Makpong
Makpong is a variant of Makruk (Thai chess) designed to reduce draws. It is played in Makruk single elimination tournaments in Thailand to decide a winner after a certain number of Makruk games have been drawn.
If you are not familiar with the rules of Makruk, please see that first.
Rules
Pieces, win conditions, and other rules are the same as Makruk.
However, there is one additional rule regarding how the king moves:
- The king may not move away from check
To clarify, there are generally three ways to answer a check:
- Move the king away
- Block the check with another piece
- Capture the attacker
This means the first option, moving the king away, is not allowed. You can only block the check or capture the attacker.
- The king is still allowed to capture an unprotected attacker. In this case, the king isn't moving away from the check, so it doesn't break the rule.
- Checking the king with multiple pieces is an immediate checkmate. Moving the king to capture either of them is illegal since it involves moving away from the other attacker.