How did the chess
The history of chess goes back about one and a half thousand years. Probably the oldest known ancestor of chess is the Indian game of Chaturanga, borrowed by the Persians, who modified it and named it shatranj. After the Arab conquest of Persia in the seventh century, shatranj spread within the Arab Caliphate, and from the Arabs became known to Europeans. Close to the modern appearance of chess acquired at the end of the XV century, when the current moves received the Queen and Bishop, before that — pieces with limited mobility. The game changed significantly, became faster, the advantage of the first move for white made possible the appearance of openings in which white prepares an attack at an early stage of the game, and stimulated the development of the opening theory.
In the middle of the XIX century, a system of international competitions appeared, first in the form of matches between the strongest chess players of different cities and countries, and from the second half of the century — also in the form of international tournaments (congresses). In 1886, Wilhelm Steinitz defeated Johann Zuckertort in a match in which the winner was entitled to declare himself the world chess champion. From this event, the chronicle of world chess Champions is kept. In 1924, the international chess Federation (FIDE) was founded. After the death of the fourth world champion Alexander Alyokhin in 1946, the next title holders were determined as a result of a sports selection system based on rules approved by FIDE. At the end of the XX century, there was a split in chess: world champion Garry Kasparov and Challenger Nigel Short held another match not under the auspices of FIDE, and in 1993-2006, the titles of world champion in the FIDE version and in the "classic" version were played simultaneously. Since 2006, the draw for the title of world champion has been unified, and since 2013 it has been held by Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
In the second half of the XX century, the world was developing computer chess. If in the 1970s programs played at a fairly weak level, then in 1997 the IBM-developed computer Deep Blue won the Garry Kasparov match with a score of 3½ : 2½, and by the beginning of the XXI century, the superiority of chess programs over humans was generally recognized.
The emergence of chess. Chaturanga
The birthplace of chess is considered to be India, where no later than the end of the VI century ad, the game of Chaturanga (SKT. चतुरङ्ग) was known — a likely direct predecessor of chess. In Chaturanga, an 8x8 Board was played with a set of pieces similar to chess pieces, and the goal of the game was to checkmate the opponent's king. There are attempts based on archaeological and written evidence to link the appearance of chess in an earlier period to China or Sasanian Persia, but this evidence is considered insufficient[1][2][3].
The first text that definitely mentions Chaturanga is the historical Sanskrit novel Harchasharita, written by the court poet of king Harsha Bana (ser. VII century)[4][5]. In it, Bana uses a metaphor: "[in Harsha's reign] only bees competed for bribes, only in verses the feet were cut off, and only ashtapads[game boards] were taught the positions of Chaturanga", meaning there were no real wars [6]. Written in middle Persian, the treatise "Chatrang-Namak" ("Treatise on chess") tells how chess (chatrang) was presented by the Indian ruler shahinshahu Khosrow I (531-579)[7], this tradition is considered to have a historical basis and records the acquaintance of the Persians with Chaturanga in the reign of Khosrow I[8]. Arab sources generally agree that chess originated in India, where it became known to the Persians, although in the presentation of Arab historians, any historical details are poorly traced[9]. A number of Arab historians describe in some detail the legend of the inventor of chess, who demanded from the monarch as a reward the number of grains that would have been obtained if the grains were doubled on each subsequent square of the chessboard. Soon the monarch realized that there is no such amount of grain on the entire planet (it is equal to 264 − 1 = 18 446 744 073 709 551 615 ≈1,845×1019). For several authors, the Creator of chess is named Sassa or Sissa Ben Dahir. This legend is found in al-Adli, al-yaqubi, al-Biruni, and in later works[10].
Some moves of figures in Chaturanga are known from the treatise of the ninth-century poet Rudrata (eng.)Russian. "Kavyalankara", which describes the tasks to pass all the fields of the Chaturanga Board by the horse's move, the chariot's move (rook) and the Bishop's move. The moves of the rook and knight were identical to the corresponding modern chess pieces, and the Bishop probably moved one square diagonally in any direction and one square forward. However, the full rules of Chaturanga are not known for certain[11] [6].
Biruni's description of Chaturanga for four players in his work on India (CA.1030) is widely known. According to Biruni, a regular 8x8 Board had four sets of pieces, consisting of a king, Bishop, knight, rook, and four pawns. The roll of the dice determined which piece the player should make the next move, and for each piece the opponent ate, the player received a certain number of shares of the bet[12]. British Explorer of the XVIII century Hiram Cox (eng.)Russian. he hypothesized that chess evolved from this type of Chaturanga, that is, a game for four players was a precursor to a game for two. In a series of articles and in the History of chess (1860), the hypothesis was developed by Duncan Forbes. According to this theory, the modern form of chess came because of the religious ban on dice and as a result of reshaping sets of pieces. Harold Murray in his" History of chess " (1913) stated that no sources confirm the priority of the game for four participants, and the Cox — Forbes hypothesis, which also lengthened Chaturanga by several thousand years, is based on erroneous Dating of Indian texts[13]. It has now been completely discarded by historians, although the story that the predecessor of chess was a game for four players is still often found in popular literature[14][15].
Shatranj
Presumably at the end of the VI century Chaturanga became known to the Persians: under the name chatrang (Pehl. چترنگ), the game is mentioned in the book of deeds of Ardashir the son of papak written in middle Persian (CA. 600) [16]. After the conquest of Persia by the Arabs (ser. VII century), the latter became acquainted with chatrang; in Arabic, the name of the game began to sound like shatranj (Arabic. شَطْرَنْج)[17].
From the Arabic literature, the rules of shatranj are known in detail: victory was achieved by matting, patting or destroying all the opponent's pieces, and the key differences from modern moves of pieces were the moves of the Queen (only one square diagonally in any direction, it was the weakest piece) and the Bishop (through one field diagonally in any direction) and the absence of castling. Pawns played a significant role in attacks, especially on the flanks. They moved one field forward, and when they reached the last horizontal, they only became Queens. Shatranj was a slow game involving lengthy positional maneuvering; typical strategies were the movement of pawn chains or the control of weak fields by a Queen and Bishop of the appropriate color[18]. At the beginning of the game, the shatrangist usually played one of the typical positions (tabiy, the predecessor of modern openings), which was characterized primarily by a pawn configuration, after which he came into contact with the opponent[19][20].
The correspondence of the game of chess to the Sharia was not obvious from the very beginning: chess is not explicitly mentioned in the Koran, and the Holy book contained an unequivocal ban on gambling (gambling meant games for money or games whose outcome was determined by chance, for example, a roll of the dice)[21]. The influential eighth-century theologian Abu Hanifa considered chess acceptable but reprehensible (makruh) entertainment, his contemporary Malik Ibn ANAS-absolutely forbidden action (Haram), and the theologian and jurist al-Shafi'i himself played chess and explained that when it is done for the purpose of intellectual improvement (for example, when a General plays chess), no regulations are violated[22]. Anyway, by the reign of the Abbasid dynasty (750), shatranj was widely spread in the Islamic world[23]. The historian mentions that the first Abbasid Caliph who played chess was Harun ar-Rashid (786-809), who favored strong players and rewarded them[24]. His son Caliph al-mA'mun in 819, on his way from Khorasan to Baghdad, watched the matches between probably the strongest chess players of his time, Jabir al-Kufi, Abdeljafar al-Ansari and Zayrab Qatai[25]. Chess treatises appeared at the court of the caliphs: the bibliographer Ibn an-Nadim lists the works of al-Adli, ar-Razi (both-IX century), as-Suli, al-Lajlaja and Ibn Aliklidisi (all — X century). It is known about al-Adli that he was considered the strongest player of his time, until he was defeated in a match against ar-Razi[26]. Murray gives a description of sixteen tabias from Arabic manuscripts, eight of which, according to his calculations, are described by al-Adli and as-Suli, six by al — Adli alone, and two by as-Suli alone[27]. In addition, about 550 problems (mansub) are known[28].
Chess in East Asia
Chaturanga has undergone the greatest changes, spreading from India to the East, where as a result there were several games that were very different from each other, and from modern chess. Trade routes through Leh, Kashmir and the Karakoram pass have linked India and China since ancient times, which explains China's early familiarity with the game[29]. Chinese xiangzi chess is first mentioned by Niu Senzhu in the collection "Xuan guai Lu "("Essays on miracles from the world of darkness", 1st floor. IX century, Tang dynasty) [30]. In Xiangqi, figures move along lines instead of fields and are placed at points where lines intersect ("points"). in total, a Board of 9 vertical and 10 horizontal lines contains 90 points. The moves of the pieces are also different. in Xiangqi, there is also an additional "cannon" piece that moves like a rook, but can only beat the opponent's piece if there is another piece between it and this piece, over which the cannon "jumps". The center of the Xiangqi Board is crossed by a" river " that affects the moves of some pieces. Murray traces the characteristic features of xiangzi (the movement of figures on "points", the appearance of a gun) by the end of the XIII century[31]. From xiangzi, in turn, came the Korean game Changi, which in the main details coincides with xiangzi (one of the differences, for example, the absence of a dividing "river") [32].
Makruk (Thai chess)
A large number of features of Chaturanga are preserved in Thai chess (makruk): the Board, the set of pieces and their moves are the same as those known from Chaturanga and shatranj (the Bishop moves one field forward or diagonally), in the initial arrangement, each player's pawns are moved to the third row, and the kings stand unsymmetrically (opposite the Queens). When the sixth row is reached, the pawn turns into a Queen[33]. Also known is the Burmese sittuyin chess (this name directly goes back to the word "Chaturanga"[34]), in which each player places pieces behind a row of pawns on their half of the Board in any possible way, and the game according to the usual rules begins only after one of the players moves the pawns. The moves of the pieces in makruk and sittuyin coincide[35].
Shogi
The history of Japanese Shogi chess is not completely clear. The first text to mention them is considered to be the work of Fujiwara Yukinari (eng.)Russian (circa 1000), but this may have been the result of a later insertion. The next mention is From Fujiwara Akihira (eng.)Russian. dated to the year 1064[36]. Traditionally, it is believed that Shogi came to Japan from the mainland, from China, as well as many other elements of Japanese culture[37]. But Shogi do not have any specific features of xiangzi, in particular, the movement of figures along lines, and have many differences. Murray suggested that Shogi and modern xiangzi are the result of the development of the ancient form of xiangzi in two different directions[38]. Another hypothesis is that Sega could be the result of the experience of Japanese sailors with games of South East Asia, for example, macrocom or situaion: them Sega have in common a tool of transformation, or perhaps move the silver General, the same course the elephant in these games[36]. Shogi is played on a vertical 9×9 square Board with flat pieces of the same color and a pentagonal shape; their belonging to the player is determined by the direction in which the tip of the figure is directed. Transformation is possible for each shape: the shape's rank after transformation is indicated on its back. After eating the opponent's piece, the player can put it on the Board as part of their setsen.
The Buryat-Mongol version of shatranj was called Shatar or hiashatar (the name obviously goes back to "shatranj". Chess was probably known to the Mongols no later than the end of the XVI century, as the game of chess in his work mentions the Mongolian historian of the XVII century Sagan Setsen.
Xiangzi, Shogi, and makruk are still very popular in their respective countries: according to one estimate, about 2 million people play makruk in Thailand and only 5,000 play "European" chess.