Japan
Main article: History of shogi
A prominent variant of chess in East Asia is the game of shogi, transmitted from India to China and
Korea before finally reaching Japan.The three distinguishing features of shogi are:
The captured pieces may be reused by the captor and played as a part of the captor's forces.
Pawns capture as they move, one square straight ahead.
The board is 9×9, with a second gold general on the other side of the king.
Drops were not originally part of shogi. In the 13th century, shogi underwent an expansion,
creating the game of dai shogi, played on a 15×15 board with many new pieces, including the
independently invented rook, bishop and queen of modern Western chess, the drunk elephant that
promotes to a second king, and also the even more powerful lion, which among other idiosyncrasies
has the power to move or capture twice per turn. Around the 14th or 15th centuries, the popularity
of dai shogi then waned in favour of the smaller chu shogi, played on a smaller 12×12 board which
removed the weakest pieces from dai shogi, similarly to the development of Courier chess in the
West. In the meantime, the original 9×9 shogi, now termed sho shogi, continued to be played, but
was regarded as less prestigious than chu shogi and dai shogi. Chu shogi was very popular in Japan,
and the rook, bishop, and drunk elephant from it were added to sho shogi, where the first two
remain today.
Chu shogi declined in popularity after the addition of drops to sho shogi and the removal of the
drunk elephant in the 16th century, becoming moribund around the late 20th century. These
changes to sho shogi created what is essentially the modern game of shogi.
Mongolia
Chess is recorded from Mongolian-inhabited areas, where the pieces are now called:
King: Noyon – Ноён – lord
Queen: Bers / Nohoi – Бэрс / Нохой – dog (to guard the livestock)
Bishop: Temē – Тэмээ – camel
Knight: Morĭ – Морь – horse
Rook: Tereg – Тэрэг – cart
Pawn: Hū – Хүү – boy (the piece often showed a puppy)
Names recorded from the 1880s by Russian sources, quoted in Murray, among the Soyot people
(who at the time spoke the Soyot Turkic language) include: merzé (dog), täbä (camel), ot (horse), ōl
(child) and Mongolian names for the other pieces. This game is called shatar; a large 10×10 variant
called hiashatar was also played.
The change with the queen is likely due to the Arabic word firzān or Persian word farzīn (= "vizier")
being confused with Turkic or Mongolian native words (merzé = "mastiff", bar or bars = "tiger",
arslan = "lion").
Chess in Mongolia is now played following standard rules.
East Siberia
Chess was also recorded from the Yakuts, Tunguses, and Yukaghirs; but only as a children's game
among the Chukchi. Chessmen have been collected from the Yakutat people in Alaska, having no
resemblance to European chessmen, and thus likely part of a chess tradition coming from Siberia.
Arab world
Main article: Shatranj
Chess passed from Persia to the Arab world, where its name changed to Arabic shatranj. From
there it passed to Western Europe, probably via Spain.
Over the centuries, features of European chess (e.g. the modern moves of queen and bishop, and
castling) found their way via trade into Islamic areas. Murray'ssources found the old moves of
queen and bishop still current in Ethiopia. The game became so popular it was used in writing at
that time, played by nobility and regular people. The poet al-Katib once said, "The skilled player
places his pieces in such a way as to discover consequences that the ignorant man never sees...
thus, he serves the Sultan’s interests, by showing how to foresee disaster
Main article: History of shogi
A prominent variant of chess in East Asia is the game of shogi, transmitted from India to China and
Korea before finally reaching Japan.The three distinguishing features of shogi are:
The captured pieces may be reused by the captor and played as a part of the captor's forces.
Pawns capture as they move, one square straight ahead.
The board is 9×9, with a second gold general on the other side of the king.
Drops were not originally part of shogi. In the 13th century, shogi underwent an expansion,
creating the game of dai shogi, played on a 15×15 board with many new pieces, including the
independently invented rook, bishop and queen of modern Western chess, the drunk elephant that
promotes to a second king, and also the even more powerful lion, which among other idiosyncrasies
has the power to move or capture twice per turn. Around the 14th or 15th centuries, the popularity
of dai shogi then waned in favour of the smaller chu shogi, played on a smaller 12×12 board which
removed the weakest pieces from dai shogi, similarly to the development of Courier chess in the
West. In the meantime, the original 9×9 shogi, now termed sho shogi, continued to be played, but
was regarded as less prestigious than chu shogi and dai shogi. Chu shogi was very popular in Japan,
and the rook, bishop, and drunk elephant from it were added to sho shogi, where the first two
remain today.
Chu shogi declined in popularity after the addition of drops to sho shogi and the removal of the
drunk elephant in the 16th century, becoming moribund around the late 20th century. These
changes to sho shogi created what is essentially the modern game of shogi.
Mongolia
Chess is recorded from Mongolian-inhabited areas, where the pieces are now called:
King: Noyon – Ноён – lord
Queen: Bers / Nohoi – Бэрс / Нохой – dog (to guard the livestock)
Bishop: Temē – Тэмээ – camel
Knight: Morĭ – Морь – horse
Rook: Tereg – Тэрэг – cart
Pawn: Hū – Хүү – boy (the piece often showed a puppy)
Names recorded from the 1880s by Russian sources, quoted in Murray, among the Soyot people
(who at the time spoke the Soyot Turkic language) include: merzé (dog), täbä (camel), ot (horse), ōl
(child) and Mongolian names for the other pieces. This game is called shatar; a large 10×10 variant
called hiashatar was also played.
The change with the queen is likely due to the Arabic word firzān or Persian word farzīn (= "vizier")
being confused with Turkic or Mongolian native words (merzé = "mastiff", bar or bars = "tiger",
arslan = "lion").
Chess in Mongolia is now played following standard rules.
East Siberia
Chess was also recorded from the Yakuts, Tunguses, and Yukaghirs; but only as a children's game
among the Chukchi. Chessmen have been collected from the Yakutat people in Alaska, having no
resemblance to European chessmen, and thus likely part of a chess tradition coming from Siberia.
Arab world
Main article: Shatranj
Chess passed from Persia to the Arab world, where its name changed to Arabic shatranj. From
there it passed to Western Europe, probably via Spain.
Over the centuries, features of European chess (e.g. the modern moves of queen and bishop, and
castling) found their way via trade into Islamic areas. Murray'ssources found the old moves of
queen and bishop still current in Ethiopia. The game became so popular it was used in writing at
that time, played by nobility and regular people. The poet al-Katib once said, "The skilled player
places his pieces in such a way as to discover consequences that the ignorant man never sees...
thus, he serves the Sultan’s interests, by showing how to foresee disaster
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