Iran (Persia)
The Karnamak-i Ardeshir-i Papakan, a Pahlavi epical treatise about the founder of the Sassanid
Persian Empire, mentions the game of chatrang as one of the accomplishments of the legendary
hero, Ardashir I, founder of the Empire. The oldest recorded game in chess history is a 10th-
century game played between a historian from Baghdad and a pupil.
A manuscript explaining the rules of the game called "Matikan-i-chatrang" (the book of chess) in
Middle Persian or Pahlavi still exists. In the 11th-century Shahnameh, Ferdowsi describes a Raja
visiting from India who re-enacts the past battles on the chessboard. A translation in English, based
on the manuscripts in the British Museum, is given below:
One day an ambassador from the king of Hind arrived at the Persian court of Chosroes, and
after an oriental exchange of courtesies, the ambassador produced rich presents from his sovereign
and amongst them was an elaborate board with curiously carved pieces of ebony and ivory. He then
issued a challenge:
"Oh great king, fetch your wise men and let them solve the mysteries of this game. If they
succeed my master the king of Hind will pay tribute as an overlord, but if they fail it will be proof
that the Persians are of lower intellect and we shall demand tribute from Iran."
The courtiers were shown the board, and after a day and a night in deep thought one of them,
Bozorgmehr, solved the mystery and was richly rewarded by his delighted sovereign.
(Edward Lasker suggested that Bozorgmehr likely found the rules by bribing the Indian
envoys.)
The Shahnameh goes on to offer an apocryphal account of the origins of the game of chess in the
story of Talhand and Gav, two half-brothers who vie for the throne of Hind (India). They meet in
battle and Talhand dies on his elephant without a wound. Believing that Gav had killed Talhand,
their mother is distraught. Gav tells his mother that Talhand did not die by the hands of him or his
men, but she does not understand how this could be. So the sages of the court invent the game of
chess, detailing the pieces and how they move, to show the mother of the princes how the battle
unfolded and how Talhand died of fatigue when surrounded by his enemies. The poem uses the
Persian term "Shāh māt" (check mate) to describe the fate of Talhand.
The philosopher and theologian Al-Ghazali mentions chess in The Alchemy of Happiness (c.
1100). He uses it as a specific example of a habit that may cloud a person's good disposition:
Indeed, a person who has become habituated to gaming with pigeons, playing chess, or gambling,
so that it becomes second-nature to him, will give all the comforts of the world and all that he has
for those (pursuits) and cannot keep away from them.
The appearance of the chess pieces had altered greatly since the times of chaturanga, with ornate
pieces and chess pieces depicting animals giving way to abstract shapes.This is because of a Muslim
ban on the game’s lifelike pieces, as they were said to have brought upon images of idolatry.The
Islamic sets of later centuries followed a pattern which assigned names and abstract shapes to the
chess pieces, as Islam forbids depiction of animals and human beings in art.[30] These pieces were
usually made of simple clay and carved stone.
The Karnamak-i Ardeshir-i Papakan, a Pahlavi epical treatise about the founder of the Sassanid
Persian Empire, mentions the game of chatrang as one of the accomplishments of the legendary
hero, Ardashir I, founder of the Empire. The oldest recorded game in chess history is a 10th-
century game played between a historian from Baghdad and a pupil.
A manuscript explaining the rules of the game called "Matikan-i-chatrang" (the book of chess) in
Middle Persian or Pahlavi still exists. In the 11th-century Shahnameh, Ferdowsi describes a Raja
visiting from India who re-enacts the past battles on the chessboard. A translation in English, based
on the manuscripts in the British Museum, is given below:
One day an ambassador from the king of Hind arrived at the Persian court of Chosroes, and
after an oriental exchange of courtesies, the ambassador produced rich presents from his sovereign
and amongst them was an elaborate board with curiously carved pieces of ebony and ivory. He then
issued a challenge:
"Oh great king, fetch your wise men and let them solve the mysteries of this game. If they
succeed my master the king of Hind will pay tribute as an overlord, but if they fail it will be proof
that the Persians are of lower intellect and we shall demand tribute from Iran."
The courtiers were shown the board, and after a day and a night in deep thought one of them,
Bozorgmehr, solved the mystery and was richly rewarded by his delighted sovereign.
(Edward Lasker suggested that Bozorgmehr likely found the rules by bribing the Indian
envoys.)
The Shahnameh goes on to offer an apocryphal account of the origins of the game of chess in the
story of Talhand and Gav, two half-brothers who vie for the throne of Hind (India). They meet in
battle and Talhand dies on his elephant without a wound. Believing that Gav had killed Talhand,
their mother is distraught. Gav tells his mother that Talhand did not die by the hands of him or his
men, but she does not understand how this could be. So the sages of the court invent the game of
chess, detailing the pieces and how they move, to show the mother of the princes how the battle
unfolded and how Talhand died of fatigue when surrounded by his enemies. The poem uses the
Persian term "Shāh māt" (check mate) to describe the fate of Talhand.
The philosopher and theologian Al-Ghazali mentions chess in The Alchemy of Happiness (c.
1100). He uses it as a specific example of a habit that may cloud a person's good disposition:
Indeed, a person who has become habituated to gaming with pigeons, playing chess, or gambling,
so that it becomes second-nature to him, will give all the comforts of the world and all that he has
for those (pursuits) and cannot keep away from them.
The appearance of the chess pieces had altered greatly since the times of chaturanga, with ornate
pieces and chess pieces depicting animals giving way to abstract shapes.This is because of a Muslim
ban on the game’s lifelike pieces, as they were said to have brought upon images of idolatry.The
Islamic sets of later centuries followed a pattern which assigned names and abstract shapes to the
chess pieces, as Islam forbids depiction of animals and human beings in art.[30] These pieces were
usually made of simple clay and carved stone.
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