Shatranj

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Shatranj (Hindi शतरंज, Urdu ‫ﺷﻄﺮﻧﺞ‬, from Middle Persian chatrang

‫)ﭼﺘﺮﻧﮓ‬, is an old form of chess, which came to the Western world by
the Persians and later Greeks, and ultimately from India (chaturaṅga)
via the Persian Empire.[1] Modern chess gradually developed from this
game.

Contents
1 Etymology and origins
2 Rules
3 History
3.1 Middle Persian literature
3.2 Early Arabic literature
3.3 Player classification Two shatranj players in a detail from a
3.4 Players Persian miniature paintingof
4 Gameplay Bayasanghori Shahnamemade in 1430
4.1 Openings
4.2 Piece values
5 Mansubat
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

Etymology and origins

The Arabic word shatranj is derived from the Sanskrit chaturanga (catuḥ: "four"; anga: "arm"). In Middle
Persian the word appears as chatrang, with the 'u' lost due to syncope and the 'a' lost to apocope, for example,
in the title of the text Mâdayân î chatrang ("Book of chess") from the 7th century AD. In Persian folk
etymology shat means "100" and ranj means "worries" then it becomes "100 worries", Persian text refers to
Shah Ardashir I, who ruled from 224–241, as a master of the game:[2] "By the help of Providence Ardeshir
became more victorious and warlike than all, on the polo and the riding-ground, at Chatrang and Vine-
Artakhshir, and in several other arts."

However, Karnamak contains many fables and legends, and this only establishes the popularity of chatrang at
the time of its composition.[3]
 Persian manuscript from the
14th century describing how an
ambassador from India brought
chess to the Persian court
Indian ambassador introducing Shams-e-Tabrīzī as portrayed in
chess to the Persian court a 1500 painting in a page of a
copy of Rumi's poem dedicated
to Shams

Krishna and Radha playing

chaturanga on an 8×8 Ashtāpada

During the reign of the later Sassanid king Khosrau I (531–579), a gift
from an Indian king (possibly a Maukhari Dynasty king of Kannauj)[4]
included a chess game with sixteen pieces of emerald and sixteen of
ruby (green vs. red).[3] The game came with a challenge which was
successfully resolved by Khosrau's courtiers. This incident, originally
referred to in the Mâdayân î chatrang (c. 620 AD), is also mentioned in
Firdausi's Shahnama (c. 1010).
Iranian shatranj set, glazed fritware, 12th
The rules of chaturanga seen in India today have enormous variation, century (New York Metropolitan
but all involve four branches (angas) of the army: the horse, the Museum of Art)
elephant (bishop), the chariot (rook) and the foot soldier (pawn), played
on an 8×8 board. Shatranj adapted much of the same rules as
chaturanga, and also the basic 16-piece structure. There is also a larger 10×11 board derivative; the 14th-
century Tamerlane chess, or shatranj kamil (perfect chess), with a slightly different piece structure.

In some later variants the darker squares were engraved. The game spread Westwards after the Islamic conquest
of Persia and a considerable body of literature on game tactics and strategy was produced from the 8th century
onwards.

With the spread of Islam, chess diffused into the Maghreb and then to Andalusian Spain. During the Islamic
conquest of India (c. 12th century), some forms came back to India as well, as evidenced in the North Indian
term māt (mate, derivative from Persian māt) or the Bengali borey (pawn, presumed derived from the Arabic
baidaq).[5] Over the following centuries, chess became popular in Europe, eventually giving rise to modern
chess.

Rules
The initial setup in shatranj was essentially the same as in modern
chess; however, the position of the white shah (king), on the right a b c d e f g h
or left side was not fixed. Either the arrangement as in modern 8 8
7 7
chess or as shown in the diagram were possible. In either case, the
white and black shāh would be on the same file (but not always in
6 6
modern India). The game was played with these pieces:
5 5
Shatranj pieces 4 4
shah (king) 3 3
fers or wazīr (counsellor or ferz) 2 2
rukh (chariot or rook) 1 1
"pīl" in Persian and "al-fīl" in Arabic (elephant) a b c d e f g h
Shataranj starting setup
asb (horse in Persian) or knight
sarbaz (piyadeh) (pawn)
Shāh (king) moves like the king in chess.
Fers (counsellor; also spelled ferz; Arabic firz, from Persian ‫ ﻓﺮزﻳﻦ‬farzīn; also called wazīr) moves
exactly one square diagonally, which makes it a rather weak piece. It was renamed "queen" in Europe.
Even today, the word for the queen piece is ферзь (ferz`) in Russian, vezér in Hungarian, "vezir" in
Turkish, "vazīr" in Persian and "wazīr" in Arabic. It has analogue to the guards in xiangqi.
Rokh (chariot; from Persian ‫ رخ‬rokh) moves like the rook in chess.
Pīl, alfil, aufin, and similar (elephant; from Persian ‫ ﭘﻴﻞ‬pīl; al- is the Arabic for "the") moves exactly two
squares diagonally, jumping over the square between. Each pīl could reach only one-eighth of the squares
on the board, and because their circuits were disjoint, they could never capture one another. This piece
might have had a different move sometimes in chaturanga, where the piece is also called "elephant". The
pīl was replaced by the bishop in modern chess. Even today, the word for the bishop piece is alfil in
Spanish, alfiere in Italian, "fil" in Turkish, "fīl" in Persian and Arabic, and слон ("elephant") in Russian.
The elephant piece survives in xiangqi with the limitations that the elephant in xiangqi cannot jump over
an intervening piece and is restricted to the owner's half of the board. In janggi, its movement was
changed to become a slightly further-reaching version of the horse.

Asb (current meaning of horse in Persian, from old

Persian Asp (‫))اﺳﭗ‬, moves like the knight in chess.
Sarbaz (also called piyādeh (‫ )ﭘﯿﺎده‬in Persian and
adopted later to Baidaq (‫ )ﺑﻴﺪق‬in Arabic as a broken
plural), foot soldier, moves and captures like the
pawns in chess, but not moving two squares on the
first move. When they reach the eighth rank, they are
promoted, but only to fers.

Pieces are shown on the diagrams and recorded in the Moves of the fers Moves of the pīl,
notation using the equivalent modern symbols, as in the which can jump over
table above. In modern descriptions of shatranj, the names other pieces
king, rook, knight and pawn are commonly used for shah, rukh, faras, and baidaq.

There were also other differences compared to modern chess: Castling was not
allowed (it was invented much later). Stalemating the opposing king resulted in a win for the player delivering
stalemate. Capturing all one's opponent's pieces apart from the king (baring the king) was a win, unless the
opponent could capture the last piece on his next move, which was considered a draw in most places in the
Islamic world (except for Medina, where it was a win).[3]

History
Middle Persian literatur e
Three books written in Pahlavi; Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan,
Khosrow and ridag and Wizārišn ī čhatrang ("Treatise on Chess") also
known as the Chatrang Nama ("Book of Chess"), all mention chatrang.
In Kār-nāmak it is said that Ardashīr "with the help of the gods became
more victorious and experienced than all others in polo, horsemanship,
chess, backgammon, and other arts," and in the small treatise on
Khosrow and ridag, the latter declares that he is superior to his
comrades in chess, backgammon, and hašt pāy. Bozorgmehr, the author Early shatranj
of Wizārišn ī čhatrang, describes how the game of chess was sent as a
test to Khosrow I (r. 531-79) by the "king of the Hindus Dēvsarm" with
the envoy Taxtarītūs and how the test was answered by the vizier
Bozorgmehr, who in his turn invented the game Backgammon as a test
for the Hindus. These three Middle Persian sources do not give any
certain indication of the date when chess was introduced into Persia.
The mentions of chess in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan and
Khosrow and ridag are simply conventional and may easily represent
late Sasanian or even post-Sasanian redactions.[6] According to Touraj
Daryaee, Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan is from 6th century.[7]
Wizārišn ī čhatrang was written in the 6th century.[8]

Early Arabic literatur e

During the Islamic Golden Age, many works on shatranj were written,
recording for the first time the analysis of opening moves, game
problems, the knight's tour, and many more subjects common in
modern chess books. Many of these manuscripts are missing, but their
content is known due to compilation work done by the later authors.[3]
A surviving shatranj piece
The earliest listing of works on chess is in the Fihrist, a general
bibliography produced in 377 AH (988 AD) by Ibn al-Nadim. It
includes an entire section on the topic of chess, listing:

Al-Adli's Kitab ash-shatranj ('Book of chess')

Ar-Razi's Latif fi 'sh-shatranj ('Elegance in chess')
As-Suli's Kitab ash-shatranj (two volumes)
Al-Lajlaj's Kitab mansubat ash-shatranj ('Book of chess-positions or problems')
B. Aluqlidisi's Kitab majmu' fi mansubat ash-shatranj ('Collection of chess problems')

There is a passage referring to chess in a work said to be by al-Hasan al-Basri, a philosopher from Basra who
died in 728 AD. The attribution of authorship is dubious, however.

Player classification

Al-Adli as well as As-Suli introduced classifications of players by their playing strength. Both of them specify
five classes of players:

Aliyat (or aliya), grandees

Mutaqaribat, proximes – players who could win 2–4 games out of 10 in the match against grandee.
They received odds of a pawn from grandee (better players g-, a- or h-pawn, weaker ones d- or e-pawn).
Third class – players who received odds of a fer from grandee.
Fourth class – received odds of a knight.
Fifth class – received odds of a rook.

To determine a player's class, a series or match would be undertaken with a player of a known class without
odds. If the player won 7 or more games out of 10, he belonged to a higher class.
Players

During the reign of the Arab caliphs, shatranj players of highest class were called aliyat or grandees.[3] There
were only a few players in this category including:

Jabir al-Kufi, Rabrab and Abun-Naam were three aliyat players during the rule of caliph al-Ma'mun.
Al-Adli was the strongest player during the rule of caliph al-Wathiq. At this time he was the only player
in aliyat category.
Ar-Razi in 847 won a match against an already old al-Adli in the presence of caliph al-Mutawakkil and
so become a player of aliyat category.
As-Suli was the strongest player during the reign of caliph al-Muktafi. Ar-Razi was already dead and
there were no players of comparable strength before as-Suli appeared on the scene. In the presence of al-
Muktafi he easily won a match against a certain al-Mawardi and thus proved that he was the best player
of that time. As-Suli considered Rabrab and ar-Razi as the greatest of his predecessors.
Al-Lajlaj was a pupil of as-Suli and also a great shatranj master of his time.

Gameplay
Openings

Openings in shatranj were usually called tabbiyya ‫( ﺗَﻌﺒﻴّﺔ‬pl. Mujannah–Mashaikhi opening

tabbiyyaat), ‫ ﺗَﻌﺒِﻴّﺎت‬which can be translated as battle array. Due to
slow piece development in shatranj, the exact sequence of moves a b c d e f g h
was relatively unimportant. Instead players aimed to reach a 8 8
specific position, tabiya, mostly ignoring the play of their 7 7
opponent.
6 6
The works of al-Adli and as-Suli contain collections of tabiyat. 5 5
Tabiyat were usually given as position on a half-board with some
4 4
comments about them. The concrete sequence of moves to reach
them was not specified. In his book Al-Lajlaj analyzed some tabiya 3 3
in detail. He started his analysis from some given opening, for 2 2
example "Double Mujannah" or "Mujannah–Mashaikhi", and then
continued up to move 40, giving numerous variations. 1 1
a b c d e f g h
Piece values In the opening, players usually tried
to reach a specific position, tabiya.
Both al-Adli and as-Suli provided estimation of piece values in
their books on shatranj. They used a monetary system to specify
piece values. For example, as-Suli gives piece values in dirhem, the currency in use in his time:[3]

The chess pieces were often shaped to avoid any representation of a real living thing.

Piece Value Shape of piece sometimes found

king seat, representing a throne

rook 1 dirhem rectangular block with V-shaped cut in top

knight cone with beak-shaped sideways projection at

2/3 dirhem
top
1/3–3/8
ferzan seat (smaller than king); or obelisk
dirhem
war elephant 1/4 dirhem cone with notch cut in top
1/4 dirhem small cone, or similar
 central pawn (d- or e-pawn)
knight's or alfil's pawn (b-, c-, f-, or g- 1/6–1/5
pawn) dirhem

rook's pawn (a- or h-pawn) 1/8 dirhem

As-Suli also believed that the b-pawn was better than the f-pawn and the kingside alfil (on the c-file) was better
than the queenside one (on the f-file). Furthermore, an alfil on the c-file was better than the d-pawn and the alfil
on the f-file was better than an e-pawn.

Mansubat
Persian chess masters composed many shatranj problems. Such Dilaram Problem, c. 10th century
shatranj problems were called mansūba (pl. mansūbāt). This word
can be translated from Arabic as arrangement, position or a b c d e f g h
situation. Mansubat were typically composed in such a way that a 8 8
win could be achieved as a sequence of checks. One's own king 7 7
was usually threatened by immediate checkmate.
6 6
One Mansuba is the Dilaram Problem (see diagram). Black 5 5
threatens immediate checkmate by 1...Ra2#, Ra8#, or either Rb4#.
4 4
But White can win with a two-rook sacrifice:
3 3
1. Rh8+ Kxh8 2. Bf5+ Kg8 3. Rh8+ Kxh8 4. g7+ Kg8 5.
2 2
Nh6#
1 1
Note that the alfil (bishop) moves two squares diagonally, jumping a b c d e f g h
over intermediate pieces; this allows it to jump over the white
knight to deliver the discovered check from the second rook with White to move and win
2.Bf5+. It was said that a nobleman (playing White) wagered his
wife Dilārām on a chess game and this position arose. She appealed "Sacrifice your two Rooks, and not me."[9]

See also
Chess in early literature
History of chess
Tamerlane chess
Timeline of chess

References
1. Jean-Louis Cazaux (2012-04-20). "Shatranj" (http://history.chess.free.fr/shatranj.htm).
History.chess.free.fr. Retrieved 2013-11-23.
2. Unknown court historian of the Sassanid Empire. The Karnamik-I-Ardashir, or The Records of Ardashir
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/ardashir.html). Note: Vine-Artakhsir is a reference to the game
later known as Nard, a predecessor of backgammon.
3. Murray 1913.
4. Jean-Louis Cazaux (12 March 2004). "The Enigma of Chess birth: The Old Texts: 6th, 7th and 8th
centuries" (http://history.chess.free.fr/sources.htm). Retrieved 14 July 2007.
5. Jean-Louis Cazaux (16 June 2006). "Indian Chess Sets" (http://history.chess.free.fr/india.htm). Retrieved
14 July 2007.
6. "CHESS" (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/chess-a-board-game). ENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA.
Retrieved 18 January 2016.
 7. Daryaee, Touraj (2009). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. p. 114.
ISBN 9781850438984.
8. Explanation of chess and disposition of backgammon (http://www.rahamasha.net/uploads/2/3/2/8/232877
7/chess.pdf)
9. Murray 1913, p. 311 (bottom).

Bibliography

Murray, H. J. R. (1913). A History of Chess (Reissued ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-827403-
3.

Further reading
Parlett, David (1999). "Shatranj (Islamic Chess)". The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford
University Press Inc. pp. 296–99. ISBN 0-19-212998-8.

External links
Shatranj, the medieval Arabian Chess by Jean-Louis Cazaux
Shatranj by Hans L. Bodlaender, The Chess Variant Pages
The Time of Shatranj and the Aliyat by Miguel Villa
ICC shatranj rules
Shatranj at BoardGameGeek

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