MINNAAR CHESS

How a Sovereign moves

Each Sovereign moves and captures like a chess Queen, but no more than four squares in one move. All sixteen Sovereigns have exactly the same powers.

• A Sovereign moves along a rank, a file or a diagonal, up to four squares, over empty squares.
• The same limit applies to moving and to capturing. Count the squares the Sovereign passes over and the one it lands on, from the square it stands on; over several turns it may go anywhere.
• A Sovereign cannot jump over pieces, and cannot capture another Sovereign or share its square.
• A Sovereign captures Establishment pieces of either colour.

How the Establishment moves

Every Establishment piece has its full traditional chess movement and capturing powers from the very beginning of the game, including on its first turn. There is nothing to activate.

• King: one square in any direction.
• Queen: any distance along a rank, a file or a diagonal, over empty squares.
• Rook: any distance along a rank or a file, over empty squares.
• Bishop: any distance along a diagonal, over empty squares.
• Knight: the L-shaped jump (two squares one way and one at a right angle), over any pieces.
• Sliding pieces cannot move through occupied squares. Only the Knight jumps.
• White and Black Establishment pieces are allies: they cannot capture one another or move onto a square an ally occupies. They capture Sovereigns only.
• A King can be captured like any other Establishment piece. There is no check and no checkmate, and capturing a King does not end the game.
• There is no castling, no promotion and no en passant.

Turns

The Sovereigns move first. The four turns repeat, from the first move of the game: 1. Southern Sovereigns; 2. White Establishment; 3. Northern Sovereigns; 4. Black Establishment. One complete round is these four turns.

There are no compulsory opening moves and no preliminary turns. On its turn a group moves one of its pieces: a Sovereign group moves one of its own Sovereigns, and an Establishment army moves any one of its pieces that can move.

• A group may pass only when it has no legal move. Passing is never a choice: a group that can move must move. A forced pass counts as a turn.
• Four forced passes in a row end the battle undecided: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.

Winning

There are two decisive victories. They are the same however the game is played.

• Victory by Liberation: the Sovereign Alliance wins when all 16 Establishment pieces have been captured. THE SOVEREIGN ALLIANCE PREVAILS. Liberation Achieved!
• Victory by Divide and Conquer: the Establishment wins when all eight Sovereigns of either originating group have been captured, even if the other group is untouched. THE ESTABLISHMENT PREVAILS. Divide and Conquer!

The Struggle Continues

Some battles reach an impasse. If 80 turns in a row pass without a capture, counting each faction's turn on its own (80 individual turns, which is 20 complete rounds of 4 turns), the battle ends undecided and no one is declared the winner: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES. This battle has reached an impasse. Another battlefield awaits.

• Any capture, by either side, starts the count again from nothing. A capture in the middle of a round simply restarts the count at that turn.
• The count is of individual turns, not of rounds, so a battle can end in the middle of a round.
• Every turn counts, including a turn on which a group had no legal move and passed.
• Neither Liberation nor Divide and Conquer is awarded for the pieces that remain. Counting pieces never decides a battle.
• At a table, the human players may end a battle by agreement. On the website, the End Battle button ends a battle by choice. Either way the result is undecided: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES, never a victory.
• Then NEW BATTLEFIELD: a fresh game with the same rules and the same starting arrangement.
• At a table, count the 80 turns one by one, starting again at every capture. "Counting the 80 turns at a table" in the official rules gives the exact method, and an optional marker method that always gives the same result.