Chess Most historians trace chess back to India in the 6th century CE, where a game called chaturanga (“four divisions (of the military)”) was played. It represented infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots — the precursors to today’s pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks.
- Infantry
- Cavalry
- Gaja (elephants):
- Ratha (chariots):
In chaturanga, the queen was the mantri (general or counselor) and moved only one square diagonally. In shatranj, it became the vizier (firzān), still a minister.
Persia picked it up next, renaming it shatranj. Shah mat means “the king is helpless/dead” in Persian (that is were “check” and “checkmate” come from) When the Arabs conquered Persia in the 7th century, they adopted shatranj and carried it across the Islamic world, from current Portugal to Central Asia. From there it spread into Europe (via Muslim Spain and Byzantine trade routes) by around the 9th–10th centuries.