Thai Chess: A Unique Take on the Classic Game
Thai chess, also known as Makruk, is played on an 8x8 board, similar to standard chess. The initial setup largely mirrors classical chess, but with two key differences: the white queen starts on e1 and the white king on d1 (each king is to the left of its queen from the player's perspective), and pawns are positioned on the third rank (white) and sixth rank (black).
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The movement of the king, rook, and pawn largely follows standard chess rules:
- King: Moves one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Castling is not permitted.
- Rook: Moves any number of unoccupied squares horizontally or vertically.
- Pawn: Moves one square forward and captures one square diagonally forward. Upon reaching the sixth rank, a pawn promotes exclusively to a queen.
Other pieces have unique movements:
- Queen: Moves only one square diagonally.
- Bishop: Moves one square diagonally in any direction or one square forward vertically.
- Knight: Moves in an "L" shape, two squares in one direction (horizontally or vertically) and then one square perpendicularly (as in standard chess).
The objective of Thai chess, as in classical chess, is to checkmate the opponent's king. A stalemate results in a draw. The game can be played against AI, a local opponent, or online against another player.
