Editing Chess (section)

===Origins===
[[File:King Khosrow sits before the chessboard, while his vizir and the envoy of Qannuj are playing chess. Shahnameh, 10th century CE.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Sasanian Empire]] King [[Khosrow I]] sits on his throne before the chessboard, while his vizir and the Indian envoy Deva Sharma, probably sent by the [[Maukhari]] King [[Śarvavarman]] of [[Kannauj]], are playing chess. ''[[Shahnama]]'', 10th century AD.<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 |access-date=21 November 2021 |archive-date=20 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120194215/http://history.chess.free.fr/papers/Eder%202007-2.pdf |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 |access-date=21 November 2021 |archive-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320115332/https://www.academia.edu/34156496 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Texts referring to the origins of chess date from the beginning of the seventh century. Three are written in ''Pahlavi'' ([[Middle Persian]])<ref>{{Cite book|title=La novella degli scacchi e della tavola reale|last=Panaino|first=Antonio|publisher=Mimesis|year=1999|isbn=88-87231-26-5|location=Milano}}</ref> and one, the ''[[Harshacharita]]'', is in [[Sanskrit]].<ref>Andreas Bock-Raming, The Gaming Board in Indian Chess and Related Board Games: a terminological investigation, Board Games Studies 2, 1999</ref> One of these texts, the ''Chatrang-namak'', represents one of the earliest written accounts of chess. The narrator [[Bozorgmehr]] explains that ''Chatrang'', "Chess" in Pahlavi, was introduced to Persia by '[[Sharvavarman|Dewasarm]], a great ruler of India' during the reign of [[Khosrow I]]:<ref>{{harvp|Warner|2000|p=381}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Dewasarm has fashioned this ''[[chatrang]]'' after the likeness of a battle, and in its likeness are two supreme rulers after the likeness of Kings (shah), with the essentials of rooks (rukh) to right and to left, with Counsellor (farzin) in the likeness of a commander of the champions, with the Elephant (pil) in the likeness of the commander of the rearguard, with Horse (asp) in the likeness of the commander of the cavalry, with the Footsoldier (piyadak) in the likeness of so many infantry in the vanguard of the battle.|Translation by Murray, 1913.{{sfn|Mark|2007|p=148}}}}

[[File:A treatise on chess 2.jpg|thumb|An illustration from a Persian manuscript "A treatise on chess". The Ambassadors from India present the Chatrang to Khosrow I Anushirwan, "Immortal Soul", King of Persia, 14th century AD.|left]]
The oldest known chess manual was in Arabic and dates to about 840, written by [[al-Adli ar-Rumi]] (800–870), a renowned Arab chess player, titled ''Kitab ash-shatranj'' (The Book of Chess). This is a lost manuscript, but is referenced in later works.<ref>{{harvp|Murray|1985|pp=169–174}}</ref> Here also, al-Adli attributes the origins of Persian chess to India, along with the eighth-century collection of fables [[Kalīla wa-Dimna]].<ref name="Elephants and Kings">{{harvp|Trautmann|2015|p=117}}</ref> By the 20th century, a substantial consensus{{sfn|Mark|2007|p=138}}<ref>{{harvp|Fine|2015|p=3}}</ref> developed regarding chess's origins in northwest [[India]] in the early seventh century.<ref>{{harvp|Murray|1985|pp=26–27, 51–52}}</ref> More recently, this consensus has been the subject of further scrutiny.<ref>{{cite web|date=2012-08-08|title=A critical review of: "The Beginnings of Chess"|url=http://history.chess.free.fr/mark2007.htm|publisher=Jean-Louis Cazaux|access-date=4 May 2021|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808032318/http://history.chess.free.fr/mark2007.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The early forms of chess in India were known as ''[[chaturanga|chaturaṅga]]'' ({{Langx|sa|चतुरङ्ग}}), literally "four divisions" [of the military]&nbsp;– [[infantry]], [[cavalry]], [[war elephant|elephants]], and [[chariot]]ry – represented by pieces that would later evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Chaturanga was played on an 8×8 uncheckered board, called ''[[Ashtapada|ashtāpada]]''.<ref>{{cite web|date=2005-07-25|title=Ashtapada|url=http://history.chess.free.fr/ashtapada.htm|access-date=2013-07-16|publisher=Jean-Louis Cazaux|archive-date=25 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170725185540/http://history.chess.free.fr/ashtapada.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Thence it spread eastward and westward along the [[Silk Road]]. The earliest evidence of chess is found in nearby [[Sasanian Persia]] around 600 A.D., where the game came to be known by the name ''[[chatrang]]'' ({{langx|fa|چترنگ}}).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eiland |first=Murray |date=2013 |title=Some Problems of Islamic Heraldry |url=https://www.academia.edu/8013404 |journal=The Armiger's News |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=1–5 |via=academia.edu |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203011606/https://www.academia.edu/8013404 |url-status=live }}</ref> Chatrang was taken up by the [[Muslim world]] after the [[Islamic conquest of Persia]] (633–51), where it was then named ''[[shatranj]]'' ({{langx|ar|شطرنج}}; {{langx|fa|شترنج}}), with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Spanish, "shatranj" was rendered as ''ajedrez'' ("al-shatranj"), in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] as ''xadrez'', and in [[Greek language|Greek]] as ζατρίκιον (''zatrikion'', which comes directly from the Persian ''chatrang''),<ref>{{harvp|Murray|1985|p=163}}</ref> but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian ''shāh'' ("king"), from which the English words "check" and "chess" descend.{{refn|At that time the Spanish word would have been written ''axedrez''. The Spanish "x" was pronounced as English "sh", as the Portuguese "x" still is today. The spelling of ''ajedrez'' changed after [[Spanish orthography#History|Spanish lost the "sh" sound]].|group=note}} The word "[[checkmate]]" is derived from the Persian ''shāh māt'' ("the king is dead").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=checkmate |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=2 May 2020 |last=Harper |first=Douglas |author2=Dan McCormack |archive-date=2 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102052251/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=checkmate |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:KnightsTemplarPlayingChess1283.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Knights Templar]] playing chess, {{lang|es|[[Libro de los juegos]]}}, 1283]]

[[Xiangqi]] is the form of chess best known in China. The eastern migration of chess, into China and Southeast Asia, has even less documentation than its migration west, making it largely conjectured. The word ''xiàngqí'' ({{lang|zh|象棋}}) was used in China to refer to a game from 569 A.D. at the latest, but it has not been proven that this game was directly related to chess.<ref>Peter Banaschak, Facts on the origin of Chinese chess (Xiangqi), 4th Symposium of the Initiative Gruppe Königstein, Wiesbaden, August 1997</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Understanding the Elephant, Part 1: History of Xiangqi|last=Png Hau Cheng|first=Jim|year=2016|isbn=978-957-43-3998-3|publisher=Jim Png Hau Cheng|location=New Taipei City}}</ref>
The first reference to Chinese chess appears in a book entitled ''Xuánguaì Lù'' ({{lang|zh|玄怪錄}}; "Record of the Mysterious and Strange"), dating to about 800. A minority view holds that Western chess arose from xiàngqí or one of its predecessors.<ref>{{harvp|Li|1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Banaschak |first=Peter |title=A story well told is not necessarily true: a critical assessment of David H. Li's ''The Genealogy of Chess'' |url=http://www.banaschak.net/schach/ligenealogyofchess.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511071131/http://www.banaschak.net/schach/ligenealogyofchess.htm |archive-date=11 May 2013}}</ref> Chess historians Jean-Louis Cazaux and Rick Knowlton contend that xiangqi's intrinsic characteristics make it easier to construct an evolutionary path from China to India/Persia than the opposite direction.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A World of Chess, Its Development and Variations through Centuries and Civilisations|last1=Cazaux|first1=Jean-Louis|publisher=McFarland|year=2017|isbn=9-780786-494279|pages=334–353 (The origins of chess, approaching the question from several angles)|last2=Knowlton|first2=Rick}}</ref>

The oldest archaeological chess artifacts – ivory pieces – were excavated in ancient [[Afrasiyab (Samarkand)|Afrasiab]], today's [[Samarkand]], in [[Uzbekistan]], Central Asia, and date to about 760, with some of them possibly being older. Remarkably, almost all findings of the oldest pieces come from along the Silk Road, from the former regions of the Tarim Basin (today's Xinjiang in China), [[Transoxiana]], [[Sogdiana]], [[Bactria]], [[Gandhara]], to Iran on one end and to India through [[Kashmir]] on the other.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chess and other games pieces from Islamic Lands|last=Freeman Fahid|first=Deborah|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2018|isbn=978-0-500-97092-8|location=London}}</ref>

[[File:Chess pieces from Samarkand 700s.jpg|thumb|These are some of the seven Early Islamic ivory chess pieces excavated in [[Afrasiyab (Samarkand)|Samarkand]] in 1977. They date to the 700s and are among the oldest in the world.<ref>{{harvp|Brunning|Yu-Ping|O'Connell|Williams|2024|pp=151–152}}</ref>  The ivory came from India.]]

The game reached Western Europe and Russia via at least three routes, the earliest being in the ninth century. By the year 1000, it had spread throughout both the [[Al Andalus|Muslim Iberia]] and [[Latin Christianity|Latin Europe]].<ref>{{harvp|Hooper|Whyld|1992||pp=173–175}}</ref> A Latin poem called ''[[Versus de scachis]]'' ("Verses on Chess") dated to the late 10th century, has been preserved at [[Einsiedeln Abbey]] in Switzerland.