High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! 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 considers his invention flawed, and he has suggested amendments to the rules, but these suggestions - like the new name he attempted to give it - have been substantially ignored by the gaming community, which continues, for the most part, 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.