CHESMAYNE
barclona “the windmills of your mind”
Cambodian
Cambodian Chess link:
www.timkrabbe.nl by
Tim Krabbe Chess in Cambodia
The Cambodian chessboard is 9 x 9 cells in size - see diagram below.
There are a total of 36 MPs/mps (18 pieces for each player)…
1 King KI
2 Rook RO1 and RO2
2 Knight KT1 and KT2
2 Elephant EP1 and EP2
2 Official OF1 and OF2
9 Fish FH1 to FH9
There are a total of 18 MPs/mps per side in Cambodian chess.
Moving ability of the Cambodian Fish
Monogram: Fish (FH) FH1, FH2, FH3 etc.
First
Move Option: (FMO): 1 cell straight forward
Capture (*): 1 cell straight forward
All
other Moves: (AOM): moves the same as a KI (2nd
move)
Promotable (#): No (FHs move as KIs on the top 4 ranks).
The KI is the same as used in traditional chess.
The RO is the same as used in traditional chess.
The KT is the same as used in traditional chess.
The Elephants (EP1 and EP2)
move as a KI but are not permitted to capture
behind. Note: The EL (elephant) is used
in Shatranj, EL1 and EL2. The ET (elephant) is used in Burmese
chess, ET1 and ET2 [note that a different monogram is used to distinguish between these two
types of elephant].
The Officials (OF1 and OF2) move one cell diagonally (4
directions) but are only permitted to capture forward (2 directions).
The Fish (FH1 to FH9)
move (FMO) and capture (*) one cell forward.
They cannot retreat. For :A
they commence the game
on rank-4. For :B
they commence the game on rank-6. On reaching rank-6 (for :A) they move as a
KI (rank-4 for :B).
How to set-up the Cambodian chess board (ISP)…
RO2 KT2 EP2 OF2 -KI OF1
EP1 KT1 RO1 Rank-9
--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- --- --- Rank-8
--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- --- --- Rank-7
FH9 FH8 FH7 FH6 FH5 FH4
FH3 FH2 FH1 Rank-6
--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- --- --- Rank-5
FH1 FH2 FH3 FH4 FH5 FH6
FH7 FH8 FH9 Rank-4
--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- --- --- Rank-3
--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- --- --- Rank-2
RO1 KT1 EP1 OF1 -KI OF2
EP2 KT2 RO2 Rank-1
-A- -B-
-C- -D- -E- -F- -G- -H- -J-
Hill’s “Cambodian”
Chess
Pritchard presents the Hill’s game as “an
old variant displaying
elements of Burmese Chess, Chaturanga and Makruk”. This definition could certainly have been
applied to the real ‘Ouk Chatrang’ but not at all to the game he is
presenting! Actually, the Hill’s game
appears to be a sort of hybrid between Xiangqi and Makruk
rather and nobody can tell why it is supposed to be old. Here the rules are given by Pritchard
according to Hill’s details.
Each side has 18
men: 1 King, 2 Boat, Elephant, Horse, Official, 9 Fish. The array is displayed
above. The pieces are figurines, the pawns [FH]
are disks. The board is an 8 x 8 uncheckered board but play
occurs on the intersections (9 x 9).
Comments…….
From Makruk, one finds the
King, the Horse, the full line of Pawns in an advanced position and the
uncheckered 8 x 8 board. The Rook is
common to all chess games, Xianqi included, but the name of ‘Boat’ is from
Makruk. From Xiangqi, one finds the
play on intersections, the first line
of 9 pieces [mps]. The Fish, FH (or, Cambodian Pawn) and its promotion is very
original although inspired by Xiangqi.
The Official is original
although inspired by its counterpart which is identical in Makruk and
Xiangqi. Then, this game looks like a
puzzling hybrid. If this is true, it
would be a very important stepping-stone in the history of Chess, being a
bridge between the Western and Oriental
games.
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Both national
varieties are in fact almost the same game. The very first account of ‘Siamese Chess’
is due to La Loubère, the ambassador of French KI Louis XIV to
the Kingdom of Siam in 1687-8. More
was given by Captain James Low to Asiatic Researches in 1836 and, finally,
Edward Falkener supplied reliable information he had got from Prince
Devawongsee, Minister of Foreign
Affairs of H.M. the KI of Siam, in 1889.
Siamese Chess, also known as Makruk is now one of the better
recognized Chess variants. It is a
very lively game, played in Thailand and set
can be easily bought through the Internet.
Makruk is also
widely played in Cambodia as attested by Tim
Krabbé. In a very
important article, Cambodian Chess is described with details by Vuthy
Tan. However, his page is
becoming old (June 13, 1998) and its disappearance can be feared. Therefore, it has been decided to offer
here a mirror for this precious page…….
Mirror
page: Cambodian Chess
Games by Vuthy Tan.
History:
Ouk Chatrang
was probably played in Cambodia for a long time, as it is depicted in several
reliefs found on the Angkor temples which date from the XIIth
century.
Also, they were
attested by Marco Polo: in 1285, he went to “Cyamba” which is Champa, a
Kingdom located in South Vietnam. His book says…….
“Il y a olifans assez en ce royaulme et si
ont aussi lingaloes assez et si ont moult grant planté de grans bois et si
ont fust noir que l’en appelle ybenus et dont l’en fait les eschiez noirs”
or, in English…….
“There
are elephants
in this realm and they also have a lot of aloe wood and they have black wood
named ebony from which black chess pieces are made”.
Chinese chess
which is used today in Vietnam (Tuo-cong) did not use ebony pieces, then it is
very likely that what Marco Polo actually saw was a cousin of Cambodian
Chess. Thanks to Thierry Depaulis for drawing my attention to this point.
Below: Wooden
set used in Cambodia.
Traditional set
Scan from
Gareth Williams, “Master Pieces”, Apple Press, London, 2000
Plastic
set sold
in Thailand
Red and
white, photograph from James Master
Black and
red, photograph by Hans Bodlaender
Discussion…….
In the 1st
millennium AD, the Indian culture
spread into south-east Asia. Under the
influence of Tamil spice traders coming from the South of India and Ceylon,
especially under the Chola dynasty, several Indianised kingdoms were founded
like Srivijaya in Sumatra and Java, Champa in South Vietnam, Zhenla and other
Khmer states in Cambodia, etc.
Magnificent temples in Borobudur (Java) or Angkor (Cambodia) are still
there to remember. Indians brought
Hinduism, Buddhism, Sanskrit and writing alphabets, and also Chaturanga.
The first
kingdoms founded by the Khmer people, Funan, Zhenla, fell under Javan
domination cerca 700. Jayavarman II, a
prince educated in Java founded the Angkor Khmer kingdom in 802. Then, it can be assumed that Chess came to
Cambodia from Java which in turn acquired it from South-East Indians. Thai
people migrated from China in the Xth century, then founded
several states. In 1431 they seized
Angkor and assimilated the Khmer kingdom.
They probably learned Chess from the Cambodians and this is the reason
why Cambodian Chess and Thai Chess are so identical.
The great Chess
historian Murray confessed: “It is not possible to discover any trace of
Indian ancestry in the nomenclature of Siamese Chess”. However, “Mak” is the word used for games
in Thai and “Ruk” could come from Cambodian
"ruk" or "ouk" meaning Check or Chess. Then “Makruk” would simply be “The Chess
game” - from a private discussion
with Th. Depaulis.
* A ‘seed’ is weird in this chess
context. The name could originate from
the Sanskrit “Mantri” ( ie, counsellor, minister) which was used in India as
well as in Malaysia and Java.
This South-East
Asian Chess is probably the closest to the original Chess which comes from
India. It has several similarities
with the Sittuyin played in Burma but the
latter seems more elaborated. In
Malaysia and Indonesia, Chess (Main Chator) was latter influenced by
Europeans - Portuguese, Dutch and English - and therefore, has lost some
original rules and characteristics (for instance, they adopted the modern
move of QU and BS).
There are several
points which merit a discussion…….
- The bulky shape of the piece is
apparently an old tradition since it can be seen on Angkor temples. Only the Horse has a
recognizable form. A very similar
design is found on the set of Malay Chess shown in Murray’s ‘History of
Chess’. That reinforces the link between Cambodia and Malay/Java.
- A Boat is
used in place of the RO. This is known to be common in India
as well, especially in the South and in the East (Bengal) and also in
Java according to Murray. (It is
also the case in Russia but we think that the reason is different). Boats are attested for sure in Indian
Chess since circa 1500.
Replacing the Chariot by a
Boat in the warfare for people trading and struggling onto the seas is
something which can be easily understood. It reinforces the maritime arrival of
Chess in this region.
- The sense
of Elephant (BS) is
hidden both in the name and in the form of the piece. In the battlefield, in troop parades,
noblemen used to
sit on the back of elephants.
Also, one can say that elephants are the pillars of the fighting
army.
- More
important is the move associated to this piece: it can step 1 case in
the 4 diagonal directions as well as straight forward. This move was already attested by the
Persian al-Beruni in India,
his account of his trip in that country circa 1030. He said that these 5
directions were to remind one of the four feet and the trunk of the
animal! The original Elephant
move which consisted in a diagonal leap on the 2nd
square/cell allowed it to reach only 1/8th of the board. This initial weakness received
attention in different regions in the world: the Koreans gave their
Elephant an elongated KTs move
(see Changgi), the
Europeans invented our modern BS sometime
around the end of the Middle Ages.
This 5-limb stepping, probably born in Buddhist centers according
to H.J.R. Murray, is a third response.
- The PAs
[FHs] are in an advanced position, on the 3rd line. This was probably adopted to
accelerate the original game which was slow. Again, it can be compared to other
solutions made in other places like the Arab Ta’biyat in Shatranj or the
initial phase (werera)
in the Ethiopian
Senterej.
- The PAs
[mps] are either flat tokens or cowrie shell (having a slot on one
face). They get their promotion
when reaching the 6th row (the 3rd from the
opponent’s edge). Then, they are
turned upside down to show that promotion.
The
last 4 points can also be found in Shogi,
the Japanese Chess. Modern Shogi historians now believe that Shogi has been
influenced by Chess played in the South-East regions. There were frequented commercial maritime
routes connecting Japan to India through the Malay Straits in those
times.
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Introduction
Ouk Chatrang: Cambodian Chess
Play
Setting and Object of Game
Chessboard
and Forces
Initial
Position or Arrangement
Power
of Move
Promotion
of Fish
Order
of Individual Relative Values
Draws
of Game
Another
Style of Game
Rek: A Variant of Chess
Settings
and Rules
Another
Style of Game, Too
Glossary
of Cambodian Chess Games
Bibliography
Footnotes
This page is
particularly concerned with “Cambodian chess games”. “Cambodian” because they have been played by
Cambodians or Khmers throughout the country.
“Chess games” in the plural form because an attempt is made to cover the
two different types of game on the sixty-four-square board and each has two
distinctive styles of play, which are probably unique to Cambodian
players. This is more a reading than an
instructional work. Moreover, the
readers are also assumed to be familiar with the basics of international or F.I.D.E
chess.
The history of
Cambodian chess games have not been studied and known as it well as it
deserves. My literature research on this
topic in English reveals very little information. Turning to the local sources in the Cambodian
language does not help much either.
However, with a bingo surprise, I found a site on the Internet that
contains a brief yet amazing account of Cambodian
Chess for Blind Players.
This unsatisfyingly short story of Cambodian chess is probably one of
the clues for its deep historical connection to the ancient Khmer Civilization
of Angkor Wat. A telling picture of
these ancient and beautiful Cambodian chessmen made of bronze is also available
at that location. Check it out!
The first type of
Cambodian chess game is known to the Cambodians as Ouk, Chhoeu trang, Chatrang [1,
p.183], Chaturang or, jointly as Ouk chatrang. The name “Ouk” was believed to come from
imitating the sound made between the chessman and the chessboard while
checking. As terminology and rules are
concerned, the word “Ouk” means check, and it is
required to say this out loud by the player who checks the enemy KI [2,
p.1778]. The game is also named
“Chhoeu Trang” perhaps because of the fact that most of the game equipment are
made of wood which is Chhoeu in Cambodian [3]. And ‘Trang’ is shortened from ‘Chatrang’ [4,
p.285]. These two names are
informal and colloquial. The name
Chatrang is formal and derived from Sanskrit Chaturanga. In literature, the word “Chaturang” in
pronunciation and “Chaturanga” in writing are retained [5,
p.101].
The second type of
Cambodian chess game is ‘Rek’, pronounced like ‘Rake’ without the K ending
sound. Actually this is a totally
different game from the ‘Ouk’ or ‘Chatrang’.
There are no other pieces besides the KIs in this game, and all of the
units, including the KIs, move like the RO. We will describe it in detail later,
including its extra style of play.
Whether it is of ‘Chatrang’ or ‘Rek’, the extra style of play is truly
more challenging than the normal style, as we shall see. Let’s turn to Chatrang first…….
Like the international
chess, Chatrang requires two people to play against each other, but in Cambodia
there are always two teams of people participating in the game. This does make every game played even more
exciting and entertaining. People, I
mean Cambodian men, usually gather to play at a barbershop for men in their
town or village. Perhaps, it is very
hard to find a barbershop in Cambodia that is not associated with
Chatrang. However, I have never heard
of any chess tournament or competition
in Cambodia. There has never been one,
perhaps.
The object of
Chatrang is also to checkmate the opponent’s
KI. In the beginning, who should move
first is simply a matter of agreement between the players. However, for the next game, the loser
usually has a privilege to move first.
If the first game was drawn for some
reason, once again the mutual agreement decides for the matter in
question.
The Cambodian
chessboard resembles the international one except that the colour code is not
necessary. It is a board of 8 by 8 cells. There are 32 chessmen in total and are similar
to those of the international chess. In
the game, each side or player starts with a force of sixteen units: eight mps and eight MPs. These eight pieces include two ROs, two KTs,
two BSs, one QU and one KI. The
Cambodian names for the PA, BS, KT, RO, QU and KI are Trey (Fish), Koul
(General [6,
p.183], also see Glossary), Ses (Horse),
Tuuk (Boat), Neang (Queen) and Ang or Sdaach (King) respectively.
For
ordinary-people - players, the pieces and board are sculptured and made of
wood. The Fishes or mps are usually
represented by the two different kinds of cowrie shells. It is not uncommon to see people use the
small bottle caps. (Budwiser bottle
caps and the like would resemble and work as well.) For each side, two pieces of wooden low
cylinder would make the Boats or ROs.
The Horses look exactly like the KTs.
The KI, the Koul and the Neang have almost the same shape, a sort of
pointed dome, but they are differentiated by sizes: Small for the Neang; medium
for the Koul; and large for the KI, so to speak. Two different types of wood or two colours
usually do the job of identifying the two sides. Note that the specimens of Cambodian chess
for blind players mentioned above were coloured green versus black and
sculptured with different shapes from the ordinary chessmen.
The opening setup
of ‘Cambodian’ chess or ‘Chatrang’ is like that of the international one except
for three features. First, the mps or
Fishes are set up on the third and sixth ranks, not the first and eighth ones. Second, the KIs are placed crosswise, not
opposite each other. And third, each QU
is on the right-hand side of its corresponding KI. Click Picture
01 to view the chessmen and initial position? Their powers of move are not all like those
of the international chess. We are
turning to this matter in the following paragraphs.
The KI moves like
that of the international chess except that for the first move it has an option
to move a leap like the KT, usually to the left or to right. However, if it is in check by an opponent’s
unit, that option is no longer valid and it has to move only one cell as
usual. Also, the Horse moves like the
KT; the Boat like the RO, but there is no castling move in Cambodian chess or
Chatrang.
The Koul moves
only one cell per turn along the diagonals or straight ahead. The Neang moves one cell per turn and only
diagonally, but for the first move it has an option to move two cells straight
ahead provided that that cell is not occupied by another friendly unit. It may capture the enemy unit if the latter
occupies that cell. All the units may
capture the enemy units situated in their legal moves. However, there are two exceptions for this
rule. First, the KI cannot capture the
enemy units that are under protection of others. Second, the not-yet-promoted Fishes [mps]
move one cell straight ahead, but they take the enemy units diagonally ahead,
just like the PAs in the international chess.
The Fishes [mps]
are the only units that may be promoted upon reaching the enemy’s front row,
i.e., the sixth rank. Without limit of
number, the Fishes are in general promoted to become promoted Fishes, called
‘Trey Bak’, which have the same power of move to the Neang. That is to say, each party may in theory have
eight promoted Fishes in the course of play.
The conventional
value system of Cambodian individual chessmen is as follows: The Boat is more
valuable than the KT than the Koul than the Neang than the Fish. The Neang is as valuable as the promoted
Fish. The KI is not placed in the value
system. It is the all-important and
weakest unit. This conventional value
system may not be without controversy and subjectivity. Some players have no problem at all to trade
the Boat with the KT or the KT with the Koul.
The phases of the game and the mobility characteristics
of the units all seem to be important in their values. This is not to even mention the talents and
skills of the players.
The game is drawn
when there is neither winner nor loser.
In practice, for Cambodian players, every game played always ends up
having a win-lose result or drawn game.
No scores are given and recorded for each player in the latter
situation. The draw can take place
under four possible ways: (1) mutual agreement of the players; (2) apparent
insufficiency of material to checkmate the opponent; (3) stalemate under which the
alone KI does not have a legal move and is not
in check either; (4)
application of predetermined rules of move counting (explained in the following
paragraphs). The repetition of move is not
considered; usually one party is determined to play for a win!
When a player has
only the KI left and all the Fishes [mps] currently available on the board were
promoted, s/he can claim the game drawn after the applicable rule or condition of
move counting is met. The rule of move
counting is determined according to the presence of the most valuable unit left
on the board regardless of the other units available. If there are two most valuable units left,
then a separate rule is determined.
However, there is some inconsistency in all this matter. I will point it out later.
The rule of 8
moves is applied if the player who is chasing to capture, i.e., doing
the KI hunt, has two Boats or ROs; the rule of 16 moves if there is one Boat;
the rule of 22 for two Koul or BSs; the rule of 44 for one Koul; the rule of 32
for two KTs and of 64 for one KT; also the rule of 64 for three or more
“side-by-side” promoted Fishes (trey bak tim) or in combination with the
Neang. By side-by-side promoted Fishes
means that two of them must occupy any two adjacent cells either in the rank or file, but not the diagonal. Otherwise, all of them are simply like a
Fish which is not capable of capturing the solitary
enemy KI, even with the latter’s cooperation.
In addition, applying in conjunction with all the rules of move
counting, the running player may start to count the move from the number of all
the units available on the board plus 1 to the number prescribed by the
relevant rule.
For example,
suppose that the chasing party has one Koul, one KT and two promoted Fishes to
capture the other party’s KI. According
to the conventional rule of move counting, for the advantage of the running
party, the rule of 44 moves is applicable.
(Not the rule of 64 although the KT is more valuable than the Koul in
the above mentioned conventional value system.
An inconsistency!) And the
running party can start to count from 7 to 44, not from 1, because there are 6
units in total available on the board.
Bear in mind that
the running party can start to count the move only after he has the KI alone
left and all the available Fishes or mps have been promoted. However, some Cambodian players practice a
start to count the move before the last regular Fish becomes promoted and count
to 64 regardless of the available most valuable unit(s) left on board. This is simply one of the cases of rule
variation.
Another style of
chess play is ‘Kar Ouk’ (Check Prevention) game. In this style, the object of the game is to
simply check the opponents KI. The game
is over when one KI is in check. If you
can check your enemy KI first, you win the game. The game is even more challenging since
prevention of a check is surely more difficult than that of a checkmate. The checkmate is not the point here. This style of play has all the same rules
and settings as those of regular ‘Ouk’ except for the end game and drawn cases,
perhaps. More information is needed to
completely describe this style of Cambodian chess. A French man by the name of Muora, in his
work ‘Royaume du Cambodge’
quoted in [7,
p.118], who visited Cambodia, probably over a century ago, wrote about
this style of play in Cambodia. He did
not seem to write anything about the regular Ouk Chatrang though. This is probably because the Kar Ouk game
was the most popular game back then.
Today, people tend to rather like playing the regular Ouk instead.
As having briefly
introduced earlier, the ‘Rek’ is also a game played by two people on the board
of 8 x 8 cells. The Cambodian
transitive verb “Rek” means ‘carry on one’s shoulder a pole at each end of
which is a container, bundle or object’ [8]. It was pointed out that the game was
popular among military troops [9,
p.1067]. Today, it is also played
by Cambodian women. The object of the
game is to “capture” instead of checkmate the opponent’s KI. There is no stalemate. As long as the KI has no legal move, it is
captured the next move and the game ends there without actual capture. All units may be captured in two ways: (1)
when they are tightly surrounded or trapped by the enemy units and thus have no
legal move; (2) when they are “Rek” by an enemy unit in the analogy that they
are the containers carried away by that enemy unit. Click this Picture
02 to view the ways of capture in the Rek game. This later way of capture actually bears the
name of the game.
It also has two
different forces of 32 units in total.
Each side starts with a force of 16 units: One KI and 15 Men [mps]. All the Men have the same value and physical
shape, and they all, including the KIs, move like the Boat or RO. The chessmen have no particular shapes and
names: any two different looking sets of 16 each would work. The two KIs have to somehow appear different
from each other and from their Men though, for identification purpose. The game has a slightly different initial
arrangement from that of the Ouk. The
two KIs have to be placed crosswise in the second and seventh ranks, whether to
the left or to the right of the players.
Click this Picture
3 to see its opening setup [ISP].
The Rek also has its own special style of play. It is named “Min Rek Chanh” (Not Rek
Lose). The object of the game is still
the same, capturing the opponent’s KI.
But, there is only one legal way to capture the enemy units, including
the KI: “Rek” them two at a time. The
KIs may not move at all, not even a cell.
They are “palace KIs”! Other
setting features and opening setup are the same as those of the regular
Rek. The unique characteristic of this
style of play is that a player’s order of Rek to the other must be honoured,
otherwise the latter loses and the game is over. So, strategic and deliberate sacrifices are
the mind set behind winning the game.
Usually the game
is over when one player orders a “right” series of the opponent’s consecutive
moves to ‘Rek’ his units, which ultimately will lead to the capture or Rek of
the opponent’s KI in return. BUT, if he
orders the wrong series of the opponent’s moves, he ends up losing his force
without any desirable consequence. Thus
the game demands a long-term and coherent strategic planning to get the right
orders of move. In this kind of play,
you are in a more dangerous situation for preserving too many of your own
units, but if you do not have enough of them to design your scheme of making a
right series of the opponent’s moves, it is not good either. Personally I find this the most challenging
of all the Cambodian chess games.
Stalemate. A situation in which the running, alone KI
has no legal move and is not in check.
KI, also called
‘Sdaach’.
Block the checking
enemy unit, especially the Boat, by the friendly unit; literally means (l.m.)
‘close’.
Bet and at the same
time check back in return, usually done by the KT or other protected unit.
Promote; promoted; it
is done by turning or flipping the Fish [mp] unit over; l.m. ‘peel, turn over
or double the betting amount’.
Promote and check at
the same time; see ‘Ruk’.
Promote and at the same
time be in a position to take a more valuable enemy unit; l.m. ‘Bak and chase’.
Protection, noun of
‘Chang’; see below.
Protect or guard;
protected; l.m. ‘tie’.
Lose.
A situation under which
the KI is taken or in check by the enemy Boat when the blocked unit, whether
friendly or enemy, is removed; l.m. ‘trapped KI’.
Win.
Place one’s Boat in the
position of checking the enemy KI while there is a unit, friendly or enemy,
between the two. This is done to gain
‘Cheub Ang’ advantage.
Be in a position to
take a more valuable enemy unit; KI hunt for the end game; l.m. ‘chase’.
Move; l.m. ‘walk’.
Trade off.
Double, e.g. Dub Tuuk;
a loaned word from French; also called ‘Truot’.
Prevent from or prepare
to counter a check; a extra style of play for Chatrang.
For the end game, a
situation in which the friendly unit that is supposed to checkmate is not in
the right square or turn to do so; l.m. ‘wrong foot’; c.f. ‘Trouv Cheung’ which
is ‘correct foot’.
For the end game or KI
hunt, especially by one Horse or Koul and a promoted Fishes or by a combination
of three side-by-side promoted Fishes, a situation in which the running KI
cannot be checkmated at a trapped corner because the promoted Fish is not in
the right diagonal to the corner square; l.m. ‘wrong corner’; c.f. ‘Trouv
Chrung’.
Commit error or
mistake.
A name of Chatrang’s
piece taken to represent military generals, but the word “Koul” is closer to
represent boundary pillar or mark in meaning; there are four of them and two
for each player; usually analogous to the BSs.
A special style of play
in the Rek game; l.m. ‘not Rek los’ in the sese that ‘if not rek, lose the
game’.
A name of Chatrang’s
piece; there are two and one for each side; usually analogous to the QU.
l.m. ‘a word for politely addressing
the title to the young, especially female’.
Chess or Chatrang; a
check, also see ‘Ruk’.
A check on the enemy KI
while at the same time other enemy unit(s), esp. the more valuable such as the
Boat and Horse, could also be taken although “not free”; c.f. ‘Ruk Baek’; l.m.
‘check and split’.
A same case of ‘Ouk
Baek’ except that while the KI runs or escapes, the other unit can be taken
free; c.f. ‘Ruk daach’.
Checkmate, a situation
in which the enemy KI is checked and has no legal move; the end point of the
game.
A check on the enemy KI
done in an attempt to trade off that checking unit with its enemy counterpart,
i.e., the enemy unit that has the same value.
A checking situation in
which a player removes his unit away from the legal move of his Boat that
checks the enemy KI as a result. This is
the purpose of ‘Daak Ang’ and done in the situation of ‘Cheup Ang’; see ‘Si Paay’;
l.m. ‘gallop’.
A ‘Paay’ situation that
the removed unit also checks the enemy KI; it is a double check: by the Boat
and remomed, friendly unit.
A name of Cambodian
chess game; a way to capture two enemy units at a time in the Rek game.
Run or retreat.
Another word for check
usually done by the Fish, the Neang and promoted Fish; l.m. ‘push’.
Take or capture; l.m.
‘eat’.
Only for the Fish, take
an enemy unit and at the same time becomes a promoted.
The capture of two
enemy units that are under the protection of the same single unit. Take the first one first and then the second
can be captured “free”.
Take an enemy unit and
be in a position to take a more valuable enemy unit at the same time.
Capture an enemy unit
and at the same time check as well; c.f. ‘Si Ruk’.
Take an enemy unit by
using the removed unit to make a ‘Paay’; this is very powerful tactic.
Take two enemy units by
sacrificing one friendly unit; l.m. ‘eat two’.
Even or equal in the
play; a draw.
Resist an enemy attack
by a friendly unit that is equivalent the attacking enemy unit.
Cambodian name of the
pawn; the Fish; l.m. ‘fish’.
Promoted Fish.
The two mutually
protected promoted Fishes that are always in the diagonals when placed
adjacently.
The two promoted Fishes
that cannot protect each other and both are always in a rank or file when
located adjacently; referred to as ‘side-by-side promoted Fishes’ in this
article.
A right corner for a
checkmate at the end game.
Buddhist Institute.
(1967). Vachnanukrom Khmer Pheak Mouy
[Khmer Dictionary
Volume 1]. Phnom Penh:
Buddhist Institute.
Buddhist Institute.
(1967). Vachnanukrom Khmer Pheak Pir
[Khmer Dictionary
Volume 2]. Phnom Penh:
Buddhist Institute.
Huffman, F.E. and Im
Proum. (1978). English-Khmer
Dictionary. Westford, MA: Yale University.
Jacob, J.M. (1974). A Concise Cambodian-English Dictionary.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Murray, H.J.R. (1986). A History of Chess. Northampton, MA:
Benjamin Press
pp. 113-118. Originally
published by Oxford University Press in 1913.
Pandolfini, B. (1993). Beginning Chess. New York: Fireside
pp. 15-50.
One part of the most popular tale in Cambodia, especially
among children, that is associated with ‘Ouk Chatrang’ is ‘Thmenh Chey’s
Horse’. Once upon a time, there was a
boy named Thmenh Chey and born to an ordinary family. He was a very brilliant boy and later on
known to the KI. This fame did not make
the KI restful because the famous and believing norm was that only the KI was
the most brilliant and entitled to that fame of intelligence!
The KI thus set
forth to challenge Thmenh Chey’s lofty IQ
popularity. At one point, the KI
declared to the population that he would go for a sightseeing deep into the
large forest tomorrow and forbid any sale, rent or loan of a horse to Thmenh
Chey who was in the KIs order to go, too, with a horse! However, like the previous cases of
challenge, Thmenh Chey could always get over the KIs power and attack: He took
the Chatrang’s Horse with him. The
children who listen to the story proudly laugh to share their hero’s victory
again!
After going on with a life of
continual challenges and serving the country by solving the enigmas of the
Chinese smartest men, his life came to a fulfilling end. Before he died, he got the KI to kneel down
by him so that the latter could hear this whisper:
‘boeu soay trey pruol
kom choal sraka; boeu soay trey pra kom choal srakey; and boeu sla mchu kbal
trey kom choal mchu sandan’.
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Let me share with
you (if you don’t know already) some interesting information I found while
trying to find the genuine name of Cambodian chess. I found this very interesting site: Cambodian
Chess Games. Vuthy Tan
describes 2 games: ‘Ouk Chatrang’ and ‘Rek’.
Rek is an interesting (with a variant also) game with only mps and
KIs. Ouk Chatrang is apparently the traditional
Cambodian game. I was surprised to see
that it is almost Makruk (Thai chess).
Then, it is
different from the intriguing Cambodian Chess given by Pritchard. I’ve already written to Vuthy to see if he
has an explanation. Another site,
underlining the link with Makruk is entitled “Chess
in Cambodia”.
Finally I found
also a site on Ethiopian
chess, and very interesting pages about all the controversial story
of chess origins which appears to me to be less and less clear by now.
