First we are going to know a little about the history that is known about this cultural game. It is currently gaining popularity among Chess players and we find it interesting to know what you think of this game; You can leave us your appreciation below in the comments.



We are going to give a brief summary of what it is about and we will give the rules of the old game and the differences that exist with the current rules.

Historians indicate that Chaturaji is a predecessor of Chaturanga, and therefore the Ancestor of Modern Chess. Chaturaji (meaning "four kings"), The term Chaturaji refers to a position in the game comparable to checkmate in chess. Also known as "Choupat", [ca:upa:ʈ]) is a version of chaturanga for four players. The first news that we have of it appears in the book India de Biruni around the year 1030.

"But like all stories and myths, there are multiple versions".

Terms:

- Rajah (king)
- Victory = called Chaturaji, there is no check or checkmate.
- Promotion = it is called Shatpada or six steps.

"We can say that Chaturaji is the first chess game for 4 that was created in history".

Differences with Current Chaturaji:

- The rules are different.
- The movements of the pieces are also
- There is no "check".
- The position of the pieces also changes.
- In ancient times they played with dice, so there was the luck factor and not 100% precision, since they used it to make bets.

Old rules:

The king, the rook (called an elephant) and the knight move like in chess. The pawn also moves as in chess, but does not have the option of the initial double move. Also the rules for promotion are different.

Chaturaji's starting position, allies are on opposite corners of the board.

In this game, the bishop is called a ship. Move diagonally, skipping one square (see the diagram with the movement of the bishop in Shatranj). When the ship moves so that it forms a 2x2 square filled with ships, it captures all three of the other players' ships (see diagram).

Each turn two dice are rolled. Normally four-sided oblong dice were used, although it is possible to do so with cubic dice. The piece to move was determined by the die (four-sided dice had neither 1 nor 6):

1 or 5 - pawn or king
2 - ship
3 - horses
4 or 6 - elephant
Each turn you can make two plays, one for each die. The same or different pieces could be moved and the player could "skip or pass" making one of his two moves if he so wished.

Naval victory rule. White's ship on c3 can capture all other ships by moving to e5. Each of the ships belongs to a different player.

As mentioned above, there is no check or checkmate. The king can be captured like any other piece. The object of the game is to earn as many points as possible. Points were earned by capturing opponents' pieces, according to the following scale:

pawn - 1
boat - 2
horses - 3
elephant - 4
King - 5.

Note:
Whoever captures the 3 opposing kings gets 54 points if his remains on the board. 54 is the value of the sum of points of all the pieces of three armies.

According to the rules of the game in the "quoted Purana", which Vyasa gives to Prince Indix, the game had other more complicated rules, such as:

If a Rajah (king) can successively occupy the thrones of the three Princes, he obtains victory, called chaturaji; and the bet is doubled if he kills the last of the three shortly before taking possession of a throne; but if he kills him on his own throne, the stake is quadrupled.
When a player has his own Raja on the board and his ally's has been captured, he can replace his fellow captive if he manages to take the two opposing Rajas, and if he doesn't reach this goal, he can exchange his Raja for one of them and redeem to the ally who will put himself in his place.

When a Rajah has placed himself on another Rajah's square, this advantage is called shinhasana and is doubled if he kills his opponent by taking his place, and if he can sit on his ally's throne, he takes command of the entire army.
If a Pawn can reach one of the squares at the opposite end of the board, except for the Raja and the Ship, it assumes the faculties belonging to that square, this promotion is called shatpada or six steps.

Whether the shinhasana or the chaturaji wins, the Rajah must be supported by the Elephants and all the assembled pieces.

There can be neither victory nor defeat if the Rajah is left on the plain without any force, a situation which is called cacacashta.

If three Ships are found together and the fourth can reach the remaining angle above them, it is called urihnnanca, and the fourth takes the other three.

More information: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturaji#:~:text=El%20Chaturaji%20(cuyo%20significado%20es,Biruni%20alrededor%20del%20a%C3%B1o%201030.

Note:
Currently some players play Chaturaji with the rules that are known, but omitting the use of dice.

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Why change the name?

We consider that it is not necessary to change the name. Currently, we are not playing Historical Chaturaji, there are many differences, mentioned above. This can cause confusion for people who want to read the rules in global media such as the internet, so it is also important to publish the new rules globally.

However, it is not necessary to change the name, since it would seem an offense to History, Chess was also improved and/or perfected over time and did not change its current name.

How to support this thesis?

This thesis can be directly supported by what people think about the weakness of the green pieces, that in modern times precision, justice and balance are required. Additionally, if the engines deliver a favorable factor, this type of analysis can be attached.

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"One of the people who has perfected this excellent game is Henrik Storesund, better known as @hest1805 , Inventor of chaturaji hyper fiesta and other less famous 4-player chess variants".

Current Rules:

Free For All (FFA)

 |1.- What version of starting position of the king do you prefer in chaturaji?
2.- The current position is unfair, for green pieces?

Poll let's go:
We will leave a poll here: https://forms.gle/aoaVcExgFAmn3RXy9


Change of position, definitive solution?



Some tests performed with the new starting position:

@hest1805 | @adhd74000 | @Member243 | @martinaxo

https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/26537908/38/4

@Max_Wolfe | @martinaxo | Futer0 | Futer1

https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/26724329/276/3



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Chaturaji has become one of my favorite games of late, and I understand that very well. I consider that I have a good ability, but there are players superior to me, anyway I managed to be very competent in my last battle against the gods of Chaturaji, I leave you my last game:

@dbaralic  (2253) | @smfz1 (2133) | @Jaisuraj (2423) | @martinaxo (2098)

https://www.chess.com/variants/chaturaji/game/26693565

Is the opinion of the people very important?

Of course it is, and even more so for those who play today. We invite all game fans to give their grain of sand by virtue of this game and tell us what you think.

I hope you like it, sharing your vision of the game and tell us what you think of a possible perfecting or improvement to this excellent game.

Greets you sincerely, and see you in a next battle.
Martinaxo

Nice

No one plays the chaturaji modern position. It might be fairer for all sides, but people are used to playing the standard position now, and king safety is a big part of the game.

Red is the only one without any clear disadvantage due to being able to get easy development with both fianchetto and king pawn openings. Sometimes green may be better off than yellow or blue simply because of what the other players play makes yellow/blue play something more passive.

THX! We are collecting opinions from all sectors, we appreciate your participation.

Obviously the best thing to do is to make the 2nd position (with knight and king switched) into a new official rated variant called chaturaji beta and let standard chaturaji players play it and experiment with the position to see how good it is while leaving the old variant untouched.

Excellent idea!

First Comments:
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The standard chaturaji is unfair for green, since there are alot of openings from red, yellow, and even blue that can affect how green can play + there's the forced mate if ry play king pawn opening and green plays anything other than king pawn themselves. However, this disadvantage does not show itself as often as it is possible due to players preferring fianchettos/ bishop pawn. At this point, most/all players are used to the standard chaturaji over the chaturaji modern position shown above. Standard chaturaji is more fun to me due to king safety being a big concern, however.

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Nothing's wrong with green pieces, it's just that green pieces are a bit harder to play and it might seem like a losing game to newer players who played green.
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While the current position is technically losing for green if red and yellow team on them I think it is in blue's interest to keep green alive and allow bishop trades. I don't really have the skill required to analyse this more completely
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No comments!
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The reason I chose normal Chaturaji was because I simply have not played the other version. Although I do believe that green does have a tiny disadvantage, I don't think that the slight disadvantage that green has really culminates into anything significant in an actual game.
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Green is worse IF other experience players cooperate(allowed) against him, and blue doesn't react. Green is basically thrown into luck, but with the complexity of the game you can often come back from losing positions. I suggest switching the positions of KN just for green.
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No creo que que sea injusta la posición actual para las piezas verdes pero me gustaría probar la nueva posición. Sería bueno que al igual que hicieron con 4PC estén las dos versiones disponible para jugar: Old y New Standard.
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I have a high ranking in Chaturaji (2392 is my peak) and I'm really used to the standard position,but I like the modern position because the king is relatively safe place from the beginning of the game.

As for the unfair position of green, I can only partially agree. Although there is a trap for green in the opening (bishops trick): 1.d3 .. c6 .. e6 .. f3 2.Bf4!

- forced mate to the green, unless blue wants to save him by sacrificing his pieces.

There is also a trap in the opening for blue (not very popular, I called it "Grob spares no one!"): 1.b3 .. c7 .. e6 .. f3 2.b4+!

- forced mate to the blue, the green one has no way to save him. And another variant when blue loses by making "normal" moves: 1. b3 .. c5 .. f6 .. f2 2. Bb2 .. Bb5+ .. Kf7 .. Bg2 3. a3 .. Ka6 .. g6 .. Kh3 4. a4 .. Bc6 .. Bg2 .. Bf1+ 5. b4

So it seems to me that the blue is more "discriminated against" than green, and the lack of a quick loss should better attract new players.
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Completely agree with this  

True and a great idea

Tbh just make Raji beta it does seem nice, but what about only switching king and knight for green?

it's more of a chess game rather a naval battle
no interest

What about this idea? Maybe also for blue??? Could get a twist on the game

IDK , We have only carried out this first test with a symmetrical system of conformation of the pieces in Chaturaji.