Chess is a descendant of a game called Chaturanga believed to have originated in India in the sixth century and which may have been related to a much older Chinese game. Writings about this oldest form of chess were found around A.D. 600.

Chaturanga is a Sanskrit word that refers to the four arms of the old Indian army—elephants, cavalry, chariots, and infantry—from which come the four types of pieces in that game. Checkmate may come from the ancient Persian phrase shah manad, meaning “the king is helpless [or defeated].”

Early Forms of Chess

Chaturanga spread eastward from India to China and then through Korea and Japan. It appeared after the Islamic conquest (A.D. 638–651) in Persia, where it was first called Chaturanga, and then Shatranj, which is the Arabic form of the word. The spread of Islam to Sicily and the invasions of Spain by the Moors brought Shatranj to Western Europe. It reached Russia through trade from several directions.

Chess seems to have spread rapidly along the routes of commerce: first to Persia, then to the Byzantine Empire, then throughout the rest of Asia. By the end of the tenth century, the game was well known throughout Europe and had attracted the serious interest of kings, philosophers, and even poets.

Muslims, it seems, welcomed chess, and the Arabs extensively studied chess, analyzed games, and wrote in great detail about chess. The Arabs probably developed the algebraic notation system (see Chapter 6).

Europe Embraces the New Game

Chess reached Europe probably between the seventh and ninth centuries. Excavations at a Viking grave site off the south shore of Brittany have uncovered a chess set; tenth-century chess figures of Scandinavian origin, still made in the traditional Arabic form, have been excavated at Vosges, France. In the Middle Ages, chess was played according to the Muslim rules with the queen and bishop as comparatively weak pieces, able to move only one square at a time.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, puzzle solving in chess became a particular pastime—for example, finding a solution such as a forced checkmate in a given number of moves. Overall, strategies became more refined as knowledge of how to play at higher levels was passed down and built upon.

Subsequently, Italians began to rule the game, wrestling the supremacy of the game from the Spanish. Then came the French and the English during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when chess spread among the common folk—until then the game was principally played by royalty and the aristocracy. With the public now playing chess, the level of play improved considerably. Matches and tournaments were played with great frequency, and prominent players of the game developed schools and followers.