Ouk Chaktrang (អុកចត្រង្គ)

Ouk Chaktrang is also known as Khmer Chess or Ouk Chaktrang, originating from the Indian game Saturanga from the 6th century. This intellectual sport has been a very popular game in Cambodia for many centuries. Ouk Chaktrang was also included in Cambodia as a competition at Sea games 32.

The game is strategic so that players can successfully defend their kingdom while attacking opponents. This is a popular game to train patience, strategic thinking ability and intelligence.

Its rules are similar to Makruk, Thai Chess, with some special opening moves and minor differences. Ouk Chaktrang uses a board with 64 squares and each player will have 16 pieces with 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops and 8 pawns. However, Ouk Chaktrang has a unique way of arranging and moving pieces.

On the Ouk Chaktrang board, 8 pawns are arranged in a straight line like chess but stand 1 row apart from the remaining 8 pieces (also lined up). In the first move, the king moves like... a knight. The queen can move straight and diagonally, but each move can only move 1 space. The bishop moves diagonally and can only move 1 space per move. The pawns, knights, and rooks are moved like chess. With pawns, when they advance to row number 6, they can be promoted.

Because the queen and bishop cannot move all the way like chess, the player's attack power is limited. Therefore, each match of Ouk Chaktrang can be long and tense with a longer playing time than chess.