Makruk is Thailand's traditional relative of chess: the met and khon move one square, pawns promote to met on the sixth rank and endgames use counting.
8×8 board. White: rooks a1/h1, knights b1/g1, khons c1/f1, king d1, met e1 and pawns on the third rank. Black: rooks a8/h8, knights b8/g8, khons c8/f8, met d8, king e8 and pawns on the sixth rank. The kings do not face each other. White moves first.
King, rook and knight move as in chess. A khon steps one square diagonally or straight forward; a met steps one square diagonally. Pawns advance one square and capture diagonally. There is no pawn double step or castling.
Checkmate wins. Stalemate is a draw, and there is no 50-move rule. Once no unpromoted pawns remain, a 64-move count begins. When one side has only its king left, the count restarts from the number of pieces on the board, and the attacker must mate by count 8 with two rooks, 16 with one rook, 22 with two khons, 32 with two knights, 44 with one khon, or 64 otherwise. If the count runs out without checkmate, the game is drawn. A player may claim a draw on threefold repetition; a position where neither side can checkmate is drawn automatically.
A pawn reaching its sixth rank is automatically promoted to a met; no other piece can be chosen. Counting starts once no unpromoted pawns remain on the board.
Board setup, special rules and winning conditions for Makruk.
A white pawn reaching a6 becomes a met; it does not wait to reach a8.
Makruk, or Thai chess, is Thailand's traditional relative of chess, played on an 8×8 board. Each side has 16 pieces. Pawns start on the third rank and promote to met on the sixth. The met replaces the queen but moves one square diagonally; the khon, in place of the bishop, moves one square diagonally or straight forward. White moves first; checkmate wins, and endgame counting can force a draw.
King, rook and knight move as in chess, but the met steps one square diagonally and the khon one square diagonally or straight forward. Pawns start on the third rank, promote automatically to a met on the sixth, and there is no castling or pawn double step.
Once no unpromoted pawns remain, a 64-move count begins. If one side is left with only its king, the count restarts from the number of pieces on the board, and the attacker must mate by 8, 16, 22, 32, 44 or 64 depending on its pieces. The board shows the count, and the game is drawn when it runs out.
White's king starts on d1 with the met on e1, while Black's met is on d8 and its king on e8. Unlike chess, the two kings do not face each other on the same file. The khons stand on the c and f files, next to the knights.
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Play Makruk on one deviceMakruk. Read the setup, legal moves, special rules and end conditions before starting. The guide describes the variant used on ChessPlayX, including differences from other versions where relevant.
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