Makruk

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Makruk

Makruk ( Thai หมากรุก , [màːk.rúk] ) is the name of the Thai game of chess. Its rules are more similar to western chess than other Asian variants such as Xiangqi or Shogi , but there are also some similarities between these two games.

The game board and the pieces

As in chess, the game is played on an 8 × 8 board with 16 pieces per player. In contrast to most Asian variants, the “figures” are really three-dimensional, so they are not just differently labeled pieces.

The game pieces are:

  • a leader (called Kun ขุน) (corresponds in move and function to the king in chess )
  • a vizier (called Med เม็ด) (??) (moves a square diagonally)
  • two trees (called Con โคน) (moves one square diagonally or forward, which corresponds to the move of the unsupported Silver General in the Shogi )
  • two horses (called Ma ม้า) (corresponds to the jumper in moves, so can also jump)
  • two boats (called Rua เรือ) (corresponds to the tower in turn)
  • eight pawns (called Bia เบี้ย ๖) (corresponds in moves to the pawn in chess, but has no double move. On the third back row of the opponent (starting row of the opposing pawns) they are promoted to viziers)

Instead of the non-existent castling, the king can jump like a horse once in the game. Some variants allow the vizier to make a double move as the first move.

The basic setup

The basic setup essentially corresponds to that of chess. In the last row, the figures are placed in the order boat, horse, tree, king, vizier (from left to right, then in mirror image). It should be noted that this applies to white and black, that is, unlike in chess , the two kings are not in the same line .

In contrast to chess , but analogous to Shogi, the pawns are preferred one row, that is, they are in the 3rd and 6th rows instead of the 2nd and 7th respectively. In addition, they are basically only converted into viziers, namely on the 6th and 3rd row instead of the 8th or 1st row.

Playing

The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent , stalemate is a draw .

In the endgame, the disadvantaged player can hope for the “count”. The counting serves to ensure that the player who has the advantage does not continue his game for too long and has to checkmate the opponent in a certain number of moves. If the player with the advantage does not manage this, the game ends in a draw.

There are two different counts:

The board count

This can take place as soon as there is no pawn left on the board. (The pawns who become viziers or "Med" do not count as pawns.) The player who is at a disadvantage can start counting. If the player who has the advantage does not manage to checkmate his opponent in 64 moves, the game ends in a draw. The count starts at 1.

The figure count

If a player only has the king left on the board, he can request piece counting. The player who has the advantage then has enough time to checkmate the opponent.

2 rua 8 moves
1 rua 16 moves
2 Con 22 moves
2 Ma 32 trains
1 Con 44 moves
1 Ma 64 moves
only med 64 moves

The count does not start with 1, as with the board count, but with 1 plus the number of pieces on the board. The game ends in a draw as soon as the specified number of moves is exceeded. No new count is started when a piece has been captured.

Examples

1st example

White: 1 Rua 2 Med; Black: only Kun

Black can apply for piece counting and counts 6 with his move (1 Kun white, 1 Rua white, 2 Med white, 1 Kun black = 5 and the count 1 = 6). So the opponent has exactly 11 moves left to checkmate the opponent. If there was a con on the board instead of a rua, White would still have 45 - 6 = 39 moves.

2nd example

White: 1 Rua 2 Med; Black: 1 Ma

Schwarz can only request board counting because he still has a ma. If the horse were to be struck in the course of the game, the figure counting would begin (like 1st example).

specification

There are no guidelines as in Shogi or Go , but in Thai “Sumt” (chess clubs in the Thai sense) you can find extremely good players who provide guidelines.

simple specification:

  • -1 med
  • -1 Con
  • -1 Ma

flipping a rua (rua is converted to med)

Web links

Commons : Mak Ruk  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files