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| A | B | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | C | D | |
Rules for Peter Aronson's Ruddigore Chess
| | | | | |
| x-Baronet | Q-Queen | r-Rook | B-Bishop | h-Gentleman | P-Pawn |
|---|
Board and Setup
Ruddigore Chess uses the setup of usual Western Chess, except that the Kings are replaced by Baronets, and the Knights by Gentlemen.
General Rules
The rules of Ruddigore Chess are identical to those of FIDE Chess, except for the changes described below.
- The largest single change is the curse. On each even turn (turn 2, 4, 6, 8 ,etc.) each player must either capture a piece (either an opposing piece, or one of their own pieces using their Baronet), or after their move, sacrifice a piece they have on the board or in hand to the curse. Sacrificed pieces are gone from the game for good. If you have nothing left but your Baronet, and you need to sacrifice a piece, then the curse takes you and you lose.
- Like in Chessgi, any pieces a player capture become their color, and are put in hand (on any grey space, White on A and B, Black on C and D). In hand pieces may be dropped on empty squares on the board on later turns as a move. Pawns may not be dropped on the 8th rank. Promoted Pawns when captured do not revert to Pawns when captured, but go into hand as their promoted rank.
- The Kings are replaced by Baronets, which are still royal and must respond check and are mated normally. However, in addition to a normal King's moves (including castling), Baronets may capture like Knights (but not move without capturing like Knights). Baronets may capture friendly pieces as well as enemy pieces, placing such pieces in hand just like any other captured piece.
- The Knights are replaced by Gentlemen, which are Halfling Nightriders. A halfling piece can move up to half of the number of steps to the edge of the board, rounded up; so a halfling piece three steps from the edge of the board could move up to two steps. A Nightrider makes repeated Knight moves in the same direction through empty squares, rather like a Bishop makes repeated diagonal steps through empty squares. In some places and directions on the board, there is room for only one Knight move, in some places and directions there is room for two repeated Knight moves, and in some places and directions room for three repeated Knight moves. In the first two cases, the Gentleman could move only like a Knight, but in the last case it could make two Knight moves in a row, assuming the first Knight's move landed on an empty square.
- Pawns in Ruddigore Chess are a variety of Quick Pawn. They may make double moves forward on any move, not just on their first. There is no en passant capture.
How to Move Pieces
Full Algebraic Notation
Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.
It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.
Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.
You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".
You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.
You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.
Available Pieces
Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.
The inclusion of a piece does not indicate that it is used in the game you are playing. But if your game uses pieces not included here, you should choose a different piece set.
Credits
Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017
WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001
Kibbitzing Etiquette
Kibbitzing is the practice of commenting on a game you are not playing. In commenting on a game, please follow these rules of etiquette.
(1) If you notice that someone has made an illegal move, please mention it. Some Game Courier presets cannot enforce rules, but Game Courier does enable players to take back any previous move. Details on how to take back a move are provided in the User's Guide, linked to above the board.
(2) Unless otherwise specifically asked to, do not offer hints or suggestions to players on what moves they should make. In general, avoid coaching comments.
(3) Once a game is over, it should be alright to offer your analysis of the game and your specific comments on what moves players should have made. If some players don't want this, they may mention it in the Kibbitzing section, and you should honor this request by not commenting on the game.
(4) Be polite. At the appropriate time, offer any criticism you have in a constructive manner. Avoid heckling players for bad moves.
(5) Don't spam this space with irrelevant comments. If you have a comment about Game Courier, rather than about the specific game you're viewing, please post it on Game Courier's Index page to give it.