How to play Shatranj Chess

Learn the rules to Shatranj Chess quickly and concisely – This video has no distractions, just the rules. For a refresher of the original Chess rules, check out this video:

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RULES:
Setup the board with elephants instead of bishops, and a counselor instead of a queen. Place the king on the D column and the counselor on the E. Elephants move exactly 2 spaces diagonally, jumping over the first space. The counselor moves exactly 1 space diagonally. The rook is technically called a chariot but has the same movements as a rook. The knight is technically called a horse, but has the same movements as a knight. And the pawn is technically called a soldier, but it has the same movements as a pawn.

Castling is not allowed. Pawns are not allowed the first 2 step option, therefor en passant is not allowed. When a pawn reached the farthest row, it is promoted to a counselor. If you stalemate your opponent you win. The first player to checkmate or stalemate their opponent, wins.

98 Comments

  1. Another day of coming home from school and watching another TSG video 4 hours after it's published!

  2. FYI, it's just called Shatranj, not "Shatranj Chess"

  3. Those are the ancient rules of chess, aren't they ?

  4. Ah yes the counselor, or as I like to call it the worse bishop

  5. So chess but without the last couple hundred years of updates.

  6. Fact: in the Arabic world chess is called chatranj and so do the other pieces (soldier , horse …etc) but it has the same rules NOT ANY SINGLE CHANGE

  7. 🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐶🐹🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐱🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭

  8. Chess In Hindi Is Known As Shatranj.

  9. I've tried this version, it's not very good.

  10. postingrandomthingsuntilIhaveenough moneytobuyapc says:

    wow u dont even know how to prenouse it

  11. You are missing some RULES…
    I know this game very well, I learned this variant before the real chess…
    Here are the some you are missing…
    +The king can move like a horse, on his own first move ; but only if you are not in check or already checked…
    +If you captured all you opponent's peices, and only his/her king is left it is considered to be a draw because king is considered Immortral ; So you can not capture the last piece with king
    ………………………………

  12. E L E P H A N T S ! ? ! ? W H A A A A A A A A A ?

  13. Chariot and elephant make way more sense than bishop and castle

  14. This is where the old Greek name for chess, Ζατρίκιον, comes from.
    Also, Knight is still called horse, rook is called the tower and pawns still called soldiers in Greece.

  15. Wait isn't the councelor called the ferz

  16. 1:05 I wish normal chess had this rule. Forcing your opponent out of a legal move should be considered a victory.

  17. fun fact. In Arabic the regular Chess is litterally called Shatranj.

  18. Chess game has came from India, and in Hindi it's called "शतरंज"

    Also, I am from India

  19. The counselor looks like a queen except the queen bent one part of her crown.

  20. In turkish we call chess satranç. It reads like suth-runch. Following is like:
    Pawn- piyon(soldier)
    Rock- kale(castle)
    Knight- at(horse)
    Bishop- fil(elephant)
    Quenn- vezir(prime minister in ottoman)
    King- şah(king in ottoman)
    Rules are exactly the same.

  21. It's how chess should be played. It's more like in a real war situation than it is now. Current rules are more towards finishing the game faster and don't allow you to have even a slight disadvantage. You certainly will lose if you down materials. But in shatranj, you can still win even with materials down (not too big) if you have a better strategy than your opponent.

  22. In Iran the queen is called the vazier. If you think about it , it makes a lot more sense than a queen. The vazier, or advisor / counselor / prime minister, does all the actual work and is actually the most powerful but is at the behest of the king. A queen doesn’t do anything if the king controls the kingdom. And also making it a queen makes the game stupidly gendered. The queen should be called the vazier or councilor

  23. Fun fact : In india and Iran rugular chess is called shatranj

  24. In India we to call the pieces with different names
    Pawn- soldier
    Rook- elephant
    Knight- horse
    Bishop- camel
    Queen and king are same

  25. To all the commenters saying "this is the name for chess in our language" – yes. That is because modern "chess" is actually kind of unique for not being called "santaraj" or some closely associated/similarly derived word. This version of chess aims to create rules that are more similar to these "santaraj" versions of chess, which are now no longer really played.

  26. So it’s basically Chinese chess just with the counselor and mor peices then Chinese chess

  27. There is no term like" Shatranj chess".
    "Shatranj " is the original name of 2 player chess originated in India and spread and accepted by same name in Persia and Arab.

  28. In my country, Russia, many pieces retain their original names (like in many arabic and other eastern countries, too):
    Knight – Horse/steed (rus. Конь)
    Queen – Advisor/Visier (pers. فرزین‎ (ferzin)/turk. Färz) (rus. Ферзь)
    Bishop – Elephant (rus. Слон)
    Now about the rook, it is not named after the persian word for "chariot" (رخ (rokh/rukh)), but after a type of boat the name of which is of russian origin, "Ladya" (rus. Ладья) (with pressure on the last "a"). This could've been a misinterpretation of the arabic rook, which was V – shaped, and thus looked a bit like a boat of some sort, it seems.

    P. S. The "Ladya" also used to be called "Tura" (rus. Тура) (with pressure on the "a"), which is derived from latin "Turris", meaning "Tower". This name has long become archaic of some sort in Russia.

  29. I introduce cardinal
    Moves like a knight but 1 square further diagnally

  30. I like the idea of the stalemate being a win.
    For one, it makes sense, since if there was no stalemate rule, the person being stalemated would eventually lose by running out of time.

    It would also make the game more beginner friendly, since it's very easy to accidentally stalemate when you don't know the proper way to get checkmates in certain endgames.

    Lastly, I don't see how a surrounded commander/leader with no way of escaping would be considered an equal position for both sides

  31. There is nothing like Shatranj chess.
    Shatranj is the old name of chess only.
    Shatranj name is derived from Chatrang or Chaturanga.
    Chaturanga is the oldest game of chess- played in both 2 and 4 player version.
    CHATUR–MEANS" 4 " and ranga means division.
    So Chaturanga means 4 divisions of army( Chariot(rook), Horse (knight), Elephant (Bishop) and pawns.

  32. I always thought that “stalemating” your opener into no legal moves should have been a win anyways

  33. कौटिल्य धूत षडयंत्र (वास्तविक शतरंज) says:

    Unfortunately, Shatranj is evolved from Shatranjan. Shatranjan is played on Dashpaad board. Iranian Variant is incomplete game.
    Kautilya Shadyantra is complete game.

  34. The elephant is very restricted with movements I doubt there is more than 12 squares they stand on

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