***** SHATRANJ2 ***** Many people believe that the game of chess is very old, like a few thousand years. This, however, is only partially true, as the rules of Western Chess as we know it (and as it is played on ICC) are not older than just about 500 years. It was only around 1500 AD that, starting in Southern Europe, especially Italy, the 'new' pieces of bishop and queen came into use. Games similar to today's chess can be traced back much longer, however. It is most commonly assumed that the first game in a direct relation to chess was 'Chaturanga', a game which originally involved 4 players and an element of ran- domness (a dice was thrown). Ancient Hindu law forbade gambling, and so it was necessary to get rid of the dice. A variation which was reduced to a two-player game became popular - Shatranj. This game can be traced back until 600 AD, but it is probably much older. Thus, chess was played with the Shatranj rules for most of its lifetime. Moreover, eastern chess variations like chinese chess, Shogi and Thai chess all show a clear relation to Shatranj. Most likely, Shatranj was introduced in Europe by Arabs. Arabs were also the first prominent masters of the game, and historic manuscripts and problem sets written by them exist. The game itself is considerably slower and deeper than its modern relative, so it may require more patience. (Bullet time controls with no increments might not be the best idea.) It allows draws frequently, however, the rule of 'bare king' (take all non-king pieces of your opponent) allows for victory also in situations where the material is insufficient to mate the opponent. Here are links to a site that has some information about Shatranj, including some very old Shatranj problems: http://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/shatranj.html http://www.chessvariants.com/mansubat.dir/mansindex.html You can play Shatranj on ICC; it is wild 28. [Kiebitz, 06/07/01] See also: Shatranj, wild