Pieces
- Raja (King) - Moves like the king in chess.
- Mantri (Minister); also known as Senapati (General) - Moves one square diagonally, like the Fers in shatranj.
- Ratha (Chariot); also spelled Śakata - Moves like the rook in chess.
- Gaja (Elephant) - Three different moves are described in ancient literature:
- Two squares in any diagonal direction, jumping over one square, as the Alfil in shatranj.
- The same move is used for the Boat in a four-handed version of chaturangam, chaturaji.
- The Elephant in xiangqi (Chinese chess) has the same move, but without jumping. (The name Elephant is used for a fairy chess piece with this move: a (2, 2) leaper, but one that cannot jump over an intervening piece.)
- One square forward or one square in any diagonal direction
- This is the same move as the Silver General in shogi.
- In makruk (Thai chess) and sittuyin (Burmese chess) the elephant moves in the same way.
- This move was described c. 1030 by Biruni in his India book.
- Two squares in any orthogonal direction, jumping over one square. (In modern chess, the rook moves orthogonally.)
- A piece with such a move is called a Dabbābah in some chess variants. This move was described by the Arabic chess master al-Adli c. 840 in his (partly lost) chess work. (The Arabic word dabbābah in former times meant a covered siege engine for attacking walled fortifications, and nowadays means "army tank").
- The German historian Johannes Kohtz (1843–1918) suggests, rather, that this was the earliest move of the Ratha.
- A piece with such a move is called a Dabbābah in some chess variants. This move was described by the Arabic chess master al-Adli c. 840 in his (partly lost) chess work. (The Arabic word dabbābah in former times meant a covered siege engine for attacking walled fortifications, and nowadays means "army tank").
- Two squares in any diagonal direction, jumping over one square, as the Alfil in shatranj.
- Ashva (Horse); also spelled Ashwa, Asva - Moves like the knight in chess.
- Padàti/Bhata (Foot-soldier); also spelled Pedati, Bhata; also known as Sainik (Warrior)—Moves like the pawn in chess.
Al-Adli also mentions two further differences:
- Stalemate was a win for a stalemated player. This rule appeared again in some medieval chess variations in England c. 1600. According to some sources, there was no stalemate, though this is improbable.
- The player that is first to bare the opponent's king (capture all the pieces except the king) wins. In shatranj this is also a win, but only if the opponent cannot bare the player's king on the next move in return.
Read more about this topic: Chaturanga
Famous quotes containing the word pieces:
“Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight!”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
“To save the theatre, the theatre must be destroyed, the actors and actresses must all die of the plague. They poison the air, they make art impossible. It is not drama that they play, but pieces for the theatre. We should return to the Greeks, play in the open air; the drama dies of stalls and boxes and evening dress, and people who come to digest their dinner.”
—Eleonora Duse (1859–1924)
“The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)