Shatranj

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Shatranj is an old form of chess, which has been popular in Persia and the Middle East for almost 1000 years^[1]. Modern chess has gradually developed from this game.

Contents 1 Etymology and Origins 2 Rules 3 History 3.1 Early Arabic shatranj literature 3.2 Famous players 3.3 Player classification 4 Game play 4.1 Openings 4.2 Piece values 5 Mansubat 6 Playing Shatranj on the internet 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Etymology and Origins

The word shatranj is derived from the Sanskrit chaturanga (chatuH=four, anga= arm). In Middle Persian the word appears as chatrang, with the 'u' lost due to syncope (e.g. in the title of the text Mâdayân î chatrang, book of Chess, 7th c.). In folk etymology, the word is sometimes re-bracketed as sad (100) + ranj (worries), i.e. a hundred worries, which may appear quite meaningful to players and their friends. The word was adapted into Arabic, and transmuted into the Spanish ajedrez, which eventually became the English chess.

The game came to Persia from India, in the early centuries of the Christian Era. The earliest Persian reference to chess is found in the Middle Persian book Karnamak-i Artaxshir-i Papakan, which was written between the 3rd to 7th century. This ancient 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]

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 16 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 AD).

The rules of Chaturanga seen in India today have enormous variation, but all involve four branches (angas) of the army: the horse, the elephant (bishop), the chariot (rook) and the foot-soldier (pawn), played on a 8x8 board. Shatranj adapted much of the same rules as Chaturanga, and also the basic 16 piece structure. In some later variants the darker squares were engraved. The game spread Westwards after the Islamic conquest of Persia and achieved great popularity and a considerable body of literature on game tactics and strategy was produced from the 8th c. onwards.

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

[edit] Rules

Shatranj pieces
	Shah (King)
	Vazir (Counsellor)
	Rukh (Chariot or Rook)
	"Pill" in Persian and "Alfil" in Arabic (Elephant)
	Asb (Horse or Knight)
	Sarbaz(piyadeh)(Pawn)

The initial setup in shatranj was essentially the same as in modern chess. However the position of the white shah (king), on the right or left side was not fixed. Either the arrangement as in modern chess or as shown on the diagram above were possible. In either case, however, the white and black shah would be located on the same file. The game was played with the following pieces:

• Shah (king) moves like the king in chess.
• Fers (counsellor; also spelled ferz; Arabic firz, from Persian فرزين farzin ; also called Wazir from Middle Persian Vichir) moves exactly one square diagonally, which makes it a rather weak piece. It was replaced by a queen in modern chess. Even today, the word for the queen piece is ферзь (ferz) in Russian and vezér in Hungarian. It has analogues to the guards in xiangqi and generals in shogi.
• Rukh (chariot; from Persian رخ rokh) moves like the rook in chess.
• Pill or Alfil (elephant; from Persian پيل pil; al- is the Arabic definite article) moves exactly two squares diagonally, jumping over the intervening square. Note that each of the four Pills 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 in chaturanga, where the piece is also called "elephant". The Pill was replaced by the bishop in modern chess. Even today, the word for the bishop piece is alfil in Spanish and alfiere in Italian.
• Faras (horse, from Arabic; Persian اسپ asp) moves like the knight in chess.
• Baidak (from Arabic بيدق from Persian پياده piyada, foot-soldier) moves like the pawns in chess, but without the option of moving two squares on the first move. When they reach the eighth rank, baidaks are promoted, but only to fers.

Pieces are shown on the diagrams and recorded in the notation using the equivalent modern symbols, as in the table above. In modern descriptions of shatranj, the names king, rook, knight and pawn are commonly used for shah, rukh, faras, and baidak.

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 your opponent could capture your last piece on his or her next move, then it is a draw.

[edit] History

[edit] Early Arabic shatranj literature

During the Golden Age of Arabic, many works on shatranj were written, recording for the first time the analysis of opening games, chess 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]

The earliest listing of works on chess is in the Fihrist, a general bibliography produced in 377 AH (988 CE) 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. Aliqlidisi'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 Hasan, a philosopher from Basra who died in 728 CE. However the attribution of authorship is dubious.

[edit] Famous players

During the reign of the Arab caliphs, shatranj players of highest class were called aliyat or grandees.^[3] There were only a very few players in this category. The most well known of them were:

• 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. Al-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.

[edit] Player classification

Al-Adli as well as as-Suli introduced classifications of players by their playing strength. Both of them specify 5 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 fers from grandee.
• Fourth class - received odds of a knight.
• Fifth class - received odds of a rook.

To determine his or her class, a player would play a series of match with a player of a known class without odds. If he wins 7 or more games out of 10, he belongs to a higher class.

[edit] Game play

[edit] Openings

Openings in shatranj were usually called tabbiyyaتَبِّيّة (pl. tabiyyaat),تَبِيّات which can be translated as battle array. Due to slow piece development in shatranj, the exact sequence of moves was relatively unimportant. Instead players aimed to reach a specific position, tabiya, mostly ignoring the play of their opponent.

On the right is shown the position of the game, where white has played quite a popular tabiya Mujannah (the wingled, or flanked). Black in the middle of playing tabiya Mashaikhi (the sheikh's opening). The initial position in this game was with the white king on the right side. This position was reached after the following moves: 1. f3 h6 2. f4 b6 3. Nf3 f6 4. g3 e6 5. c3 d6 6. c4 Ne7 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. b3 e5 9. e3 d5 10. d3 c6 11. Rb1 Qc7 12. Rg1 Qd6. White and black can also play the same tabiya. For example, in the Double Mujannah opening, both white and black play the Mujannah tabiya, reaching a symmetric position.

The works of al-Adli and as-Suli contain collections of tabiyat. Tabiyat were usually given as position on a half-board with some comments about them. The concrete sequence of moves to reach them was not specified. In his book Al-Lajlaj analyzed some tabiya in detail. He started his analysis from some given opening, for example "Double Mujannah" or "Mujannah - Mashaikhi", and then continued up to move 40., giving numerous variations.

[edit] Piece values

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]

Piece	Value
Rook	1 dirhem
Knight	2/3 dirhem
Fers	1/3 - 3/8 dirhem
Alfil	1/4 dirhem
Central pawn (d-, or e-pawn)	1/4 dirhem
Knight's or Alfils's pawn (b-, c-, f-, or g-pawn)	1/6 - 1/5 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 King's side Alfil (on the c-file) was better than Queen's side one (on the f-file). Furthemore, 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.

[edit] Mansubat

There were a lot of shatranj problems composed by Arabic chess masters. Such shatranj problems were called mansuba (pl. mansubat). This word can be translated from Arabic as arrangement, position or situation. Mansubat were typically composed in such a way that a win could be achieved as a sequence of checks. One's own king was usually threatened by immediate checkmate.

One of the most famous Mansuba is the Dilaram Problem shown at the right. Black threatens immediate checkmate by 1...Ra2, or Ra8, or Rb4. However, white can win with a two-rook sacrifice: 1. Rh8+ Kxh8 2.Bf5+ Kg8 3. Rh8+ Kxh8 4. g7+ Kg8 5. Nh6#. Note that the Alfil (denoted by B for simplicity) moves two squares diagonally, jumping over intermediate pieces; it thus prevents the king from going to h7 at move 5.

[edit] Playing Shatranj on the internet

Online Shatranj games can be played at Internet Chess Club.

Correspondence Shatranj is available at SchemingMind.

[edit] See also

• Origins of chess
• Chess in early literature

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Shatranj, the medieval Arabian Chess by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
• Shatranj by Hans L. Bodlaender
• The Time of Shatranj and the Aliyat by Miguel Villa.
• Piececlopedia
• ICC Shatranj rules
• SchemingMind Shatranj rules (free registration required)
• Snatranj rules on AncientChess (including original piece pictures)
• Nishapur Chess Set (historical shatranj pieces replica)