Chess Variants/Chaturanga and Shatranj

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
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	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Starting position of chaturanga. Note that the two Rajas (kings) do not face each other.

Introduction

Chaturanga and shatranj are the ancient games that serve as the ancestor of modern chess and its Asian cousins.

History

It is belieed that chaturanga originated in India in the sixth century CE. The name of the game means "four limbs" in Sanskrit, referring to the four arms of the ancient Indian army - the infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. When the game was brought to Persia around 600 CE, the name became "shatranj", and the rules were somewhat modified.

Rules

(Note that historians disagree somewhat on the exact rules of the game. This article describes the most common interpretation)

It is believed that chaturanga was played on an uncheckered 8 by 8 board called a ashtāpada, borrowed from another board game. This board has special marking on certain squares, but these are not involved in chaturanga.

Like its descendant chaturanga is a game of war between two armies, with each trying to checkmate the other's raja (king). Like modern chess, White moves first.

The pieces move as follows:

• The raja (king) moves like his modern counterpart. There is no castling in chaturanga - the move had not been invented yet.
• The mantri (minister) moves one square diagonally.
• The ratha (rook) moves like its modern counterpart.
• The gaja (elephant) moves two squares diagonally. It is allowed to jump over pieces in the way of its move.
• The aśva (knight) moves like its modern counterpart.
• The padati (pawns) all move like their modern counterparts, expect they are not allowed a double-step move on their first move (and subsequently there is no en passant). They only get the option to promote to mantris upon reaching the far side of the board.

There are two other rules one should know:

• Stalemate is considered a win for the player delivering the stalemate.
• If a player manages to capture all of their opponent's pieces and leave them with a bare raja, they win the game. However if the bared opponent is able to bare the player's raja on the next turn, the game instead ends in a draw.

Shatranj was played with basically the same rules as chaturanga, with the sole expection that the players were allowed to choose which of the two centre squares their raja and mantri started on at game start.

Sub-variants

• Chaturaji is a version of chaturanga played with four players.