Shatranj (650)

Shatranj (Persian chess)

Shatranj is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic world. Its origins are in the Indian game of chaturaṅga. The game came to Europe in the 10th century and spread from Byzantium to Iceland over the next three centuries. Shatranj in mediaeval times went under as much learned scrutiny as chess does today. The prominent player Al-Suli (A.D. 880-946) wrote the first scientific book on the game, the “Book of Chess”.

Why is Shatranj (Persian chess) Popular?

Shatranj is significant because it is the predecessor to modern European Chess. The game has major variations from the modern western game, making it of much different character. Shatranj gives much shorter moves to some of the pieces. The pawns only move one square forwards, even on their first turn. The long move of the bishop, called the elephant in shatranj, is instead a short diagonal leap of a distance of two, and exactly two, squares. And most surprising to modern players of the game is that the queen is here a vizier, with only a short diagonal move to an adjacent square.

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