Makruk

How Makruk is played

Makruk is the chess of Thailand, a living game. Whoever knows chess knows its board and most of its moves, but the pieces are slower and the pawns meet early. The goal is to checkmate the opposing king: to attack it so that no move can save it. An attacked king is in check, and no move may leave your own king attacked.

The pieces

The king steps one square in any direction. The rook moves any number of squares along a rank or file, and the knight jumps in an L, two squares one way and one to the side, over whatever stands between. The met, beside the king, steps one square diagonally. The khon, beside the knight, steps one square diagonally in any direction or one square straight forward. Only the knight jumps over other pieces, and a piece captures by moving onto an enemy piece. There is no castling.

Pawns

Pawns start on the third rank. A pawn moves one square forward and captures one square diagonally forward; there is no double step and no en passant. A pawn that reaches the sixth rank, where the opponent’s pawns started, always becomes a met.

Winning and draws

Checkmate wins. Stalemate is a draw, and so is the same position three times, or a position in which neither side has enough left to mate (a lone met or knight, or a pawn, which can only become a met).

The counting rule

Once no pawn is left, a won ending must be finished in time. Counting starts by itself and is shown in the counting side’s bar. While both sides have pieces, it runs to 64. When one side has only its king, that side counts from the number of pieces on the board, and the limit depends on what the other side has: 8 with two rooks, 16 with one rook, 22 with two khons, 32 with two knights, 44 with one khon, 64 otherwise. If the count reaches the limit without a mate, the game is drawn.

Where it comes from

Like chess and Shatranj, Makruk descends from the Indian chaturanga of the 6th century or a close relative of it, and Cambodia plays basically the same game, ouk. Its Thai piece names: khun (lord, the king), met (seed), khon (nobleman), ma (horse), ruea (boat, the rook) and bia (cowrie shell, the pawn). This game follows the rules Fairy-Stockfish and pychess play, which count for both sides automatically.

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

• Chaturanga · India’s ancient chess, the root of the family: take the king to win.
• Shatranj · The medieval ancestor of chess, with a weak ferz and a jumping alfil.
• 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.