Maharajah and the Sepoys

Maharajah and the Sepoys, originally called Shatranj Diwana Shah and also known as the Mad King's Game[1] and Maharajah chess,[2] is a popular chess variant with different armies for White and Black. It was first played in the 19th century in India. It is a solved game with forced win for Black.

Maharajah and the Sepoys
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8
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
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Starting position. The white figure is a maharajah; it can move as queen or knight.

Game rules

Black has a full, standard chess army ("sepoys") in the usual position. White is limited to a single piece, the maharajah, which can move as either a queen or as a knight on White's turn (hence a manifestation of the amazon). Black's goal is to checkmate the maharajah, while White's is to checkmate Black's king. There is no pawn promotion.[2]

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."[3]

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 (attacking more than one unprotected piece at once) as the main tactic; after sufficiently cleaning the board, by doing checks, 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 alone, 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 stealing away available squares from the maharajah. It is also important to make sure the maharajah cannot give checks.

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8
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
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Final position after 24...R3b2#

One example line of moves that gives Black a forced mate in 24 moves goes like this (White's moves are unimportant, as in this variation, White cannot safely capture any piece):[4]

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) 0–1

Else:

23... Qd1# 0–1

See also

References
  1. Pritchard (1994), p. 183.
  2. Rachunek, Filip. "Maharajah Chess: Rules". Brainking.com. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  3. Bodlaender, Hans L. "The Maharaja and the Sepoys". The Chess Variant Pages. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  4. Some Brainking.com games using this forced win: Game-1, Game-2, Game-3

Bibliography
  • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, p. 264, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1
  • Pritchard, D. B. (1994), "Maharajah (I)", The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, Games & Puzzles Publications, pp. 183–84, ISBN 0-9524142-0-1
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