There is a big problem with Murray's alquerque: after two moves he already has a piece "captive" in the first players position.

Diagram 1

 Departing from diagram 1 we play the opening move 1. C2-C3. After 1... C4xC2 2. C1xC3 A3xC1 3. C3xA3 we arrive at the following position:

Diagram 2

 The question is: can the second player avoid losing a piece? If not, this is a dead game, for the second player can never win! Even if the first player should blunder away two pieces -which should be impossible- it is still a draw, for one piece more is not sufficient for a win in the endgame. This cannot be the truth about alquerque. To get confirmation Mats Winther ordered his computer to produce four games with a short thinking time and a fifth one with a long thinking time, starting from the position in diagram 2.

First game 3. ... B4-B3 4. A3xC3 D4xB2 5. A2xC2 (diagram 3) C1xC3 6. D3xB3 W+1

Diagram 3

 

Fifth game 3. ... B4 - B3 4. A3xC3 D4xB2 5. A2xC2 C1xC3 6. D3xB3 C5 - D4 7. E3xC5 E4-E3 8. E2xE4 E5xE3xC1 9. C5xE5 B5-B4 10. B3xB5 A5xC5 (diagram 7)

Diagram 7

  Perhaps the second player can survive, with a piece less, in the first game, but the other games are clearly lost. Even if the second player can achieve a draw in the first game, it's clear that we cannot speak of a game.