How to play
Makruk
Makruk (หมากรุกไทย) is Thai chess, played on an 8 × 8 board whose squares are all the same colour, 16 pieces a side. The goal is to checkmate the opponent's Khun (king).
Setup
- White's back row from left to right: Ruea, Ma, Khon, Khun, Met, Khon, Ma, Ruea (Khun on d1, Met on e1).
- Black mirrors it with the Khun on e8, facing White's Met, and the Met on d8.
- The Bia (pawns) stand on each side's third row; the second row starts empty. White moves first.
How the pieces move
| Khun (king) | One square in any direction, never into check. |
|---|---|
| Met (queen) | One square diagonally. |
| Khon (bishop) | One square diagonally in any direction, or one square straight forward. |
| Ma (knight) | Like the chess knight: two squares straight then one to the side; it jumps. |
| Ruea (rook) | Any number of squares along a row or column; no jumping. |
| Bia (pawn) | One square straight forward; captures one square diagonally forward. No double step. |
| Bia-ngai | A Bia reaching its sixth row (the opponent's pawn row) is turned over at once and then moves like a Met. |
There is no castling and no en passant.
Check, checkmate, stalemate
- A Khun in check must get out of it at once; the site never allows a move that leaves your own Khun in check.
- In check with no way out is checkmate and loses.
- No legal move while not in check is stalemate: a draw.
Counting
When no unpromoted Bia is left on the board, the side at a disadvantage counts its moves. If the count passes the limit before checkmate, the game is drawn. The site counts automatically and shows the number under the game status.
- Board's honour: the side with less material (Ruea 5 · Ma 3 · Khon 2.5 · Met 2 · Bia-ngai 2; a tie: the side to move) counts 1, 2, 3 … on each of its moves; reaching 65 (beyond 64) without being mated draws. If a capture leaves the counting side with more material, the count moves to the other side and restarts.
- Pieces' honour: when one side has only its Khun left, it counts on from the number of pieces on the board + 1, with a limit set by the chasing side's pieces:
| Chasing side has | Limit |
|---|---|
| two Ruea | 8 |
| one Ruea | 16 |
| no Ruea, two Khon | 22 |
| no Ruea, one Khon | 44 |
| no Ruea or Khon, two Ma | 32 |
| no Ruea or Khon, one Ma | 64 |
| only Met / Bia-ngai | 64 |
Example: White's Khun and two Ruea against a lone black Khun — 4 pieces on the board, so Black counts 5, 6, 7, 8 and the game is drawn when Black reaches 9. The limit does not change if pieces are captured later.
Site rules
- If the counting side itself delivers checkmate, it wins (as if it had stopped counting).
- If, during a board's honour count, the counting side ends up with more material, counting restarts for the other side.
- Draws: the same position three times; Khun against Khun; 100 plies (50 moves each) with no capture and no Bia move while unpromoted Bia remain; a counter shows under the status from ply 80.
On this site: tap one of your pieces, gold dots show empty squares it can reach and gold rings show captures, then tap the destination. In the move list, "promotes" marks a Bia turned over on that move.