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The Persian Chess Shatranj
History Of Chess Words: 584
The Persian Chess Shatranj

Shatranj is the direct descendant of Chaturanga and
had become popular in the Middle East and Persia for
almost 1000 years. More so, the modern chess is also
believed to have gradually developed from Shatranj.

The term Shatranj was derived from the Sanskrit
Chaturanga, where chatu means four and anga means arm.
The game also came to Persia from India during the
early centuries of the Christian era. One of the
earliest references to chess found in Persia is the
book �Karnamak-i Artaxshir-i Papakan�, which was
written around the 3rd to 7th century.

The game Shatranj adapted much of the rules of
Chaturanga, including the basic sixteen piece
structure. However, in later variants of the game, the
darker squares were eventually engraved. The Shatranj
also spread westward and achieved popularity and body
of literature on game strategy and tactics from the
8th century and onwards.

The Rules of Shatranj

Initially, the setup of the game is the same as modern
chess, although the position of the king of white
shah, on the left or right side was not entirely
established. Shatranj is played using pieces, such as:
the king or shah, the rukh or rook, the fers or
counselor, the pill or elephant, the faras or horse
and the baidak or pawns.

Almost all the movements of the Shatranj pieces are
similar to the modern chess with the exception of the
two square movement of the pawn during the first move.
There are also other differences of Shatranj compared
to the modern chess, such as: the castling, which was
not allowed but later invented. In the event of
stalemating, the opposing king will result in a win.
More so, if a player captures the entire opponent�s
pieces apart from the king, that player will normally
be declared the winner. However, if the opponent could
capture the last piece on the next move, the game will
result in a draw.

The game play of Shatranj includes the openings. These
were usually called tabbiyya or battle array, when
translated. However, due to the slow piece progress in
the game, the precise sequence of moves was
unimportant. Instead, the players aimed to reach a
specific position, mostly ignoring the play of their
opponent.

Additionally, the pieces used for Shatranj had values,
which used a monetary system. Such values include: one
dirhem for the rook, two-third dirhem for the knight,
one-fourth dirhem for the alfil, one-third to
three-eighth dirhem for the fers, one-fourth dirhem
for the central pawn, one-sixth to one-fifth dirhem
for the alfil�s or knight�s pawn and one-eighth dirhem
for the rook�s pawn.

These values were established and estimated by
as-Suli, who was the strongest Shantranj player during
the reign of al-Muktafi caliph, and al-Adli.

Early Beginnings of Shatranj

There are several works written about Shatranj during
the Golden Age of Arabic. These recorded the analysis
of opening games, knight�s tour, chess problems and
other subjects that are commonly found in modern chess
books.

Shatranj players who have the highest class were also
called grandees or aliyat. There were only a few
players that fell under this category and the most
well known are: Abun-Naam, Rabrab, and Jabir al-Kulfi,
who were the three aliyat players during the al-Ma�mun
caliph rule; Al-Lajlaj who was a great master of
Shatranj; and Ar-Razi who won 847 games against
powerful Shatranj opponents.