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Rules of Chaturanga - Davidson Variation
Chaturanga - Davidson Variation Presets:
- Original ashtapada Indian board.
- Alternate uncheckered plain Persian board (without ashtapada markings).
This preset enforces the rules for Henry A. Davidson's variation of Chaturanga, as described in his 1949 book: A Short History of Chess.
Summary of the rules:
- The object of the game is to capture or Bare the opponent's King.
- Bare King counts as a loss for the lone King, provided the latter cannot also bare his/her opponent's King on the very next move. Two bare Kings count as a draw.
- There is no checkmate or stalemate.
- Kings move like in orthodox chess, one square in any direction. However, unlike in chess, Kings are allowed to move into "check" and risk being captured.
- There is no castling rule.
- Queens or Ministers, move only one square diagonally, like a Ferz.
- Elephants move like Burmese Elephants, Makruk Bishops or Shogi Silver Generals (one square either diagonally or straight forward).
- Pawns move and capture just like their Orthodox Chess counterparts; one step foward for movement and diagonally to capture. Pawns do not have a 2-step initial move, consequently there is no en passant rule. Pawns promote upon reaching their 8th rank to Queens (Ferz).
- Knights and Rooks move like in orthodox Chess.
- Davidson was not clear as to whether Kings faced each other across the board in the opening setup or not. This preset uses the same setup for the King and Queen as Makruk (Thai Chess), which allows for the Queens (Ministers) to face each other during battle. (otherwise the initial two Queens would behave similar to two enemy Bishops on opposite colored squares in Chess)
Why in the world would Kings be allowed to put themselves into "check" and risk being captured?
Henry A. Davidson must have believed that this option was available in India for at least four possible reasons:
1. Blunders - A player making such a mistake, carelessly putting his/her King into check deserves to lose the game. Plain and simple!
2. Surrender - Instead of resigning, players whose position is hopeless may choose to surrender their forces with honor by sacrificing their King.
3. and 4. are that since (according to Davidson) checkmate and stalemate were Persian concepts previously unknown in India, there had to be a way for games to continue to an end when either of these two "Persian" situations arose in play. See the diagrams below:
Sample "Persian" checkmate and stalemate situations in Chaturanga
Should the above situations arise in Chaturanga, according to Davidson, the game would need to carry on, and black would be forced to play on. Therefore:
In the board on the left, black (who is in check) would need to play with any of his pieces (including the King), and white would formally end the game with his/her next move: QxK# (if black played Ka7 or Kc7) or RxK# (for any other black move).
In the case of the diagram in the right, black is not in check, but given that he/she is forced to move (stalemates didn't exist according to Davidson), then any King move will put him in check, and white will promote to queen and win with either PxK=Q# (if black played Kd8 or Kf8), or KxK# (should black play Kd7, Kxe7 or Kf7).
In the notation above, the checkmate symbol "#" is used to represent a King's capture.
In the diagram above left (which is after 1.Rf8+) since in this variation the Kings can remain in check, black might as well play: 1... Qc2+! Now both Kings are in check, and should white blunder and not capture the enemy king, black could have the 2... QxK# option available.
If Davidson was correct (about Kings being able to move into check and to be captured), this would make an interesting alternative evolution story from Chaturanga to Shatranj:
- The introduction of the checkmate concept by the Persians.
- Make it illegal for a King to play into check.
- As a consequence of the previous point, the creation of the stalemate concept.
- The Burmese Elephant gets replaced by a Persian Alfil; which moved two spaces diagonally, leaping over the intervening space.
- Making Kings and Queens to face each other across the board.
The last point is the most familiar difference to Chess Players between these two ancient games. Davidson provides us a plausible alternative story for the transition from the Indian game to the Persian variation.
Notes about this preset:
- This preset detects when a King has been captured, which ends the game.
- This preset enforces the Bare King rule as follows:
- Lone King versus King + 2 (or more) pieces: automatic loss for the lone King.
- Lone King versus Lone King: automatic draw.
- Lone King versus King + 1 piece: The Lone King will be allowed one more move. If the lone King does not bare the opponent on this additional move: automatic loss for the lone King.
- This preset warns players when they are in "check", but it will not force the player to move out of check, as King captures were part of the Indian game according to Davidson.
- However, when a traditional "checkmate" or "stalemate" situation arises, this preset will only warn players that they must play on, as the game must ultimately end with a King capture.
- Alternately, players may end the game with the Game Courier commands: resign or drawn, as applicable.
Read more about Chaturanga here.
Game Courier Logs
Game Courier Logs for Games of Chaturanga Variations
How to Move Pieces
Full Algebraic Notation
Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.
It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.
Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.
You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".
You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.
You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.
Available Pieces
Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.
These pieces come from a set containing more pieces, but this preset has had the set of pieces reduced to those used in the game.
Credits
This preset uses the Alfaerie settings file for Chaturanga - Davidson Variation, which was made by Jose Carrillo.
Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017
WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001
Kibbitzing Etiquette
Kibbitzing is the practice of commenting on a game you are not playing. In commenting on a game, please follow these rules of etiquette.
(1) If you notice that someone has made an illegal move, please mention it. Some Game Courier presets cannot enforce rules, but Game Courier does enable players to take back any previous move. Details on how to take back a move are provided in the User's Guide, linked to above the board.
(2) Unless otherwise specifically asked to, do not offer hints or suggestions to players on what moves they should make. In general, avoid coaching comments.
(3) Once a game is over, it should be alright to offer your analysis of the game and your specific comments on what moves players should have made. If some players don't want this, they may mention it in the Kibbitzing section, and you should honor this request by not commenting on the game.
(4) Be polite. At the appropriate time, offer any criticism you have in a constructive manner. Avoid heckling players for bad moves.
(5) Don't spam this space with irrelevant comments. If you have a comment about Game Courier, rather than about the specific game you're viewing, please post it on Game Courier's Index page to give it.