Try it out here:
Chaturanga Tutorial + Strategy | Chess.com Game Mode
Gameplay
This is how chess was played in the ancient times.
– No castling.
– Pawns only move one square.
– Ferz (replacing the queen) can only move one square diagonally
– Alfils (replacing the bishops) can only move 2 squares and jump over things.
– Pawns promote to Ferzs.
– Rooks and knights works as usual.
And that’s why the queen and bishop are what they are today.
There is a bare piece rule also, not sure why is it not shown in this video
Seems like fun. Off to try it.
It's really interesting seeing how the game evolved. It was moreso about formation and pawn breaks. The only real criticism I have is that it is a nightmare to checkmate in an endgame. Rooks are off the board? Call it a draw!
I don't think you can checkmate with two ministers there, I tried to find checkmate positions and they were all just impossible (you couldn't go back a move without it being a stalemate position for the opponent)
The wikipedia article on shatranj has a subsection on the value of the pieces. Apparently, the theory at the time gave a value of 2 pawns to both the alfil and the ferz.It seems that there is a good amount of theory that has been preserved.
Basically this is a shittier version of chess.
the move d3 accually doesn't help to develop anything lol
Alfil means elephant 🐘 and firz means something like chancellor/minister
I agree alfils are terrible, if they allow them to move also one square diagonally they would be much better, and the firz should move at least like the king
Nice vid love the personality
In spanish (and most languages) the bishop is actually called alfil 🙂 . Also in spanish, the knight is called horse.
Also the alfil in chaturanga can only move in eight squares of the board lol. The four alfils of the board can NEVER either attack or obstruct each other because of that xD .
Naked K is mate in this variant (loss due to insufficient material). Did you encounter a bug? Also, I should note that this should be called Shatranj. In real Chaturanga. the Ks are on alt files, not on the same file. We should play a game or two on chess.com. I am always happy to find new opponents for this variant.
Firz is the russian name for the queen.
So basically the creators of this mode are racist toward russian queens.
I've only played a few games and I'm already one of the best players!
I have won so many games using alfil. They are so powerful when they control the center of the board.
The "bishops" in this remind me of the "elephants" in Xiangqi, an ancient version of Chinese chess. The "cannon" in Xiangqi is a really really cool piece that moves and attacks like a rook, but it can ONLY capture by jumping over a piece… Oh, and you play on the intersections of the squares, not inside the squares themselves… And your kings can never face each other across an empty board. Its a cool game!
you can mate with a double ferz, but only if your opponent blunders, because you have to corner the opponent's king (let's say he's on a1), you need a ferz on b1/a2 + b2 (to give a check) and they both must be protected by a king
This isn't actually chaturanga…
how funny that @CheesieChess call his pieces as the "guys"