Chaturanga

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The Rules of Chaturanga

Chaturanga is played on an 8×8 board (ashtāpada) representing the four divisions of an ancient Indian army: infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots. The pieces move as follows.

Pieces

• ♚Raja (king) — one square in any direction. No castling.
• ♛Mantri (counselor) — only one square diagonally. Far weaker than the modern queen.
• ♜Ratha (chariot) — any number of squares horizontally or vertically, like the modern rook.
• ♝Gaja (elephant) — jumps exactly two squares diagonally, leaping over the intervening square. Reaches only eight squares on the entire board.
• ♞Ashva (horse) — the familiar L-shape of the modern knight.
• ♟Padati (foot soldier) — one square forward, captures one diagonally forward. No two-square first move, no en passant. Promotes to Mantri on the far rank.

Victory

• Checkmate — the Raja is attacked and cannot escape. From the Persian shāh māt, "the king is helpless," which gives us "checkmate."
• Bare king — reduce the opponent to only their Raja and it is a win.

Character of Play

Because the Mantri and Gaja are so slow, chaturanga is a longer and more positional game than modern chess. The Ratha and Ashva are the dominant pieces; a well-developed cavalry decides most games. Openings are slow because there is no way to bring the counselor rapidly into play. Endgames are also slower, since the counselor cannot deliver mate alone.

The game passed from India into Persia as chatrang, then into the Arab world as shatranj, and finally into Europe. The pieces gained their modern powers in the 15th century, but the game you are playing here is closer to what was played in India roughly 1,500 years ago.