Chess came from India, experts claim
Jeremy Page in Delhi
March 12, 2007
THE riddle of the origins of chess has baffled enthusiasts and historians for decades, with countries from China to Ireland claiming to have invented the game.
Now a research team claims to have moved a step closer to proving that chess originated around the northern Indian city of Kanauj in the 5th century.
The team of four believes that terracotta figures found in the area are not toys, as long assumed by Indian experts, but pieces used in a strategic board game called chaturanga.
Chaturanga is generally considered to be the predecessor of chess, which evolved into its current form when transferred to Europe in the 15th century, but its precise origins remain a mystery. Renate Syed, an Indologist from Munich University, who was on the team, has already claimed to have found textual proof that an Indian king transferred chaturanga to Persia in the 6th century.
That thesis caused some consternation in Iran, where many historians argue that the Persians invented the game, which they called chatrang, and transferred it to India. It also ruffled feathers in China, where many believe that chess originated from a board game called xiangqi, which is mentioned in documents from the Warring States Period (403-221BC).
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If you’ve ever played Chinese Chess (known to be older than any of the other variants), it’s almost unimaginable that chess didn’t come from that game. It’s got the Rooks, it’s got the Knights, it’s got the same Bishop moves as in Persian chess, it’s got the same board (even tough they play on the intersections). Indian chess must have come from Chinese.
If you’ve read Kasparovs book “My Great Predeccesors”, you would know that he believes the current known Chess Game is purely an Europian invention.
Kasparov doesn’t even write his own books. What are you talking about? He just puts his name on it.
My hypothesis:
1. There was some common game in the distant past – evidence: A. nearly all forms of ‘chess’ has the central leader or king in the middle of the back rank. The horse figure or knight has that characteristic “L shaped” move. Not all forms allow ‘hopping’ and in some games like Xianqi. B. The lowest level of piece (pawns, soldiers, etc) are ranged as a dense or loose collection in front of the stronger pieces. C. Promotion or increase in motion is possible for pawns as they advance.
2. Rather than put more energy into this issue, it may be better that each type of game be appreciated for their nuances. European modern chess for the different colored bishops, castling, and strong queen. Xianqi for the cannons, lightening attacks and unique endgame limitations (the two kings cannot never face each over the same common file) which makes draws rare, Shogi for the ability to reintroduced captured pieces and to change the forms of pieces midgame.
I don’t think this is a ‘new thesis’ but just an article writing up the standard theories.
One of the leading authorities in the world must be the British Museum’s Curator of Games: he is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. There is an enquiry email address on the Museum’s website.
Chinese civilisation invented many things independently, and in some cases, before Western Civilisation: see the mammoth series on ‘Science and Civilisation in China’ at http://www.nri.org.uk/science.html
The “current” chess is a European game (Italian, to be exact), but modern International Chess came from Persian chess, which came from India, which came (almost surely) from China.
Chinese Chess goes back to at least the 4th century BC. The kind from India is centuries later.
Play Shatranj some time (you can play it as a wild variant on ICC), and then play Chinese Chess, and try to imagine that one didn’t come from the other.
The New Chess was given to us by the greatest and current World Chmapion, Bobby – all in accordance with the creation theory of FischerRandom. All else is mere child’s play. Hail Fischer!
Chess came from India…it is as ancient as the earliest Indus valley civilization. It is called Chaturanga in Sanskrit which means 4 parts or portions thus dividing the board into 4 sectors.
Everybody knows that Al Gore invented chess. Gimme a freaking break.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess
Which says that china borrowed chess from India.
Chinese chess came 200 years later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess
“
Many countries lay claim to the invention of chess. It is presently thought that the game originated in India,[3] since the Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Greek, Portuguese and Spanish words for chess are all derived from the ancient Indian chaturanga. In addition, only India had in its cavalry all three animals — horse, camel and elephant — represented by the knight, bishop and rook. The present version of chess stems from a form of chaturanga played in India around the 6th century. The first reference in literature to a game called chatrang is from Persia around 600, where the name became shatranj. The earliest documented chess pieces also date to the 7th century. By about 800 the game reached China and was known, with modifications, as Xiangqi. Chaturanga also spread to Japan, where it evolved into shogi. Shatranj was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Spanish “shatranj” was rendered as ajedrez and in Greek as zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shāh (“king”). The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe.[4] Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th century manuscript covering shatranj, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos.[5]
Another theory, championed by David H. Li, contends that chess arose from the game Xiangqi (also known as Chinese Chess), or at least a predecessor thereof, existing in China since the 2nd century BC.[6][7]”
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