Chess in the Arab world

More than India, it was Persia which gave the game a sufficiently modern structure that one could speak of "chess". Moreover, the word "failure" is itself of Persian origin: by different Arab and Latin intermediaries, it goes back to the Persian term shah which designates the king.

According to legend, an Indian ambassador brought the game of "four kings" to the court of Khosro I Anushirwan (531-579), shah of Persia, to test his intelligence. In fact, the game probably passed through the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, before arriving in Persia through trade. Anyway, in the 550s, several writings mention the existence of shatrandj, a new name given by the Persians to chaturanga.

Arabs adopt chess

It was by conquering Persia in 642 that the Arabs got to know Shatrandj. A favorite game of nomadic peoples, Arab-Persian chess is introduced into the Arabian Peninsula by the Bedouins and north to Russia by the Mongols. Ali, husband of Fatima, the Prophet Muhammad's own daughter, is already a big fan of it. But the game is quickly banned by theologians under the Qur'anic precept that the use of figurines is impious. The Arab pieces then take abstract forms, identifiable by their shape and decor. Although Islamized, the Persians will continue to play with figurative pieces.

The contribution of the Arabs to the development of chess is immense, in particular thanks to some Muslim sovereigns, true enthusiasts of the game. Caliph Haroun al-Rachid is the patron of several champions with whom he likes to confront. In 847, he organized a competition gathering the best players of the Islamic Empire, undoubtedly the first tournament in the history of chess. The first technical books date from this time.

After the conquests of Spain and Portugal, chess experienced a considerable expansion. In this new province called al-Andalus, the Moors set up universities providing education in Muslim culture, including chess. A modification of the chessboard, until then simply checkered, occurred around the year 1000: the boxes were divided into thirty-two white and as many black. This novelty introduces the concept of crazy white boxes or black boxes. This is how shatrandj spreads in the West.

First chess treaties

Arabs have contributed enormously to the development and deepening of chess. It was they who were the first to constitute a veritable "chess literature" gathering collections of games and chess problems intended for learning the game or perfecting it. AI-Adli wrote his Book of chess in 842, under the Caliph Haroun al-Rachid, great patron of the game. From this same period date the end of the analyzed games and from which lessons were learned applicable to the practice. These treatises, especially those of al-Suli, study parts that are actually played out, the outcome of which is particularly beautiful or surprising. It is the birth of the chess problem. Best player of this time, al-Suli quotes in support of a problem an amusing anecdote, which François Le Lionnais relates in his Dictionary of chess:

Arabs have contributed enormously to the development and deepening of chess. It was they who were the first to constitute a veritable "chess literature" gathering collections of games and chess problems intended for learning the game or perfecting it. AI-Adli wrote his Book of chess in 842, under the Caliph Haroun al-Rachid, great patron of the game. From this same period date the end of the analyzed games and from which lessons were learned applicable to the practice. These treatises, especially those of al-Suli, study parts that are actually played out, the outcome of which is particularly beautiful or surprising. It is the birth of the chess problem. Best player of this time, al-Suli quotes in support of a problem an amusing anecdote, which François Le Lionnais relates in his Dictionary of chess:

Chess literature quickly spread throughout the Islamic Empire and even to the West, in Muslim Spain where chess is taught. Thus European students have learned the practice of shatrandj. From 1200, appear the first Western writings: The Book of the games of Alphonse X, king of Castille and passionate about the game, and especially The Book of moralized chess (around 1315) by Jacques de Cessoles. But unlike Muslims, Europeans have little interest in chess problems. They are not looking for the beauty of combinations but effective methods, especially in openings, to win the game. Muslims, whose civilization is then more advanced in the intellectual fields, consider the game in a more scientific way than the European nobles, good living and little inclined to research work.