Makruk vs Computer

How to play Makruk (Thai Chess)

Makruk, often called Thai chess, is the traditional chess of Thailand, and a very close cousin of Cambodian Ouk Chatrang. Like international chess and Chinese chess, it descends from the ancient Indian game of chaturanga, but it has kept many of the older, slower rules that European chess left behind. Two players face each other across an 8×8 board and try to checkmate the enemy King. What makes Makruk special is its short-range pieces: the Met and the Khon can only step one square at a time, so the game is quieter and more manoeuvring than fast, sweeping international chess. Play a friend on the same screen, or challenge the computer at three difficulty levels and earn ranking points for every win.

The goal

The goal is the same as in chess: trap the enemy King so that it is under attack (in check) and cannot escape. That is checkmate, and it wins the game instantly. If the player to move has no legal move but is NOT in check, the game is a stalemate and counts as a draw. There is no capturing of the King itself — you win the moment escape becomes impossible.

The board and starting position

Makruk uses an 8×8 board, the same size as international chess, but the army is arranged differently. Each side has one King (Khun), one Met, two Khon, two Ma, two Ruea and eight Bia. The Ruea, Ma and Khon fill the back rank exactly as in chess, but the King and Met stand side by side in the centre — and they are mirrored, so your King faces the enemy Met and your Met faces the enemy King. The most striking difference is the pawns: the eight Bia do NOT start on the second rank but on the THIRD rank, one row further forward. That means the two pawn walls begin only three empty rows apart, and skirmishes start almost immediately.

The pieces and how they move

• Khun (King): moves exactly like a chess king — one square in any of the eight directions. It may never move into check. There is no castling in Makruk.
• Met (Queen): the weakest "royal" piece. It moves only ONE square diagonally in any of the four diagonal directions — nothing like the powerful chess queen. Because it is so short-range, the Met is worth only a little more than a pawn.
• Khon (Bishop / "silver general"): moves one square diagonally in any of the four directions, OR one square straight forward. It never moves straight backward or sideways, so a Khon slowly loses power as it advances. Its forward direction depends on its colour.
• Ma (Knight): moves exactly like a chess knight — an L-shape of two squares then one at a right angle — and it is the only piece that jumps over others. In Makruk the Ma is one of the strongest pieces, because the diagonal movers around it are so weak.
• Ruea (Rook / "boat"): moves exactly like a chess rook — any number of empty squares horizontally or vertically. It is by far the most powerful piece on the board and dominates open files and ranks.
• Bia (Pawn / "cowrie shell"): moves one square straight forward to an empty square and captures one square diagonally forward, just like a chess pawn. But it has NO two-square first move and there is NO en passant. Bia start on the third rank and promote when they reach the sixth.

Pawn promotion

A Bia does not have to march all the way to the far end of the board. Because it starts on the third rank, it promotes as soon as it reaches the SIXTH rank — the promotion zone that would be the enemy pawns' starting row. When a Bia reaches that rank it is immediately turned over and becomes a Met. There is only one promotion piece in Makruk, so promotion is automatic: every promoted Bia becomes a Met, never a Ruea or Ma. A promoted Met moves exactly like any other Met (one diagonal step), so promotion is useful but far less decisive than queening a pawn in international chess.

How Makruk differs from international chess

• The Met replaces the queen and is dramatically weaker — one diagonal step only, instead of gliding across the whole board.
• The Khon replaces the bishop; it steps one square diagonally or one square straight forward, and cannot slide along a diagonal.
• Pawns (Bia) start on the third rank, have no two-square move and no en passant, and promote on the sixth rank — always to a Met.
• There is no castling; the King is an ordinary one-square mover from the very first move. Bare-king endgames end under a counting rule instead of dragging on forever.

Winning, draws and the counting rule

You win by checkmating the enemy King. A game is drawn by stalemate (no legal move while not in check) or by the counting rule. Because Makruk has so many weak pieces, an endgame with only a lone King left on one side can be very hard to finish — so tradition adds a counting rule that limits how long the stronger side may take to force mate. This app uses a simplified version: if a long stretch of moves passes with no capture and no pawn move — which is exactly what a drawn bare-King ending looks like — the game is declared a draw. In the two-player game you can use Undo to take back a move if a finger slips.

Playing the computer (ranked)

In "Makruk vs Computer" you choose your colour and one of three difficulty levels. Easy plays loosely and makes deliberate mistakes, so beginners can win. Normal looks a couple of moves ahead and punishes obvious blunders. Expert searches deeper, defends its King carefully and rarely misses a forced mate. The computer thinks entirely on your device, so it works offline. Beat it to earn ranking points — Easy +10, Normal +30, Expert +100 — and sign in to put your best result on the leaderboard.

Strategy tips

• Value your Ruea and Ma. With the diagonal pieces so weak, the rooks and knights do most of the real fighting — trading a Ruea for a Khon or Met is almost always a good deal for the side that keeps the rook.
• Do not overrate the Met. It guards only the four squares next to it, so use it as a defensive shield and a support for advancing pawns rather than an attacking force.
• Push connected Bia together. Because pawns start on the third rank and promote on the sixth, promotion is realistic — a healthy pawn that reaches the sixth rank becomes a Met and can tip a close endgame.
• Remember the Khon only moves forward, never straight back. Once it advances it cannot easily return to defend, so develop your Khon toward useful diagonals and keep them near the King early on.
• Aim your attack at the enemy King directly. With no long-range queen or bishop to defend, a King caught in the centre or short of defenders is far more vulnerable than in international chess.

Frequently asked questions