The great chess GrandMaster: Chatrapati Shivaji, The great Maratha King.

Hi Friends,

Many of you might be knowing the inspiring tales of the great Maratha King Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja. He is one of the most ideal king having all the virtues of a model king and was most beloved by his subject and still is worshipped in India. 

He single handedly carried crusade against the islamist regime of Mughal emperor Aurangjeb and freed Maharashtra from the tyranny. His kingdom expanded to most of India and the mughal sultnate ultimately become puppets in the hands of Maratha kings in the immediate future.

He is known for his valor, his extraordinary feats, his cunning, and his love for his subjects.

He was well versed with Kautilya economic and political strategies and has used it various times. His enemies believed that he can disappear (he actually disappeared from the impregnable prison of Aurangjheb in Agra and reappeared in Maharashtra). They also believed that he can jump 24 feet and kill his enemy with his sword! 

We do not know whether he used to play chess or not. But when we see at his various feats, we clearly see the patterns which can be used only by a Grand Master of chess. 

Let us see how. We will see one real life incidence from Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja's life.

Queening the Pawn:

Every chess player know the rules of pawn promotion. And know that a pawn can  become a queen also. Let us see one example of how it happens on the chess board during a game.

Here the pawn is promoted as the queen and it gave the final blow checkmating the opponent's king.

Do you know that Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja has promoted many such pawns to queens in real life? 

One of such example is the famous King Chatrasaal.

Raaja Chatrasaal Bundela (4 May 1649 - 2o December 1731):

Chatrasaal Bundela was a young warrior in the army of Mirza Raje Jaysingh and Dilerkhan who invaded Swarajya ( meaning your own kingdom, name of Shivaji's kingdom ) in 1665 on the order of then mughal emperor Aurangjeb.

Chatrasal was disillusioned with the mughal empire. He thought to himself, " What am I doing? I am helping these people to destroy the only kingdom in India which is fighting against the fanatic islamist Aurangjeb. I am betraying my own land and people!'

One fine night he deserted the mughal camp and joined the Shivaji's army. But Shivaji had different vision. He called Chatrasaal for a meeting and they had a heart to heart talk. Shivaji reminded Chatrasaal that his parents were killed due to mughal empire. He reminded him that he is a prince. He pointed out to Chatrasaal that while he can stay in Shivaji's army but then he will remain a routine knight. And Shivaji inspired him to go back to his land and start his own revolution against mughal empire. 

When Chatrasaal came out of that meeting tent, he was a thoroughly changed person. Enlightened and inspired.

He went back to Bundelkhand, started his own uprising. With only 5 hoarsemen and 25 foot soldiers he raised his banners against mughal empire in 1671 at the age of 22. 

You can see the magnificent Bundelkhand kingdom, right in the heart of Mughal empire. It is only 500 km away from the Mughal empire's capital Delhi.

The excerpts from my upcoming book will be published here for expert opinion  from you. I hope you will enjoy it and will help me to improve it. There will be principles of chess or tactics discussed and how Chatrapati has used it in his wars.

See you soon with chess games played by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in his real life.

Regards.

Dr Sanjay