of the game is to checkmate the king, an alternative objective allows depositing pieces in both of the pair of squares on the other side of the board. Bare king is also a win. Unlike Baroque, the king in Maxima moves like the knight in chess, and moreover treats the board as a cylinder (e.g. Kb2–h3 is a legal move),

The Resurrector (or Swapper or Ankh) moves like a queen for all ordinary purposes, but for swapping actions must move like a king, trading places with any adjacent piece (both friend or foe), never capturing it. Consistent with the concept of the Resurrector being a piece wholly incapable of killing, it can also step into any adjacent empty square, and leave behind a previously captured piece resurrected by placing it in the square just vacated. Although, seen in that light, though the Resurrector is like a piece of life, it can be transformed into a 1 square bomb when captured and readmitted to the board - but capable only of death. Instead of moving, a bomb need merely explode to effect the destruction of both friendly pieces and enemy pieces adjacent to itself, and suiciding in the process. The destruction of pieces in this way causes all affected to be unrevivable.