Makruk Online: Play Thai Chess in Your Browser
Makruk, or Thai chess, is the traditional chess of Thailand: a two-player strategy game on an 8×8 board. Each side has a khun (king), a met, two khon, two ma, two rua and eight bia, and you win by checkmating the opponent's khun. Play it free against the AI, a friend by link or a random opponent.
- Play vs AIThree levels: Easy, Normal, Hard
- Random match1:1 against someone anywhere
- Play a friendInvite one friend with a link
Makruk at a glance
- Players
- 2
- Board
- 8×8 squares (64); pieces stand inside the squares
- Pieces
- 16 each: 1 khun, 1 met, 2 khon, 2 ma, 2 rua, 8 bia
- First move
- White moves first
- Goal
- Checkmate the opponent's khun; stalemate is a draw
- Promotion
- A bia that reaches the sixth rank becomes a met-moving piece
- Endings
- With no bia left, the stronger side must checkmate within a counted number of moves, or it is a draw
How to play makruk
White moves first. The khun steps one square in any direction, the met one square diagonally, the khon one square diagonally or straight forward, the ma like a chess knight and the rua like a rook. Bia move one square forward, capture diagonally forward and become met-moving pieces on the sixth rank. Checkmate the opponent's khun to win; stalemate is a draw, and once no bia is left the counting rules limit how long the stronger side has to mate.
Makruk vs chess
The ma and rua move like the knight and rook, but the met and khon take only one step, bia start on the third rank and promote on the sixth, and counting rules replace the fifty-move rule.