Chaturanga

How Chaturanga is played

Chaturanga is the chess of ancient India, played by the 6th or 7th century: the root from which Shatranj, Xiangqi, Shogi, Makruk and modern chess grew. No rulebook survives, so this game follows what most historians reconstruct. The board and most moves are those of Shatranj, but there is no check: the goal is to capture the opposing king.

The pieces

The king steps one square in any direction. The chariot moves any number of squares along a rank or file, and the horse jumps in an L, two squares one way and one to the side, over whatever stands between. The minister, beside the king, steps one square diagonally. The elephant, beside the horse, jumps exactly two squares diagonally, over whatever stands on the square in between; it can reach only eight squares of the board. A piece captures by moving onto an enemy piece. There is no castling. The two kings do not face each other: White’s stands on e1, Black’s on d8.

Pawns

A pawn moves one square forward and captures one square diagonally forward, also from its starting square: there is no double step and no en passant. A pawn that reaches the last rank always becomes a minister.

Winning

There is no check: nothing forbids leaving your king attacked or moving it into danger, and the board only marks an attacked king in red. Whoever captures the opposing king wins. You also win by capturing every piece of your opponent except the king, a bare king; if the bare king can capture your last piece right away, the game is drawn instead. A player who cannot move at all wins, as an Arab writer of the 9th century reports of the Indian game; without check this almost never happens.

Draws

Two bare kings, the same position three times, or seventy moves each without a capture or a pawn move is a draw. The old sources know no such rule; it keeps a lost ending from going on forever.

Where it comes from

Chaturanga means “four limbs”: the four arms of an Indian army, elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers. Indian literature first mentions it in the 7th century, and it reached Persia as shatranj. The rules are reconstructed from later Arab and Persian writers and from the games that descend from it, and the sources disagree: some describe the elephant stepping one square diagonally or straight forward (as in Makruk) or jumping two squares straight, some put the kings face to face, and some play to checkmate. Where they differ, this game follows most of them. The old names: raja (king), mantri (minister), gaja (elephant), ashva (horse), ratha (chariot), padati (foot soldier).

More games

Chess and variants

• Chess · Classic chess or Chess960 with a shuffled back rank, against a bot.
• Chess960 · Fischer random chess: the back rank starts in one of 960 setups.
• Antichess · Losing chess: give away all your pieces, captures are compulsory.
• Atomic chess · Every capture is an explosion that clears the pieces around it.
• Crazyhouse · Captured pieces change sides and can be dropped back onto the board.
• Duck chess · After every move you move the duck, which blocks everyone. No check.
• Fog of War · You only see where your pieces can move. Capture the king to win.
• Friendly Chess · Nothing is captured: pieces unite and set off chain reactions.

The chess family

• Shatranj · The medieval ancestor of chess, with a weak ferz and a jumping alfil.
• Makruk · Thai chess: a slow, strategic game with a counting rule.
• Ouk Chatrang · Cambodian chess: Makruk with a leap for the king and the met.
• Sittuyin · Burmese chess: set up your pieces, then promote on the diagonals.
• Xiangqi · Chinese chess: a river, palaces and a cannon that jumps to capture.
• Janggi · Korean chess: no river, palace diagonals and a cannon that always jumps.
• Shogi · Japanese chess: captured pieces return to the board on your side.
• Minishogi · Shogi on a 5 × 5 board: six pieces a side, short and sharp games.

More players

• Chaturaji · India’s four-handed chess: kings can be captured, captures score.
• Four Seasons Chess · Alfonso X’s chess for four from 1283: four seasons, the last king wins.
• Three-player chess · Three armies on a hexagonal board: you against two bots.
• Four-player chess · Four armies on a cross-shaped board: in teams or all against all.
• Eight-player chess · Eight armies on a board of 516 squares: all against all, in pairs or four against four.