| Italic Title: | no |
| Makruk | |
| Players: | 2 |
| Setup Time: | < 1 minute |
| Playing Time: | From 20 minutes to several hours |
| Random Chance: | None |
| Skills: | Strategy, tactics |
| Aka: | Thai chess |
Makruk (th|หมากรุก; ;[1] pronounced as /th/), or Thai chess (th|[[:th:หมากรุกไทย|หมากรุกไทย]]; ; pronounced as /th/), is a strategy board game that is descended from the 6th-century Indian game of chaturanga or a close relative thereof, and is therefore related to chess. It is part of the family of chess variants.[2]
In Cambodia, where basically the same game is played, it is known as ouk (km|[[:km:អុក|អុក]], in Central Khmer pronounced as /ʔok/) or ouk chatrang (km|អុកចត្រង្គ, in Central Khmer pronounced as /ʔok.caʔ.ˈtrɑŋ/).
The Persian traders came to the Ayutthaya kingdom around the 14th century to spread their culture and to trade with the Thai kingdom. It is therefore possible that the Siamese makruk, in its present form, was directly derived from the Persian game of shatranj via the cultural exchange between the two peoples in this period. This is because the movement of makruk's queen, or the "seed" (th|เม็ด), is essentially the same as the ferz in shatranj.
However, it is more likely that the game came more directly from India given the name similarities between chaturanga and the Cambodian name, ouk chaktrang (km|អុកចត្រង្គ), and the way the "nobleman" (th|โคน, km|គោល) moves. In his History of Chess, Murray suggests it may have followed the expansion of Buddhism in the area.[3]
| English | king (1) | queen (1) | bishop (2) | knight (2) | rook (2) | pawn (8) | promoted pawn (queen) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | ขุน | เม็ด | โคน | ม้า | เรือ | เบี้ย | เบี้ยหงาย | |
| RTGS | khun | met | khon | ma | ruea | bia | bia-ngai | |
| Meaning | lord | seed | nobleman | horse | boat | cowrie shell | overturned cowrie shell |
In the starting position, cowrie are placed on the third and sixth . Seeds are placed at the right side of lords.
| ○ | ● | ○ | |||
| บ | |||||
| ● | ● | ||||
| ม็ | |||||
| ● | ● | ||||
| ● | ● | ● | |||
| ค | |||||
| ● | ● | ||||
| ● | ● | ||||
| ● | ● | ||||
| ม | |||||
| ● | ● | ||||
| ● | ● |
| │ | |||||
| │ | |||||
| ─ | ─ | ร | ─ | ─ | |
| │ | |||||
| │ |
| ● | ● | ● | |||
| ● | ข | ● | |||
| ● | ● | ● | |||
When neither side has any cowries, the game must be completed within a certain number of moves or it is declared a draw. When a piece is captured the count restarts only if it is the last piece of a player in the game.
When the last piece (that is not the lord) of the disadvantaged player is captured, the count may be started, or restarted from the aforementioned counting, by the weaker player, and the stronger player now has a maximum number of moves based on the pieces left:
The disadvantaged player announces the counting of his fleeing moves, starting from the number of pieces left on the board, including both lords. The winning player has to checkmate his opponent's lord before the maximum number is announced, otherwise the game is declared a draw. During this process, the count may restart if the counting player would like to stop and start counting again.
For example, if White has two boats and a horse against a lone black lord, he has three moves to checkmate his opponent (the given value of 8 minus the total number of pieces, 5). If Black captures a white boat, the count does not automatically restart, unless Black is willing to do so, at his own disadvantage. However, many players do not understand this and restart the counting while fleeing with the lord.
There are rules which do not apply to the standard, formal game, or have been abandoned in professional play. They are called sutras. The first free moves are similar to those in Cambodian ouk.
Cambodia has a variant of chess that was introduced in southeast Asia centuries ago, called ouk (Central Khmer: អុក in Central Khmer pronounced as /ʔok/)[4] or ouk chaktrang (Central Khmer: អុកចត្រង្គ[5] in Central Khmer pronounced as /ʔok.caʔ.ˈtrɑŋ/ or in Central Khmer pronounced as /ʔok.cat.ˈtrɑŋ/), with minor differences to the Thai version of chess.[6] In Vietnam, ouk is called cờ ốc, meaning "shell chess", as the shape of the pieces resemble shells.
The main rules difference involves the first movement of the lord and seed. If no pieces have been captured, the players have these options:
There is evidence that ouk has been played in Cambodia since the twelfth century, as it is depicted in several reliefs in the Angkor temples.
The first nationwide ouk tournament was held 3–4 April 2008, upon the completion of a standardized rule set by the Olympic Committee of Cambodia and the Cambodian Chess Association.[7]
In a variant known as kar ouk (also known as ka ouk), the first player to put the other in check wins. Another variant of Cambodian chess was described by David Pritchard in the first edition of The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, but this was later determined to have been included in error as no such game was played in Cambodia.[8]
Ouk is one of three traditional sports introduced by Cambodia at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, along with the martial arts of Bokator and Kun Khmer.