Five tips for Hyper Chaturaji.

Please note I have published this guide already under "The Chaturaji Masters Club"

This guide is intended for newer players, but more experienced players may find something new as well. 

I will set this out In the form of five cornerstones of play for hyper chaturaji. 

But first for some of you who may be interested: What is chaturaji?

Chaturaji is an ancient Indian chess played by four players. Thought to date back to before 1000AD. It is played with a point based system where when you capture a piece you gain points depending on what piece you capture. The original chaturaji was played with dice.  For more information on history Wikipedia has some information:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturaji

Chaturaji on chess.com has been altered to be more player friendly by @hest1805 his changes include swapping out the Elephant piece and replacing it with the Bishop. Also changes to the scoring system. No dice are involved in the chess.com variant.

Scoring system: 

On chess.com the scoring system follows as:

King = 3 points.

Knight = 3 points.

Bishop = 5 points. 

Rook = 5 points. 

Pawn = 1 point.

The rook in chaturaji normally is depicted as a Ship.

Ok now the introductory stuff is covered let's start on the tips. 

 5. Trading.

Trading pieces with opposing teams is a major part of all chaturaji. It is one of the few ways to accumulate points in the game. In hyper chaturaji my advice is to attempt to trade off your Bishop quite early in particular. Trade logically. If you are even in points with someone, then trade with a player who has less, that way you will have overtaken the other player and still be ahead overall. Aim to your own pieces for at least equal value. One thing to watch is early knight forks in the opening. In hyper chaturaji it is generally best to allow the exchange of knight bishop rather then put your bishop offside. This is true to a greater extent if the player opposite you has lost their Bishop, as that will leave your Bishop as the only one of that square colour.

4. Openings. 

Openings are very important in chaturaji just like in standard chess. Key points in the opening are to get your King to safety, and to develop pieces well. In hyper chaturaji aim to play an opening that allows easy bishop and/or knight trading. I will not go into depth about opening theory as I do not know nearly enough. Key things to watch are Bishop checks and Knight forks. Attempt to place your King on a square that is safe from checks. From red's perspective a square like c1 is normally a good option. 

My favourite opening when playing as Red goes something like: 

1. b3

2. Bb2

3.Kc1

After this there are many options to branch out on, and Information regarding what the other players have done is necessary to continue lines. 

  3. Pre-moving.

This aspect is mainly relevant for hyper game-modes, and is a must when playing hyper chaturaji.

 There is not much to say regarding pre-moves, although things like changing your pre-move colour to a visible colour may be useful. I have set mine to an Ultramarine Blue. When pre-moving use the time your opponents take to weigh up moves. Only set pre-moves when certain of how things will play out. Obviously this advice cannot be followed blindly and often it is best to ignore it when you have 0.5 seconds on the clock. When pre-moving Kings especially make sure that the square is safe from checks on that turn. In openings watch out for nasty and unexpected checks and don't pre-move blindly. 

2. Double and triple checks.

A double check is when you check two enemy kings in one move. All of your pieces can achieve such a feat but Knights, Bishops, and Rooks, are noted for it.

In the chess.com variation of chaturaji playing a move that causes a double check or even a triple check will win you points. On the Variant server a double check is worth and extra +1 point and a triple check a +5, comparable to taking a Pawn for double, or a Rook or Bishop for triple. In the Four Player Chess server however double, and triple checks are valued much more highly with double checks worth +5 and triple checks worth a well sought after +20 easily enough to win a game when combined with points from trades. 

Something that you may encounter, especially in Four Player Chess, Is the idea of a "King Dance". This is where 3 or even 4 players move their kings adjacent to two or more other kings, thus getting the points for the checks. In situations like these take a second to calculate what taking one of these kings with your own would mean. Make sure that you will come out on top.

Finding double or triple checks is all about pattern recognition, note that in Four Player Chess it is a common thing to sacrifice your knight for a double check as the +5 outweighs the trading value of the knight which is just +3.

1. Make sure you are having fun, and practice makes the master!

Ok so this is cliché and kinda corny, but still absolutely true. My largest losses when playing have been when I've been frustrated with my play and others. If you start feeling annoyed or you start losing game after game, then take a break and come back later when you feel like you will win. I think confidence is a major part of hyper chaturaji and that it can improve your play exponentially. I started my first game about Nine months back now. I won a few of my blitz chaturaji games but played awfully at hyper and was known to jealously guard my humble rating of 1700. Now after months of playing and making friends I have improved not only many times over at chaturaji but also at standard chess (although not so much  .). 

Ok so that's my hyper chaturaji guide finished for now. Let me know in the comments if there is anything I should add and if any mistakes were made 8). 

“As far as I’m concerned, if something is so complicated that you can’t explain it in 10 seconds, then it’s probably not worth knowing anyway.” – Bill Watterson

Hope you enjoyed this, and that it was useful in some way to your play. 

Max_Wolfe, Chaturaji Master, Super-Admin The Chaturaji Masters Club

Hope this helped and that more players would like to come try chaturaji!

thanks

thanks this was helpful....i still would like if people would try quick-throne or if there is tips for that i could read? thanks max

That's great.. Good work man

nice max

all true all true

One of the things I have found out in Chaturaji is that opposites do, in fact, matter. It's a bad choice to mate your opposite in the early game. 

The interesting thing about Chaturaji is that you have one opponent that is attack you, while there is one opponent preventing you from promoting your pieces.  With the bishop, you have a strong piece that often has the ability to take out your opposite, but then you have one opponent that spends every move attacking you, while you are stuck with divided attention.

Hey guys so sorry that I haven't replied to these comments! I thought I was following this but apparently not :/

Tysm for the feedback

Max, this is the best guide anyone could write, i certainly agree about the section about how your feeling, one day i was not playing well, i was really frustrated, & i started out as 2415 in hyp 4pc, i lost 60, wanted 2400 back, lost another 100, wanted 2300 back, & eventually fell to 2150 

Conclusion: worst day ever. But the way i was feeling really did affect my playing

lol ok well stick to what you like . Obviously the guide is written by me and this is how I play so it won't suit everyone .

Also tysm for the feedback Atreides, sorry to hear you lost rating 8(

isnt the rook usually the elephant?

and the ship the alfil?

I believe the Bishop used to be an Elephant type piece. Not sure about alfil for rook, I'd have to do more research!

Thanks for the comment