Vyuhh grows from Chaturanga, the ancient Indian game that also gave the world chess — so if you have played chess, much of this will feel familiar. The board is 9×9, three pieces move in ways of their own, and four Durgs (fortresses) change how the middle of the board works.
The quickest way in: open Play, choose the computer on Easy, and lose a game. Ten minutes will teach you more than this page.
Pick one to see where it can go. The boards below run the real rules, not a drawing of them.
The four rules below are Vyuhh's own, and they are the ones that catch people out. Each plays through the real engine, so what you see is exactly what the game does.
Along the back rank: Gaj, Ashva, Rath, an empty square, the Raja, another empty square, then Rath, Ashva, Gaj. Nine Sipahi in front. Two Durgs sit at b3 and h3, and their mirrors at b7 and h7.
Those two empty squares beside the Raja are not an oversight. They are where a Mantri arrives, and keeping them free is a decision you will make repeatedly.
Each Durg rules the nine squares centred on it. Three rules follow, and they are the ones newcomers get wrong:
So a Durg deters, but it does not protect. Anyone can trade a cheap piece for a valuable one hiding inside.
Lose a Rath and a Mantri immediately takes a free square on your back rank — c, d, f or g, your choice, costing no turn. If all four are occupied at that moment, he is lost for the rest of the game.
The choice matters more than it looks. He moves only on diagonals, so he can never change square colour: c and g are light squares, d and f are dark. Whichever you pick, half the board becomes permanently invisible to him.
He also cannot move on his first turn. He arrives, and waits.
There is a price. Placing him on c or d forfeits K-a castling permanently; f or g forfeits K-i. That holds even after he moves away or is captured.
A consequence worth knowing before it costs you a game: taking an enemy Rath wins 6 points of material but hands them a Mantri worth 4 — a net gain of only 2. Block their d and f squares first and you collect the full 6.
Once four of your first-row pieces have fallen — Gaj, Ashva, Rath or Mantri — your Raja may summon the Rani to a free c, d, f or g square — the very squares a Mantri needs. She moves in any direction, any distance (like the queen in chess).
It costs your entire turn. You cannot call while in check, and it happens only once. Calling at the wrong moment hands your opponent a free move exactly when you can least afford one.
Because she shares the Mantri's four squares, every succession narrows her options. Take c and d for Mantri and the Rani is left with f and g; fill all four and she never arrives at all.
The Raja pairs with a corner Gaj. K-i sends the Raja e→g and the Gaj i→f; K-a sends the Raja e→c and the Gaj a→d. The usual conditions apply: neither piece has moved, the squares between are clear, and the Raja is not in check and does not cross an attacked square.
Notice that castling parks a Gaj on d or f — the squares a Mantri needs. Raja safety and succession compete for the same ground.
They may never stand on adjacent squares. This matters more here than in chess, because a Raja sheltering in its own Durg zone cannot be attacked by the enemy Raja — the zone forbids him entering. Without this rule, a Raja could step out of its Durg's zone, check the enemy Raja, and be immune to reply.
The game keeps count of material — the total value of the pieces each side still has. You will see it in four places: the two numbers under the clocks on the Play page, the + figure beside the captured pieces, a review note such as "cost about 2 points", and — if you choose it in Settings — who wins when the quiet-move limit runs out.
| Piece | Value |
|---|---|
| Sipahi | 1 |
| Ashva | 3 |
| Durg | 3 |
| Mantri | 4 |
| Gaj | 5 |
| Rath | 6 |
| Rani | 9 |
| Raja | — never captured; trapping him ends the game |
Each side starts with 43: nine Sipahi, and two each of Ashva, Durg, Gaj and Rath. The Mantri and the Rani are not counted until they arrive.
Every move appears in the strip above the board and in your saved games. A square is named by its file, a to i from left to right as Surya Sena sees the board, and its rank, 1 to 9, with rank 1 as Surya Sena's back rank.
| Letter | Piece | Letter | Piece |
|---|---|---|---|
K | Raja | A | Ashva |
Q | Rani | G | Gaj |
R | Rath | D | Durg |
M | Mantri | — | Sipahi (no letter, just the square) |
| Written | Means |
|---|---|
Ac3 | The Ashva moves to c3. |
e4 | A Sipahi moves to e4. |
Rxd5 | x is a capture: the Rath takes on d5. |
cxd4 | A Sipahi captures, named by the file it came from. |
b4^ | ^ — a Sipahi leaps over its own Durg (first move only). |
Gxb6‡ | ‡ — a capture inside an enemy Durg's zone: both pieces die. |
h9=A | = — a Sipahi reaches the far rank and becomes an Ashva (or a Rath or Gaj). |
K-i · K-a | Castling, named after the corner the Gaj starts in. |
Q@d1 | The Raja calls the Rani to d1. This takes the whole turn. |
+ · # | Check · checkmate. |
Sometimes a note in brackets follows a move:
[M@c1] | A Rath fell, and its Mantri arrived on c1. |
[M lost] | A Rath fell, but c, d, f and g were all occupied — no Mantri comes. |
[Durg falls] | A Durg was captured, and its zone is gone for good. |
[turn skipped] | Shown with the Rani's call — the call used up the whole turn. |