Was Chess Invented by Aliens?
When I was 10 years old, my dad completed speedrunning his third marriage (which I would rather not be probed about). The life I knew was abducted, and I needed to move schools again. Throughout my life, I have been labelled as different, which I am now grateful for, however, my younger self didn’t share these same sentiments. My uniqueness led me to being ostracised in primary school. It especially didn't help that I was often 'The New Kid', moving from school to school, with these particular student's nicknaming me "Alien". I was treated like a freak that didn't belong on this Earth, let alone on the oval during recess and lunch play.
To escape the bullying, I stopped going out to play, and instead, I stayed inside and joined the chess club. My skills weren't out of this world, however, as I occasionally played chess with my dad, chess wasn't alien to me. Chess club was almost a home away from home for me, and yet, I began to wonder if there was an otherworldly reason. Was my greatest connection to humans, a game that was perhaps invented by aliens? This thought made me space out as it was my first foray into linking chess with aliens. I am the biggest skeptic I know, and yet, in this blog, I will go to the moon and back to find out the What's, Who's, Where's, When's and How's, to whether aliens invented chess.
Contents
- What?
- Who? (But also When? and Where?)
- Why?
- Huh?
- Final Thoughts
What?
I am convinced that extraterrestrial beings visited the Earth in remote antiquity, and that they influenced the development of human culture.
Erich von Däniken
Erich von Däniken popularised the belief that aliens visited Earth and influenced ancient civilisations, in his book 'Chariots of the Gods?'. It should be noted that the original form of chess (chaturanga) also contained chariots (which are now rooks). Not long after I posted my last blog, entailing the 52 questions I would ask a Grandmaster, my friend sent me this message:
Admittedly, my question "Was chess invented by Aliens?", was a throwaway caption. It was never meant to be anything more than a light-hearted remark. However, the longer I thought about it, the more I wondered if the truth was out there, waiting to be discovered. There must have been a reason that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the former president of FIDE stated that "Chess comes either from God or from beings flying a UFO". This was based upon his belief that he was taken on their airship to a distant star, while on a business trip to Moscow, in 1997. He continued by sharing that "Each year, archaeologists find evidence of chess in America, India, Japan or China, played under the same rules, from a time without planes or the internet. Look, the chessboard has 64 squares, and our cells are made of 64 pieces. All this shows that chess comes either from God or from UFOs."
This isn't the conclusive evidence that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov assumed it to be, which may be a reason he has been ridiculed for his beliefs. Chess is known as an intellectual game, thus, many people in the chess sphere find his statements to be anything but intelligent. However, he did bring up an interesting thought in relation to the 64 pieces (even if their connection to the 64 squares in chess is purely coincidental). While humans possess only 46 Chromosomes, there are 64 Codons in our genetic code, used in cells. Without Codons, there would be no way to interpret the genetic information stored in DNA. The evolution of humanity would become stagnant and genetic information would be meaningless.
Who? (But also When? and Where?)
The evidence is overwhelming: Ancient astronauts from another world have been here in the past, and their visits to our planet shaped the course of human history.
Erich von Däniken
The 'Who' relies on the speculative Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that humanity's sudden leaps in technology were due to extraterrestrials visiting Earth. Furthermore, life on other planets is a fairly new concept, only beginning to become popular from the 17th century. It is thought that, what humans see as Alien's, is what civilisations had called Gods and celestial beings in the distant past.
The question of 'Who' cannot be answered without the 'When' and 'Where'. Chaturanga (now chess) was first recorded in India, in the 6th century. While it is believed that humans had the ability to invent simpler games, such as checkers, chaturanga may be a little out of the realms of possibility, especially 1,500 years ago. Furthermore, due to this timeline, common archetypes in alien lore such as the Greys and the Nordics cannot be considered. Neither will the Klingons, the Xenomorphs, the Daleks or the Asgard. The only two possibilities that fit with the timeline and location are the Nagas (depicted as serpentine beings), and Garuda (a divine being). Both the Nagas and Garuda are found in Hindu mythology, which was dominant during this time, and ingrained in the very fabric of Indian culture.
The Nagas are believed to be serpentine-like beings (and the guardians of rivers). While Christianity has depicted snakes as evil, Hinduism saw serpents as wise protectors that weren't wholly good or bad. The Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis, coupled with the Nagas association with water, could suggest that the Nagas spacecraft was kept underwater, and their serpentine appearance was actually their spacesuit.
Garuda has been described as a divine, bird-like being, representing strength and freedom. The very reputable and reliable Ancient Aliens TV show has suggested that ancient flying Gods and creatures could be Vimana’s (mythological flying machines). This lends itself to the idea that, instead of Garuda being a divine being, it may have actually been a spacecraft, filled with aliens.
Mythology from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana suggests that Garuda's mother, Vinata, was enslaved by the Nagas. In order to free his mother, Garuda took the Amrita (which was the Nagas nectar of immortality), and then proceeded to defeat the Nagas by eating them.
A Working Hypothesis
If I were to hazard a guess, it would be more logical for chaturanga to be created by Garuda, rather than the Nagas, simply because he was victorious (or perhaps the aliens inside of the vimana were). After these extraterrestrials battled, Garuda may have designed a game for humanity that depicted war. Furthermore, the Nagas have been referenced in texts as early as 3,000 years ago, yet the first mention of chaturanga was only referenced not long after Garuda appeared (1,500 years ago), which was around the time the Nagas were defeated.
Why?
There are four logical (and I use this term loosely) reasons as to why aliens brought chess to Earth. Whichever one you feel is more likely, may depend on your own opinion of the 'Who?'.
1. The Aliens noticed that the development of the human race was going slowly. The 5th century is now known as 'The Dark Ages', due to very few scientific and cultural advancements. Perhaps it wasn't coincidental that, in the 6th century, the most intellectual game was created (then called chaturanga). Aliens may have gifted chess to these more primitive Earthlings, hoping that the complexity chess brings could help in developing the Earthlings intellect. If this was the case, the aliens plan didn't go the way they envisaged, as it took 900 more years until the renaissance and scientific revolution arrived. Very few records remain during The Dark Ages, yet chess somehow managed to survive throughout it all.
2. Aliens played a cruel game with Medieval Indians, where they forced Indians to murder each other through fear of more devastating consequences if they refused (or by mind control). Chaturanga originated with four divisions of an army. Those who rode in chariots, those on elephants, those on horses, and the infantry who were on foot. Aliens could have built armies of humans, to torture humanity for fun. Then, after they left, what remained of humanity used these horrific events as a means to warn future generations of what the aliens had done. Chaturanga could have been created by Ancient Indians (similar to why many nursery rhymes were created) as a tool to remember what had transpired, while also cautioning future generations about aliens, in the event that one day they come back.
While modern chess is believed to stem from chaturanga, it could be argued that aliens tortured humankind all over the world. This might be the real reason many early variations of chess existed, and why they all have slight differences. Perhaps games like Shatranj (from Persia), promote pieces differently than chaturanga because of what transpired for them while aliens were taking part in their sadistic entertainment. Each culture's lived experience when dealing with being toyed with, could reveal more about their own tragic plight. Furthermore, the countries that don't have their own version of chess may have been wiped out entirely of refusing to 'play'.
3. Chess was created as an intergalactic language. With there being a plethora of spoken languages and dialects, communication became too cumbersome and confusing to interpret. Suddenly, voilà! Chess was developed as the perfect means of non-verbal communication, transcending language and culture. The movement and placement of each piece, coupled with the 64 squares made it so that intelligent life throughout the universe could hold cosmic conversations with other extraterrestrials with ease. Unfortunately, the human race was too primitive to understand the language and instead interpreted chess as a boardgame. They moved the pieces around willy-nilly, which translated to disparaging and offensive statements about the aliens. These inadvertent insults infuriated the galactic travelers so much that they decided to fly away. To this day, we still haven't been able to understand this intergalactic language.
4. Aliens watched as humanity continuously battled against one-another. They believed all conflicts could end if we were given a tool like chaturanga (chess). Aliens hoped that we could learn about the effects of war and then change our ways, without having to suffer from the bloodshed. The issue was that chaturanga mimicked conflicts too well. In more recent times, humans have been known to use chess when training for wars (while hiding the other players moves). In fact, Napoleon, perhaps the greatest general of all time, often played chess. Furthermore, Deep Blue (the first computer engine to defeat a world chess champion) was partially funded by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). The military application was in relation to finding optimal routes when navigating battlefields. Darpa has since named their super-intelligent battle computer system Deep Green. It's disheartening that perhaps the most peaceful tool an alien could give us, was exploited so egregiously, only serving to perpetuate humanity's penchant for violence.
Huh?
During the interview above, Magnus Carlsen was asked what opening he would play against an alien to save humanity. Magnus responded by stating "If I make a couple of slow moves at the start, I would probably be able to tell whether the Aliens are any good at chess or not". This suggests that Magnus Carlsen doesn't believe that Aliens invented chess. It's also interesting that the interviewer assumed that Aliens would be threatening humanity.
Volen Dyulgerov is a streamer, known by the name Witty_Alien. He has suspiciously listed his location as being on the moon, on chess.com. About a year ago, he created the Alien Gambit, which gained a significant amount of popularity. When speaking about this opening, Witty_Alien claimed, "If you ask me, only aliens would play this".
Witty_Alien has since created another opening called the Martian Gambit, which he claimed was "The Gambit that shocked Mars". There is speculation that this Gambit has a hidden message for the Martians that are living on Mars (this code is yet to be cracked).
Final Thoughts
There isn't enough evidence to truly know whether humanity, or aliens invented chaturanga (now chess). However, it is hard to imagine that chess was invented by humans 1,500 years ago, during The Dark Ages. If aliens did indeed invent chess, it most likely happened in India, by Garuda (or the aliens inside of the vimana). Garuda is seen as a symbol of freedom and a defender of righteousness. When Ancient Indians witnessed him defeating the Nagas after they had kidnapped his mother (which could have also been a vimana), Garuda didn't want humanity to believe that violence was the answer. He noticed the litany of warfare that was taking place on Earth (including the internal conflict in the Gupta Empire). Garuda decided to gift the Gupta Empire with chaturanga, hoping that it could be used to teach a lesson about the dangers of war. Sadly, this did not work, and the Gupta Empire collapsed shortly afterwards. Still, chaturanga spread from country to country, and with that, it has kept the hope alive that one day, humanity will learn, one move at a time.
Thank you so much for reading my blog. I am currently in the midst of moving countries, and will be 'The New Kid' again, which has been a little daunting. This blog has been so fun to write and has also taught me that, while some things might not always be understood, it doesn't mean that they aren't super cool. And on that note, I hope you all have a beautiful day. Please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions below, and for those who don't want to believe...
