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Makruk - Thai Chess

Pieces & Movesets

The Horse/Knight, Rook, King, and Pawn (Thai names Ma, Rua, Khun, and Bia respectively) move as they do in western chess. The Queen (Met) and Nobleman (Khon) move accordingly:

A Makruk Queen that moves one square diagonally.

Queen

A Makruk Nobleman that moves one square diagonally or one square forward.

Nobleman

Starting Array

A Makruk set in the initial starting array on an 8x8 board.

Initial Starting Array

Pawn Promotion

The pawns promote on the 3rd from the last rank (the starting rank of the enemy pawns). Once promoted the pieces are flipped over to indicate promotion and may move 1 square diagonally as the Queen does.

Cambodian Rules

The similar Cambodian game Ouk is played with the same pieces and the same starting array as Makruk. However, it stills allows two special movement rules that have fallen out of use in Makruk:

  1. The King, if not in check, may on its first move may move as a knight does onto the row in front of it. That is forward one square and then left or right two squares.
  2. The Queen on its first move may move two squares forward similar to the "joy leap" in Courier Chess.

See Also

Diagrams Created With Musketeer Chess Board Painter