The precursor to Chess

      Chess is a game that almost everyone knows about. It's dated back to the 6th century when it was first established, but back then it wasn't known as chess, rather it was referred to as चतुरङ्ग, or Chaturanga.

                        The Story Behind Chess                    

      Chaturanga, which we will call Catur from now on, was created in India during the Gupta Empire. Not much is known about it in this time, other than the board setup, which you can see below. This setup has many resembles to chess, and is actually a gamemode on chess.com, which can be found in the 4 player bar. 

      The board of Catur is just like the one in chess, but instead of two players there are four. This may seem like the largest rule change, and you'd be right, the game isn't very different, other than that feature. The pieces may look the same at your first glance, with only slight changes, but pieces like the Gaja have key changes. Pieces like the Padati (pawn), Ashva (knight), or the Raja (King) have the same moves as the ones they've been stated beside. Other pieces like the Gaja and Mantri have completely different move sets (Gaja and Mantri) of which are necessary to learn, when playing the game. The board is originated as seen here, with each player taking turns to move to 'bare each others Raja (king).' This means that one player must have lost every piece other than the king, to truly lose the game.

      The origins of Catur are from India, during the Gupta Empire, in the sixth century of the common era. Although it is possible that Catur went back even further, evidence for it is unsubstantial, and because of that, cannot be used with full certainty. From India, the game spread to Persia, most likely through trade. It then taken up by the Muslims there, and brought into the light, through Southern Europe, where many rules and names were changed, into a rough version of the chess we know today.