The History Of Chess, Xiang Qi, Shogi Etc.

Chess Origins

A great deal has been written about the origin of Chess and there is still a lot of debate on the subject. Most sources for this information are derived in some part from the monumental book by HJR Murray - The History of Chess published in 1917. While this is a great work, it has its flaws and, of course, much new evidence has surfaced since.

In the middle ages, Chess was sometimes played by monarchs with living chessmen in a court paved to represent a chessboard.

There are three main theories as to the genesis of Chess:

• Chess appeared first, fully-formed, in North Western India
• Some people say that the earliest ancestor is 4-player Chaturanga played with dice which metamorphosed into the 2 player strategy game
• Backed up by 2 or 3 Chinese legends, the other primary theory is that Chess came to India from China.

So which is it? There is no irrefutable evidence for the 4-player form of Chaturanga until 1000AD. For arguments espousing a Chinese origin, one can read a long and forceful treatise called The Origin of Chess written by Sam Sloan but currently there is insufficient evidence to convince most critics that Chess does have a Chinese source. So the hypothesis currently holding the consensus view is that 2 player Chaturanga was invented independently in North Western India probably in the 5th or 6th century

Indian Chess is known as Chaturanga and there were probably multiple variations of the ancient game (as there are to this day) developed by ancient Indians - primarily to confuse twenty-first century historians. Some say Chaturanga was invented by a 6th century Indian philosopher but the earliest definite reference to Chess in India, or anywhere, was written about and during the reign of King Sriharsha c.625.

Chaturanga means "Four Parts" or "Four Divisions" which most historians believe refers to the 4 types of force employed - Infantry, Cavalry, Elephantry and the Navy under the control of a Rajah (king). The board of 64 squares used for Chaturanga, was stolen from an earlier game called Ashtapada, an ancient Indian race game.