Maharajah and the Sepoys, originally called Shatranj Diwana Shah, is a popular chess variant

Chess variant

A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...

 with different armies for white and black. It was first played in the 19th century in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Black has a full, standard chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 army ("sepoy

Sepoy

A sepoy was formerly the designation given to an Indian soldier in the service of a European power. In the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army it remains in use for the rank of private soldier.-Etymology and Historical usage:...

s") in the usual position. White is limited to a single piece, the maharajah, which can move as either a queen

Queen (chess)

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...

 or as a knight

Knight (chess)

The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...

 on White's turn. Black's goal is to checkmate

Checkmate

Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...

 the maharajah, while white's is to checkmate black's king. There is no pawn promotion

Promotion (chess)

Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...

.

The asymmetry of the game pits movement flexibility and agility against greater force in numbers. By perfect play black always wins in this game, at least on an 8x8 board. According to Hans Bodlaender, "A carefully playing black player should be able to win. However, this is not always easy, and in many cases, when the white 'Maharaja' breaks through the lines of black, he has good chances to win."

However, the following algorithm

Algorithm

In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...

can help the black to win:

• Step 1: The Maharaja can only check the black King from squares that are attacked by black.
• Step 2: All black pieces other than King are at protected by at least one other pieces, or if there are any unprotected black pieces, Maharaja can only attack them from squares attacked by black.
• Step 3: All black moves are done only to squares that were attacked by black before that moves.

Using such a sequece of moves, black can finally create a situation where every empty square of the board is attacked.

External links

• The Maharaja and the Sepoys by Hans L. Bodlaender.
• Brainking Rules page