Ouk Chaktrung

Introduction:

Ouk

, Ouk Chaktrung

, Chaktrung

, or Chhoeutrung

is a type of board game similar to Western Chess. Like international chess, it is also played on 8 by 8 squares board. However, the board is usually made out of wood and does not have checker patterns.

History:

Ouk Chaktrung is one of the most popular board games played in Cambodia today. This game is dated back to the early Angkorian era in 800 AD. The playing of chess is depicted on several Khmer temples including Angkor Wat and Bayon.³

Ouk most closely resembles a form of chess which originated in India but the great chess historian, H. J. R. Murray, was not able to discover or trace the Indian ancestry. Khmer chess is almost identical to Makruk, Thai chess. As Thai seized Angkor in 1431, they may have learned chess from the Khmer people. Murray believes that the word "ruk" in "Makruk" probably came from a Khmer word meaning "check". ³

Piece Movements:

A piece may not move to an occupied piece of the same color. A piece may move onto a square occupied by an opponent's piece. This is called "capture" (

). Then the opponent piece is removed from board. Capturing rule for Fish is different see below.

Players can move a chess piece according to the rule of that piece. The pieces' name and movement rules are as follow:

Fish	Trey	Fish moves one square ahead to an empty square but captures diagonally forward one square.
Promoted Fish, Flip Fish	Trey Bork	When a Fish is moved to the 6th rank (the 6th row; it is the row that the opponent fishes were originally set up), the fish become flip fish. It moves like the Queen without any special move.
Maiden, Queen	Neang (Met)	Queen moves one space diagonally. On its first move, it may move 2 squares forward and can jump over another piece. Capturing an opponent piece on its first move is allowed.
General, Guard, Post, Pillar	Koul	General moves one space diagonally or one space forward.
King	Sdaach, Ang (Khon)	King moves one space in any direction. On the first move when not under attack, he can move like a horse onto an empty square.
Horse	Ses	Horse moves from a corner of a 2x3 square to the opposite corner in an L shape. It may skip over any pieces.
Boat	Tuuk	Boat moves along a line vertically and horizontally without jumping over other pieces.