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Chaturaji Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Chaturaji, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

With cubic dice, pawn, king and elephant cover two thirds of the faces

Lesson 1

Chaturaji lets the dice decide which piece may move. With cubic dice, 1 and 5 move a pawn or king, 2 a boat, 3 a horse, and 4 and 6 an elephant. Four of the six faces, two thirds of all rolls, therefore move a pawn, king or elephant.

You begin with four pawns, and the elephant travels far along ranks and files. These pieces come up most often, so it pays to plan around pawn and elephant moves first. Boats and horses each move on only one face in six.

Each of the two dice is used one at a time, and if neither can move a piece you may simply end your turn. Here a 1 was rolled: advance a pawn one square and see how a die is spent.

Your own pieces also block an elephant's path

Lesson 2

An elephant moves any distance along a rank or file on a 4 or 6. It cannot jump, so any piece in the way stops it short. An enemy piece can be captured, but a square held by your own piece is closed to you.

If you line your own pawns up in front of an elephant, a 4 or a 6 may leave it with nowhere to go, and you will lose a turn. Looking at the elephant's lines and moving a pawn to open one is a useful preparation.

In this position your own pawn waits two squares ahead of the elephant. Do not run into it: slide to the square just before it and see how the path closes.

Do not push your king too far forward

Lesson 3

The king can use a 1 or a 5, but if it is captured an opponent scores five points. You may keep playing with your other pieces, yet you can no longer win by keeping your own king while taking all three others.

A 1 or 5 is also a pawn face, so you can spend the die on a pawn and leave the king where it is. Keep the king near your edge, send pawns and elephants out first, and watch what the others do.

When a chance to take another king appears the king may step forward too, but first check that it does not enter a line of an elephant or horse. Here, advance the pawn rather than the king.

A boat jumps, so pieces between do not shield it

Lesson 4

A boat uses a 2 and jumps two squares diagonally. Whatever stands on the square in between, friend or foe, it hops over and lands. If an enemy piece sits on the landing square it is captured; if your own piece is there, you cannot go.

So a piece in between never stops a boat. When an enemy boat sits two squares away diagonally, a pawn between you does not protect you. To defend, watch the landing square instead.

There is one more thing: if one boat from each of the four seats forms a 2x2 square including the boat that just moved, that is a boat triumph. Here, jump the boat two squares diagonally over the pawn.

Promote only to a piece type you have lost

Lesson 5

When a pawn reaches the far edge it can become the piece pictured on that square. From a corner the pictures read boat, horse, elephant, king, king, elephant, horse, boat. It changes only if you no longer have that type; with an elephant still on the board, a pawn on the elephant square simply waits.

If your elephant or horse was captured, sending a pawn to the edge is a valuable way to win the piece back. An elephant travels far on a 4 or 6, so promoting to one is especially strong.

Here your army has no elephant. Advance the pawn to the edge and watch it become one. Remember that a captured elephant is worth four points to the other side.

Save a threatened piece with the dice you can use

Lesson 6

On your turn, first look at where the enemy pieces reach: an elephant along ranks and files, a horse in an L, a boat two squares diagonally, and kings and pawns nearby. If a valuable piece is threatened, use a die that fits it to move it away.

If it cannot get away, another idea is to leave it so you can take back. Taking back keeps the points roughly even. But the dice decide which piece may move, so check what the dice allow before settling on a plan.

Here an enemy elephant looks down the file at your elephant. A 4 has been rolled, so step your elephant sideways out of its line.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

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Last updated 2026-10-07 · Run by Qdan, Inc.