Editing Shatranj (section)

==History==
[[File:The Vizier Buzurghmihr Showing the Game of Chess to King Khusraw Anushirwan, Page from a Manuscript of the Shahnama (Book of Kings) LACMA M.73.5.586.jpg|thumb|Early shatranj]]
[[File:Cabinet des médailles, Paris - Ivory Chess King or Vizier, 9th Century.jpg|thumb|Ivory chess king or vizier, 9th century, islamic art]]

=== Middle Persian literature ===
Three books written in [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]], ''[[Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan]]'', ''[[Khosrow and ridag]]'', and ''Wizārišn ī čhatrang'' ("Treatise on Chess"), also known as the ''Chatrang Nama'' ("Book of Chess"), all mention ''chatrang''. In ''Kār-nāmak'' it is said that Ardashīr "with the help of the gods became more victorious and experienced than all others in polo, horsemanship, chess, backgammon, and other arts," and in the small treatise on ''Khosrow and ridag'', the latter declares that he is superior to his comrades in chess, backgammon, and ''hašt pāy''. [[Bozorgmehr]], the author of ''Wizārišn ī čhatrang'', describes how the game of chess was sent as a test to [[Khosrow I]] (r. 531–79) by the "king of the Hindus Dēvsarm" with the envoy Takhtarītūs and how the test was answered by the vizier Bozorgmehr, who in his turn invented the game [[Backgammon]] as a test for the Hindus. These three Middle Persian sources do not give any certain indication of the date when chess was introduced into Persia. The mentions of chess in ''Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan'' and ''Khosrow and ridag'' are simply conventional and may easily represent late Sasanian or even post-Sasanian redactions.<ref>{{cite web|title=CHESS|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/chess-a-board-game|publisher=ENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA | access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref> According to [[Touraj Daryaee]], ''Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan'' is from 6th century.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Daryaee|first1=Touraj|title=Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire|date=2009|publisher=I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd|isbn=9781850438984|page=114}}</ref> ''Wizārišn ī čhatrang'' was written in the 6th century.<ref>[http://www.rahamasha.net/uploads/2/3/2/8/2328777/chess.pdf Explanation of chess and disposition of backgammon] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612220623/http://www.rahamasha.net/uploads/2/3/2/8/2328777/chess.pdf |date=2015-06-12 }}</ref>

===Early Arabic literature===
During the [[Islamic Golden Age]], many works on shatranj were written, recording for the first time the analysis of [[chess opening|opening moves]], [[chess problems|game problems]], the [[knight's tour]], and many more subjects common in modern chess books. Many of these manuscripts are missing, but their content is known due to compilation work done by the later authors.{{sfn|Murray|1913}}

The earliest listing of works on chess is in the ''[[Al-Fihrist|Fihrist]]'', a general [[bibliography]] produced in 377 [[Anno Hegirae|AH]] (988 AD) by [[Ibn al-Nadim]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Nadīm (al)|author-link=Ibn al-Nadim|first= Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq Abū Ya’qūb al-Warrāq| title=The Fihrist of al-Nadim; a tenth-century survey of Muslim culture|editor-last=[[Bayard Dodge|Dodge]] |editor-first=Bayard |place=New York & London|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1970|page=341|volume=i}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Nadīm (al-)|author-link=Ibn al-Nadim|first=Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq| title=Kitāb al-Fihrist|editor-last=[[Gustav Leberecht Flügel|Flügel]]|editor-first= Gustav|place=[[Leipzig]]|publisher=F.C.W. Vogel|year=1872|page=567 (p.155)|language=ar|url= https://archive.org/details/KitabAlFihrist/page/n565}}</ref> It includes an entire section on the topic of chess, listing:
* [[Al-Adli ar-Rumi|Al-Adli]]'s ''Kitab ash-shatranj'' ('Book of Chess')
* [[Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi|Ar-Razi]]'s ''Latif fi 'sh-shatranj'' ('Fun with Chess')
* [[As-Suli]]'s ''Kitab ash-shatranj'' (two volumes)
* Al-Lajlaj's ''Kitab mansubat ash-shatranj'' ('Book: Strategies of Chess')
* B. Aluqlidisi's ''Kitab majmu' fi mansubat ash-shatranj'' ('Book: Intent of Strategies of Chess')

There is a passage referring to chess in a work said to be by [[al-Hasan al-Basri]], a philosopher from [[Basra]] who died in 728 AD.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} The attribution of authorship is dubious, however.

===Player classification===
Al-Adli as well as As-Suli introduced classifications of players by their playing strength. Both of them specify five classes of players:
* '''Aliyat''' (or aliya), grandees
* '''Mutaqaribat''', proximes – players who could win 2–4 games out of 10 in the match against grandee. They received odds of a pawn from grandee (better players g-, a- or h-pawn, weaker ones d- or e-pawn).
* Third class – players who received odds of a ferz from grandee.
* Fourth class – received odds of a knight.
* Fifth class – received odds of a rook.

To determine a player's class, a series or match would be undertaken with a player of a known class without odds. If the player won 7 or more games out of 10, he belonged to a higher class.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

===Notable players===
During the reign of the [[Arab]] [[caliph]]s, shatranj players of highest class were called ''aliyat'' or grandees.{{sfn|Murray|1913}} There were only a few players in this category including:
* '''Jabir al-Kufi''', '''Rabrab''' and '''Abun-Naam''' were three aliyat players during the rule of caliph [[al-Ma'mun]].
* '''[[Al-Adli ar-Rumi|Al-Adli]]''' was the strongest player during the rule of caliph [[al-Wathiq]]. At this time he was the only player in aliyat category.
* '''[[Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi|Al-Razi]]''' ([[Persians|Persian]] [[polymath]]) in 847 won a match against an already old al-Adli in the presence of caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]] and so become a player of aliyat category.
* '''[[Abu-Bakr Muhammad ben Yahya as-Suli|As-Suli]]''' was the strongest player during the reign of caliph [[al-Muktafi]]. Al-Razi was already dead and there were no players of comparable strength before as-Suli appeared on the scene. In the presence of al-Muktafi he easily won a match against a certain al-Mawardi and thus proved that he was the best player of that time. As-Suli considered Rabrab and al-Razi as the greatest of his predecessors.
* '''Al-Lajlaj''' was a pupil of as-Suli and also a great shatranj master of his time.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}