Maharajah and the Sepoys, originally called Shatranj Diwana Shah and also known as the Mad King's Game and Maharajah chess,
is a popular
chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways.
"International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...
with different armies for White and Black. It was first played in the 19th century in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. It is a
solved game
A solved game is a game whose outcome (win, lose or draw) can be correctly predicted from any position, assuming that both players play perfectly.
This concept is usually applied to abstract strategy games, and especially to games with full inform ...
with a forced win for Black.
Game rules
Black has a full, standard
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
army ("
sepoy
''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its ot ...
s") in the usual position. White is limited to a single piece, the ''
maharajah'', which can move as either a
queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
or as a
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
on White's turn (analogous to the
amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
fairy chess piece). Black's goal is to
checkmate
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess, the king is ...
the maharajah, while White's is to checkmate Black's king. There is no
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
.
The asymmetry of the game pits movement flexibility and agility against greater force in numbers. By
perfect play, Black always wins in this game, at least on an 8×8 board. According to
Hans Bodlaender, "A carefully playing black player should be able to win. However, this is not always easy, and in many cases, when the white 'Maharaja' breaks through the lines of black, he has good chances to win."
Winning strategy
The maharajah can pose a serious threat and even win against a weak opponent. Its strategy is to clean as many black pieces as possible in the early game using
forks
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods eit ...
(attacking more than one unprotected piece at once) as the main tactic; after sufficiently cleaning the board, it should use checks to chase the black king away from its other pieces, drive it to an edge of the board and give checkmate.
Maharajah's critical weakness is that it is
royal
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ...
, so it cannot do exchanges, meaning it cannot capture black pieces that are protected. So the Sepoys' winning tactic is to make moves in such a way that all their pieces stay protected while gradually taking away available squares from the maharajah.
One example line of moves that gives Black a in 24 moves goes like the following (White's moves are unimportant as, in this variation, White cannot legally capture any piece or be
stalemated):
:1... d5 2... Nc6 3... Qd6 4... e5 5... Nf6 6... a5 7... Ra6 8... Rb6 9... Bg4 10... e4 11... Qe5 12... Be7 13... 0-0 14... Rb2 15... Ra8 16... Ra6 17... Rab6 18... R6b3 19... h5 20... g5 21... Nh7 22... Qd4
Now, if the maharajah is on a1, then:
:23... Rb1 24... R3b2 (diagram)
Else:
:23... Qd1# 0–1
History
Descriptions of this chess variant can be traced as far back as the 12th century in the ''
Mānasollāsa'', which refers to the game as ''sarvatobhadra'' (). It is a variant of
chaturanga
Chaturanga ( sa, चतुरङ्ग; ') is an ancient Indian strategy game. While there is some uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is that it is the common ancestor of the board games chess (European), xiangqi (Chines ...
that is determined by each player throwing two or so dice. Supposedly, the multiple dice were used to expand the rolling player's possible choices. The values on each die correspond to which types of pieces to be moved; the player with the Maharajah is forced to move it like a piece as indicated by the dice.
The chaturanga variant was revived by the 1871 Indian encyclopedia of games ''Kridakaushalya'', which revised it using the moves of modern chess pieces. It was first described in the Western world in 1892 by
Edward Falkener
Edward Falkener (1814–1896) was an English architect and author.
Life
Born in London on 28 February 1814, he was the son of Lyon Falkener, head of the ordnance department in the Tower of London. He was educated at a private school in Kent, and ...
, who called it "The Maharajah and the Sepoys".
See also
* Manchu chess
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maharajah And The Sepoys
Chess variants
Chess in India
19th-century board games
Solved games