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Indian chess
Chess variant played in India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Indian chess is the name given to regional variations of chess played in India in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is distinct from chaturanga. There are several such variations, all quite similar to modern rules, with variants regarding castling, pawn promotion, etc.
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Differences from Western chess
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Indian chess starting position, identical to the starting position of western chess except for the placement of the black king and queen
- In the starting position, each king faces the opposing queen; from both players' viewpoints, their king is to the right of their queen, regardless of color. This is unlike western chess, where the kings face each other, as do the queens.
- The pawn's two-step initial move is absent in Indian chess; thus, the en passant capture is also absent.
- Normal castling with rook and king is absent. The unchecked king can make a knight's move once in a game, known as Indian castling or king's leap.
- On reaching the opposite end of the board, a pawn is promoted to a piece of the type that began on that square. If it is promoted on the king's initial position, it is promoted to a queen.
- If there is only one piece remaining other than the kings, it may not be captured. Alternatively, it may be captured unless it is a pawn.
- When only the kings and pawns are left in play, the opponent may not give check, but they can win by stalemate. Alternatively, giving check is allowed, but the capture of the last pawn (which would result in a draw) is disallowed by the previous rule.
- The king cannot move until at least one check has been given, though this is a regional variation.
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Names of the pieces
The following table describes one version of Indian chess terminology for the various pieces (including Hindi and Urdu pronunciations; orange indicates most common terminology in Hindi, green indicates that in Urdu):[1][2]
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See also
- Origins of chess
- Chaturaji, four-handed version of chaturanga
- Shatranj
- Xiangqi
References
Further reading
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