Maharajah and the Sepoys

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Maharajah and the Sepoys. White queen is a maharajah, it can move as queen or knight.

Maharajah and the Sepoys, originally called Shatranj Diwana Shah, is a popular chess variant with different armies for white and black. It was first played in the 1800s in India.

Black has a full, standard chess army ("sepoys") in the usual position. White is limited to a single piece, the maharajah, which can move as either a queen or as a knight on White's turn. White may start anywhere in the first three rows. Black's goal is to checkmate the maharajah, while white's is to checkmate black's king. There is no pawn promotion or castling.

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 though the lines of black, he has good chances to win."

[edit] Winning strategy

The above line wins always for black. It is always playable NO MATTER what white plays(we assume black can't castle. If he can then the line becomes more simple):
1. Knight b8 - c6
2. Pawn d7 - d5 (If white Maharajah is on d5 we play 2...d6 and then 3...d5)
3. Queen d8 - d6
4. Pawn e7 - e5
5. Knight g8 - f6
6. Pawn a7 - a5
7. Rook a8 - a6
8. Rook a6 - b6
9. Bishop c8 - g4
10. Pawn e5 - e4
11. Queen d6 - e5
12. Bishop f8 - e7
13. Pawn h7 - h5
14. Pawn g7 - g5
15. King e8 - f8
16. King f8 - g7
17. Rook b6 - b2
18. Rook f8 - a8
19. Rook a8 - a6
20. Rook a6 - b6
21. Rook b6 - b3
22. Knight f6 - h7
23. Queen e5 - d4

Now if the Maharajah is on a1 then:
24. Rook b2 - b1
25. Rook b3 - b2 MATE

Else:
24. Queen d4 - d1 MATE

[edit] Further variants

Since the game in the original form is considered to be solved, a "Super Maharaja" variant has been proposed, where the Maharaja has the additional faculty of a "camel jump" (one diagonal plus two straight). This allows him e.g. to break through a straight line of protected black pawns, which is otherwise impossible.