Enochian Chess

Welcome to Enochian Chess. This guide will give you everything you need to start playing.

The Board & The Armies

Enochian Chess uses a standard 8×8 board, but with four armies instead of two:

Blue + Black = Team Air

Red + Yellow = Team Earth

Each army occupies one edge of the board:

Blue starts on the South edge (rank 1)
Red starts on the East edge (file h)
Black starts on the North edge (rank 8)
Yellow starts on the West edge (file a)

Turn Order

Play proceeds clockwise: Blue → Red → Black → Yellow → Blue...

This means you'll move, then your opponent moves, then your ally moves, then the other opponent. The rhythm takes getting used to!

How Pieces Move

Most pieces move as you'd expect from standard chess, with some notable exceptions:

Piece	Movement
King	One square in any direction (no castling)
Queen	Leaps exactly 2 squares in any direction (not a slider!)
Bishop	Slides diagonally (restricted to its diagonal network)
Rook	Slides horizontally and vertically
Knight	L-shaped leap (2+1 squares)
Pawn	One square forward only (no double-step, no en passant)

The Queen is Different!

Unlike standard chess, the Queen doesn't slide across the board. She leaps exactly two squares—jumping over any piece in her way. This makes her both more limited and surprisingly tricky.

How to Win

Capture both enemy kings. That's it.

There's no checkmate in Enochian Chess. Kings can be captured directly, just like any other piece.

When a king is captured, something dramatic happens: that entire army freezes. The pieces remain on the board but cannot move, capture, or give check. They simply block squares like statues.

Teamwork Matters

If your ally's king is captured, their army freezes—but you can still fight. Move your king onto your ally's throne square to seize control of their frozen army and bring them back to life.

One Special Rule: Check Still Matters

When your king is in check and has legal king moves available, you must move your king. You cannot block with another piece or capture the attacker with a non-king piece if the king itself can move.

Only when the king has no legal moves can other pieces intervene.

You're Ready!

That's enough to play your first game. As you play, you'll encounter more nuances:

Diagonal networks restrict which bishops can capture which queens
Thrones let you resurrect frozen allies
Privileged pawns can promote to anything when your army is depleted

But for now, just play. The elegance of Enochian Chess reveals itself at the board.

Read the Full Rules

Playing in the Terminal (TUI)

If you are playing using the enoch terminal application, you can play in two modes:

Interactive Board Mode (Default)

Navigate: Use Arrow Keys to move the cursor.
Select/Move: Press Enter to select a piece, then move to a destination and press Enter again.
Hints: Valid moves for the selected piece are highlighted.
Cancel: Press Esc to deselect.

Command Mode

Switch: Press Tab or type / to enter command mode.
Move: Type army: e2-e4 (e.g., blue: e2-e4 or red: h2-h1).
New Game: /new <array> (e.g., /new Tablet of Fire (Air Setting)).
Save/Load: /save mygame.json and /load mygame.json.
AI: Type /ai to let the computer make a move for the current army.
Divination Mode: /mode divination switches to dice-based play (d6 rolls determine valid pieces).