Series Title: The History of Chess: From Kings to Clicks

Episode 1: Where It All Began: Chaturanga and the Birth of Chess
 

Long before chess became the digital phenomenon it is today, before it crowned Cold War heroes, spawned internet legends, or featured queens that outpowered kings, it was a humble game rooted in the soil of ancient India. That game was called  Chaturanga , and it was more than just entertainment. It was a mirror of war, power, and philosophy.

 
Chaturanga: The Grandfather of Chess
The word Chaturanga (pronounced cha-too-rung-ga) appears in early Sanskrit literature, including the great Indian epic Mahabharata. Literally translated, it means "four limbs" or "four parts," referring to the four divisions of the ancient Indian army:

• Infantry (padàti) – the foot soldiers, represented by pawns
• Cavalry (aśva) – the horsemen, represented by knights
• Elephants (hastī) – powerful beasts of war, precursors to bishops
• Chariots (ratha) – fast-moving war vehicles, ancestors of the rook

This wasn’t just symbolic. These units were the foundation of real Indian military strategy at the time and Chaturanga was, at its core, a strategic training ground disguised as a board game.

 

The Gameboard and Its Mechanics
Chaturanga was played on an 8x8 board called the Ashtāpada, similar in size to today’s chessboard but with different markings and no checkered pattern. Some early versions included dice to determine which piece could move a mechanic that would disappear over time as the game evolved toward pure strategy.

The rules of Chaturanga weren’t fully standardized, but most scholars agree on these key points:

• It could be played by two or four players, often in teams, with each player controlling one division of the army.
• The king’s capture was the primary objective, not unlike today’s checkmate.
• Pieces had different movements than in modern chess.
• For instance, elephants might have moved in an L-shape, or diagonally two squares depending on the region.
• Promotion, castling, and en passant did not exist. These came centuries later.
• Despite its differences, the heart of modern chess beats inside Chaturanga.

 
Chess and the Indian Mind
In India, Chaturanga was more than a pastime it was a reflection of dharma (duty), karma (consequence), and the intricate balance of life and war. It was often played in royal courts, among scholars and nobles, as a mental exercise for developing tactical thinking and political insight.

Indian kings and warriors were known to play the game not only for pleasure but to simulate military strategy, resolve disputes symbolically, and even teach lessons about fate, cunning, and morality.

 
Spreading Westward
Chaturanga's journey didn’t end in India. Thanks to trade, conquest, and cultural exchange, it traveled westward by the 7th century, morphing into Shatranj in Persia. From there, it would make its way through the Islamic world, eventually crossing into Europe picking up new rules, names, and meanings along the way.

But that’s a story for Episode 2.

Legacy of Chaturanga
While you won’t find elephants on today’s chessboard, the spirit of Chaturanga lives on. Every opening, every tactical trap, every long-term strategy traces its ancestry back to that 8x8 battlefield of ancient India.

The next time you sit down to play a game of chess, remember:
You’re not just moving pieces.
You’re echoing the strategies of kings, generals, and sages from over a millennium ago.

  Bonus Fact:
The transition from elephants to bishops in the West is one of chess’s great linguistic journeys. The original Indian elephant became the 'alfil' in Arabic, which then morphed into a bishop in medieval Europe perhaps due to the piece’s mitre-like top!

 
Up Next:
Episode 2 : Chess in the Caliphate: The Game Spreads Through the Islamic World
How the Islamic Golden Age preserved, perfected, and passed on the game during a time when much of Europe had forgotten how to read.