Editing Shatranj (section)

==Etymology and origins==
The name of the game in adjoining countries appears to be derived from chaturanga - chatrang in Persian, shatranj in Arabic, Chanderaki in Tibetan are examples. This suggests that the game, as well as its name, came from India. Also, as will appear, it was believed in Persia that the game arrived there from India.<ref name="ANCIENT">"The name of the game in adjoining countries appears to be derived from chaturanga - chatrang in Persian, shatranj in Arabic, chanderaki in Tibetan are examples. This suggests that the game, as well as its name, came from India. Also, as will appear, it was believed in Persia that the game arrived there from India."{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/ancientboardgame0000unse |page=18|title=Ancient board games in perspective : papers from the 1990 British Museum colloquium, with additional contributions |date=2007 |location=London |publisher= British Museum Press |isbn=978-0-7141-1153-7}}</ref> The Persian word {{Transliteration|fa|shatranj}} ultimately derives from [[Sanskrit]] ({{langx|sa|चतुरङ्ग}}; {{IAST|caturaṅga}}) ({{IAST|catuḥ}}: "four"; {{IAST|anga}}: "arm"), referring to the game of the same name: [[Chaturanga]]. In [[Middle Persian]] the word appears as {{Transliteration|fa|chatrang}}, with the 'u' lost due to [[syncope (phonetics)|syncope]] and the 'a' lost to [[apocope]], such as in the title of the text {{Transliteration|fa|Mâdayân î chatrang}} ("Book of Chess") from the 7th century [[AD]].

[[File:Chaturanga Chess Set.jpg|thumb|Antique North Indian Mughul shatranj chess set made from sandalwood.]]

The [[Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan]] refers to [[Ardashir I]] as a master of the game: "By the help of Providence, Ardeshir became more victorious and warlike than all, on the polo and the riding-ground, at Chatrang and Vine-Artakhshir,{{efn|''Vine-Artakhsir'' refers to the game later known as [[Nard (game)|Nard]].}} and in several other arts."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Karnamik-I-Ardashir, or The Records of Ardashir |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/ardashir.html }}</ref> However, ''Karnamak'' contains many fables and legends, and this only establishes the popularity of chatrang at the time of its composition.{{sfn|Murray|1913}}

<gallery mode="nolines" widths="200">
File:Persianmss14thCambassadorfromIndiabroughtchesstoPersianCourt.jpg|[[Persia]]n manuscript from the 14th century describing how an ambassador from [[India]] brought chess to the [[Persia]]n court
File:A treatise on chess 2.jpg|Indian ambassador, probably sent by the [[Maukhari]] King [[Śarvavarman]] of [[Kannauj]], introducing chess to the Persian court of [[Khosrow I]].<ref name="ME">{{cite book |last1=Eder |first1=Manfred A. J. |title=South Asian Archaeology 2007 Proceedings of the 19th Meeting of the European Association of South Asian Archaeology in Ravenna, Italy, July 2007, Volume II |date=2010 |publisher=Archaeopress Archaeology |isbn=978-1-4073-0674-2 |page=69 |url=http://history.chess.free.fr/papers/Eder%202007-2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414233414/http://history.chess.free.fr/papers/Eder%202007-2.pdf |archive-date=2016-04-14 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakker |first1=Hans T. |author-link=Hans T. Bakker|title=The Huns in Central and South Asia. How Two Centuries of War against Nomadic Invaders from the Steps are Concluded by a Game of Chess between the Kings of India and Iran |date=2017 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34156496}}</ref>
File:Shams ud-Din Tabriz 1502-1504 BNF Paris.jpg|[[Shams Tabrizi|Shams-e-Tabrīzī]] as portrayed in a 1500 painting in a page of a copy of [[Rumi]]'s [[Rumi ghazal 163|poem dedicated to Shams]].
File:Radha-Krishna chess.jpg|[[Krishna]] and [[Radha]] playing [[chaturanga]] on an 8×8 Oshtapata board
</gallery>
[[File:Chess Set MET DP170393.jpg|thumb|[[Iran]]ian shatranj set, glazed [[fritware]], 12th century [[Nishapur]] ([[New York Metropolitan Museum of Art]])]]
During the reign of the later [[Sassanid]] king [[Khosrau I]] (531–579), a gift from an Indian king (possibly a [[Maukhari Dynasty]] king of [[Kannauj]])<ref>{{cite web |title=The Enigma of Chess birth: The Old Texts: 6th, 7th and 8th centuries |author=Jean-Louis Cazaux |url=http://history.chess.free.fr/sources.htm |date=12 March 2004 |access-date=14 July 2007}}</ref> included a chess game with sixteen pieces of [[emerald]] and sixteen of [[ruby]] (green vs. red).{{sfn|Murray|1913}} The game came with a challenge which was successfully resolved by Khosrau's courtiers.  This incident, originally referred to in the {{Transliteration|fa|Mâdayân î chatrang}} (c. 620 AD), is also mentioned in [[Ferdowsi]]'s [[Shahnameh|Shahnama]] (c. 1010).

The rules of chaturanga seen in India today have enormous variation, but all involve four branches (''angas'') of the army: the horse (knight), the elephant (bishop), the chariot (rook) and the foot soldier (pawn), played on an 8×8 board.  Shatranj adapted much of the same rules as chaturanga, and also the basic 16-piece structure.  There is also a larger 10×11 board derivative; the 14th-century [[Tamerlane chess]], or {{Transliteration|fa|shatranj kamil}} (perfect chess), with a slightly different piece structure.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In some later variants the darker squares were engraved.  The game spread Westwards after the [[Islamic conquest of Persia]] and a considerable body of literature on game tactics and strategy was produced from the 8th century onwards.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In early Indian chaturanga ({{abbr|c.|circa}} 500–700), the king could be {{chessgloss|captured}} and this ended the game. Persian shatranj (c. 700–800) introduced the idea of warning that the king was under attack (announcing ''check'' in modern terminology).  This was done to avoid the early and accidental end of a game.  Later the Persians added the additional rule that a king could not be moved into check or left in check. As a result, the king could not be captured,<ref name=dav22>{{Citation|last=Davidson|first=Henry|year=1949|title=A Short History of Chess|publisher=McKay|isbn= 0-679-14550-8}} (1981 paperback)*{{Citation|last=Emms|first=John|author-link=John Emms (chessmaster)|year=2004|title=Starting Out: Minor Piece Endgames|publisher=[[Everyman Chess]]|isbn= 1-85744-359-4|page=22}}</ref> and [[checkmate]] was the only decisive way of ending a game.<ref name=dav6364>{{Citation|last=Davidson|first=Henry|year=1949|title=A Short History of Chess|publisher=McKay|isbn= 0-679-14550-8}} (1981 paperback)*{{Citation|last=Emms|first=John|author-link=John Emms (chessmaster)|year=2004|title=Starting Out: Minor Piece Endgames|publisher=[[Everyman Chess]]|isbn= 1-85744-359-4|pages=63–64}}</ref>

With the spread of Islam, chess diffused into the [[Maghreb]] and then to [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] Spain.  During the [[Islamic empires in India|Islamic conquest of India]] (c. 12th century), some forms came back to India as well, as evidenced in the North Indian term ''māt'' (mate, derivative from [[Persian language|Persian]] {{Transliteration|fa|māt}}) or the [[Bengali language|Bengali]] {{Transliteration|bn|borey}} (pawn, presumed derived from the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{Transliteration|ar|baidaq}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Chess Sets |author=Jean-Louis Cazaux |url=http://history.chess.free.fr/india.htm |date=16 June 2006 |access-date=14 July 2007}}</ref> Over the following centuries, chess became popular in Europe, eventually giving rise to modern chess.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}