By any other name, chess is just as addictive
There seems to be some nagging questions about the origin of chess, this writer’s favorite game.
One of our reporters in New York recently attended a xiangqi (or Chinese chess) demonstration where a world-renowned champion got up and told the audience that chess was invented in China and dates back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Not so fast. Traditionally seven countries have claimed the honor of inventing chess: India, Egypt, Greece, Assyria, Persia, Arabia and China.
A 10th century text recounts a list of tales about the game. It was played by Alexander the Great, probably taught to him by his tutor Aristotle. Famed rabbi Aben Ezra claimed Moses invented the game. Adam apparently played to assuage his grief over the murder of his son Abel.
The similarities between international chess and xiangqi leave little doubt that the two games are related, one springing or being refined from the other, or both sharing a common ancestry.
The current version of xiangqi does date back to the Song but the Indian game of chaturanga goes back 400 years before that, to the 6th-century Gupta Empire. Chaturanga is also believed to be the basis of Japanese shogi, or the General’s Game, Burmese sittuyin and Thai makruk, all of which are too similar to be accidents.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), General Yuan Chonghuan encouraged his troops to play xiangqi rather than gamble and the beneficial effects of the game were credited with raising his army’s fighting spirit which led to continuous victories on the battlefield.
My favorite legend about the origin of chess is really a lesson in the power of exponential growth. A king of India named Kaid asked his wise minister Sassa to come up with some amusement to break up the boredom of palace life.
Sassa thought of a rare game he had seen that was introduced to Indians by the soldiers of Alexander the Great. It had 56 pieces and 112 squares. Sassa condensed it to 32 pieces and 64 squares. King Kaid was so delighted by the game he told Sassa to name his reward — a dukedom, a castle, gold, jewels, horses, one of his daughters?
Sassa asked instead that one grain of barley corn be placed on the first square of the board, then double that, two, on the next, then double that, four, on the next, and so on for 64 squares. The king happily agreed to the ridiculous sounding request and ordered it so, but before they got halfway across the board, all of his granaries had been emptied.
To reach the end of the board would take about 18.5 quintillion grains. Sassa owned the kingdom — checkmate.
The term “checkmate” itself adds even more mystery to the game’s lineage: it’s from the Arabic or Persian “shah mate” or “dead king’’.
Researchers estimate that 600 million people worldwide play chess. According to the Chinese Xiangqi Association “hundreds of millions of people” play Chinese chess in China.
Whichever came first, it seems pretty clear that both are here to stay.
Contact the writer at chrisdavis@ chinadailyusa.com