Chess (or Shaturanga/Shatranj). a valuable Hindu contribution. an old Hindu contribution, by the way, thousands of years old.
A Brief History of Chess
Enter any bookstore, retail or used, and you will find chess books on the shelves devoted to games. Most of these will be texts for beginning players, and books on elementary strategy and tactics. There will be many books devoted to play in the openings, and perhaps even the latest edition of MCO (Modern Chess Openings). If the section for games is large enough, there may even be copies of Aron Nimzovitch's classic My System, or Fine's work on the end game. Seldom will you find a book that deals with the complex history and development of chess.
Modern international chess as it is played today is a relatively recent invention. The sweeping moves of the queen and the long reach of the bishops were not elements of the original game. Nor were such maneuvers as castling or capturing en passant. On the other hand, the moves of the remaining pieces are nearly identical to those of their ancient analogues.
Moreover, there are other forms of chess still being played today which, while not so widespread geographically as western chess, are yet played by significant numbers of people. Indeed, the variety of chess played in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan can claim as many, if not more, players as its western counterpart. Japan's chess, significantly different from both the western and Chinese versions, also claims players who number in the millions.
In the following paragraphs I present a brief survey of the evolution of chess as it spread east and west FROM INDIA, THE COUNTRY OF ITS ORIGIN.
Shaturanga
Chess originated in India, where it evolved from a game called Shaturanga. The antiquity of chess seems to be more legendary than actual, as is the case with so many games. According to some sources (Forbes, History of Chess, 1860) the game was invented between four or five thousand years ago, by the wife of King Ravana of Ceylon, when the capital was besieged by Rama. The earliest extant description of the game is contained in the Bhavishya Purana, which dates roughly from AD 300 to AD 600, as nearly as I can ascertain from conflicting sources, and which is quite old enough.
Shaturanga was played on a board of 64 squares, on which four opposing forces were arrayed, one in each corner of the board: black, red, green, and yellow. Each player had a rajah, which moves as the modern king; an elephant, with moves equivalent to the modern rook; a horse, equivalent to the modern knight; a ship (roka in Sanskrit), which could move two squares diagonally, leaping over intervening pieces; and four pawns, which could move one square forward, capturing along the diagonal. The players sitting opposite each other were loosely allied against the other two players. Each player moved in turn by rolling an oblong die, the long sides marked 2, 3, 4, and 5. The number thrown determined which piece could be moved that turn:
Roll Piece Moved
2 Ship
3 Horse
4 Elephant
5 Rajah or Pawn
Shaturanga was a gambling game with complex rules, which I will not endeavor to explain here. When Hindu law prohibited gambling, players evaded the penalties by dispensing with the die rolls. Later, the allied sides were combined to form two forces. The second rajah was made a prime minister, and its movement reduced to one square along the diagonal. The moves of the elephant and the ship were transposed. At this point the game became known as Shatranj.
Shatranj
The first written reference to the game Shatranj occurs in a Persian work dating from about AD 600. The oldest chess problem on record dates from this time. The story concerns a prince who, having lost all of his possessions in previous games, staked his favorite wife, Dilaram, in a final attempt to mend his fortunes. For a time it seemed he would succeed, but presently he found himself one move away from being mated. Dilaram was observing the game from behind the purdha, the screen that separates the men and women in common areas of the Persian household.
Seeing her husband in despair and on the point of resignation, she cried out: "O Prince, sacrifice your two rooks, and save Dilaram; forward with your elephant and pawn, and with the horse give checkmate" (translation after N Bland, Persian Chess, 1850). So guided the Prince saw the solution, and won the game. The position is provided here, using modern pieces. The elephant is represented by the bishop. Remember that the elephant moves two squares along any diagonal, jumping any intervening piece. The solution is provided at the bottom of this section.
Shatranj spread from Persia through Arabia and to Byzantium. How and when it entered Europe is not known. Three possible routes include Moorish Spain in the 7th century, through Byzantium at about the same time, and via the Crusades in the 12th century. The moves changed little in the ensuing centuries, and a text on the game of chess written in 1474 described a game essentialy identical to Shatranj.
The rules of the game, the setup, and the moves of the pieces resemble those of modern chess, but without the scope granted to the equivalent of the bishop (elephant) and queen (prime minister). Also, the initial positions of the king and prime minister were opposite those of the king and queen in modern chess. The moves of the pieces are given in the table below, with the Persian names for the pieces.
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