The origins of the ubiquitous game of strategy, chess, lie in an instructional military model used in ancient India to plan battles. This model made use of non-distinct terracotta figures that simulated the four (in Sanskrit, “catur”) divisions (“anga”) of ancient Indian armies – chariots, horsemen, elephants, and soldiers on foot. Asian Geographic traces the evolution of the game of chess through the ages.
One of the first gaming pieces – a war
elephant (bishop) resting on its knees,
protected by chain mail[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”300 BC” title_font_color=”#dd0000″]
References to the term caturanga as the four wings of the army go back to before 300 BC
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”560 – 579 AD” title_font_color=”#dda44d”]
King Sarvavarman Maukhari from Kanauj in India sent the game to the Persian king Chosrow I Anushirvan. This model used pieces made of ruby and emerald
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”625 AD” title_font_color=”#dd0404″]
The Harshacarita is one of the earliest allusions to the game of caturanga in India, played on a planogram using terracotta figures
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”720 AD” title_font_color=”#dda44d”]
Chess spread across the Islamic world from Persia. The Persian exclamation “Shah Mat!” (literally, “the king is helpless”), led to the phrase “checkmate”
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”800 AD” title_font_color=”#dd0000″]
The first written reference to Chinese chess (xiangqi) appeared in the Book of Marvels. The pieces are placed on the intersection of the lines of the board
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”9th Century” title_font_color=”#dda44d”]
The Arabs introduced the game to Western Europe in the ninth century
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”10th Century” title_font_color=”#dd0000″]
Muslims carried chess to North Africa, Sicily and Iberia. Chess reached Russia from Byzantium and via the Vikings
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”11th Century” title_font_color=”#dda44d”]
Ferdowsi, a renowned Persian poet, describes in the Shahnameh an Indian king who reenacted past battles on a chessboard
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”13th Century” title_font_color=”#dd0000″]
Around 1262, the Russian word for chess, shakhmaty, was introduced
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”16th Century” title_font_color=”#dda44d”]
Shogi was spawned when xiangqi was brought to Japan between the 10th and 12th centuries. The present form of shogi was played from the 16th century
[/icon_timeline_item][icon_timeline_item time_title=”1851″ title_font_color=”#dd0000″]
The first modern chess tournament was held in London
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Check out the rest of this article in Asian Geographic No.110 Issue 2/2015 here or download a digital copy here
