INDIAN CHESS IS CRAZY!!
"Chess was developed in India on around 6th Century AD"
Do you know that Ancient Chess had some crazy rules?
Because Today, We are going to talk about the Indian Chess- CHATURANGA
The goal of the game was to either checkmate the king all capture all the other pieces
Chaturanga's starting position was a bit different-
The position of the black king and queen was switched
The names of chaturanga pieces were different(They were actually in Hindi but im writing their names in English)
The queen was called Minister in Chaturanga
It could move one square diagonally like this-
The name of the knight was the same with same movement
The name of the rook was chariot with the same movement
The name of the bishop was Elephant
It could jump over pieces and move two squares diagonally but not one square
Fun Fact- The bishops could never touch each other and could never control the center
The following 2 chess position can help in telling the reason why that's the case-
In both the positions, the white bishop could land on the red squares and the black bishop could land on the yellow squares in the future....
All the bishops control 8 squares each....
None of them control the center or could capture each other....
The name of the pawns was the same....
Pawns could only move one square in Chaturanga....
Therefore, all the openings in which the pawn only moves one square were later called "Indian"....
Example- Kings Indian, Queens Indian, Nimzo Indian, etc.
There was no option of enpassant due to pawn not having the ability to move two squares....
Pawns could only promote to a queen when they reached the 8th rank....
Chess.Com says that the stalemated player loses in Chaturanga....
But in reality, that's not correct....
It leads to a draw just like in normal chess....
The name of the king was the same....
Castling was not allowed in Chaturanga....
The things I told till now, all of them are in the Chaturanga Variant of Chess.Com!
But now, Im going to tell you something that even Chess.Com did not add!!
Once per game, the king could move like a knight!
Hence, the fastest way to move your king to safety is 1. g3 and then 2. Kg2!!
🤣
Now you know why Indian Chess is so Crazy!
Mostly because of the unique ability of the king!!
Hopefully this helped you understand the crazy rules of Chaturanga....
If you liked this, do see my previous blogs-
WHY GRANDMASTERS HAVE A HIGH IQ!!
THE NUMBER OF CHESS POSITIONS POSSIBLE!!
Bye Bye - Have a Good Day
- MOVING YOUR KING LIKE A KNIGHT IN UR NEXT OTB GAME😂
