History of Chess: Table of Contents

Histoire des échecs: table des matières

The Chess and Games Library

A handy collection of relevant papers for history of Chess and other games.

All presented in pdf format and easy to download.

This page will continue to grow as further additions are planned.

Any contribution from authors is welcome.

The origin of Chess / L'origine des échecs

This section is devoted to a fascinating enigma :  where, when, why, how was Chess born ?

The following pages deal with the birth of Chess.

• The enigma of the Birth of Chess
• Origin of Chess : (this section is under revision. Interested readers are invited to consult our book, A World of Chess, for a complete presentation and discussion of this subject)

• An exhaustive comparison between Chatrang (ancient Persian Chess) and Xiangqi (Chinese Chess)

The archaeological findings / Les traces archéologiques

• The Dalverzin-Tepe pieces: an irritating mystery
• Terracotta figures from Northern India
• Earliest pieces in the Orient
• Earliest pieces in Russia
• Earliest pieces in Europe
• Some controversial pieces: Chess or not Chess?
• The Afrasiab Chessmen (with high definition scans)
• The mysterious Afghan Chessmen
• The Ager Chessmen
• The Sandomierz Chessmen
• The Charlemagne Chessmen (with high definition scans)
• The Lewis Chessmen (with high definition scans)
• The Butrint piece
• Antique and old Xiangqi pieces
• Chess representation in Angkor temples in Cambodia

Many illustrations can be found on these pages.

What are the sources available to the historians and what do they tell us ?

Here are all known texts presented in chronological order. For each one, a table summarizes:

estimated date of writing / work title / author / language

 

• 6th, 7th and 8th century
• 9th and 10th century
• 11th and 12th century
• 13th, 14th and 15th century
• 16th and 17th century

Quelles sont les sources écrites dont disposent les historiens et qu'est-ce qu'elles nous apprennent ?

 Sont énumérés ici tous ces textes souvent cités et d'autres moins connus. Pour chaque texte mentionné, un tableau récapitule :
la date estimée de son élaboration / le titre complet de l'œuvre / le nom de l'auteur / la langue.

Varieties of Chess all over the World

• Official rules of European Chess , "standard" Chess for most of people.
• Presentation and history of Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) and Janggi (Korean Chess)
• An excellent paper from Andrew West about Tangut Chess (mirrored page)
• Curiosity: 3D piece to play Xiangqi
• Presentation and history of Xiangqi variants, for 3 players and for 7 players. And the (modern) 4 players Xiangqi variants.
• Presentation and history of Shogi (Japanese Chess) and all Shogi variants: Chu Shogi, Dai Shogi, Dai Dai Shogi, Maka Dai Dai Shogi, Tai Shogi ,
  Tenjiku Shogi, Wa Shogi, Tai Kyoku Shogi , Ko Shogi and Tori Shogi.
• South-East Asian Chess : Sittuyin (Burmese),
  Makruk (Thai)/ Ouk Chatrang (Cambodian) and a never-confirmed mysterious Hill's Cambodian Chess
• A mirrored page:  Cambodian Chess Games by Vuthy Tan.
• Chess in Malaysia and Indonesia : Main Chator
• North and Central Asian Chess : Shatar (Mongolia) page 1 and page 2 ,
• and Chandraki (Tibet)
• A peculiar Mongolian variant : Hiashatar
• Varieties of Chess in India
• Madagascan Chess : Samantsy  and Ethiopian Chess : Senterej
• A mirrored page: Homepage for Senterej

More about chess history

• Presentation of ancient and related games : Liubo, Ashtapada.
• Liubo reconstructed rules
• The mysterious Prasena of the Chinese Buddhist monk Fazang.
• Indo-Persian Chatrang (or Chaturanga) and the Arabic Shatranj
• The variants of Shatranj: Oblong, Limb, Complete, Celestial, Byzantine, Citadel Chess
• Indian Four-Handed Chaturanga is not the oldest Chess ancestor !
• Tamerlane Chess, the "popular" and the "extended" full version
• European Chess in Middle Age
• Peculiar: European mediaeval Chess according to Michel Pastoureau
• "Grant Acedrex" from King Alfonso X of Castille (1283)
• Four Seasons Chess and "Escaques" also from King Alfonso X of Castille
• Courier Chess
• The birth of modern Queen and Bishops in Valencia
• Scacchia Ludus, a Latin Chess poem composed by M.H.Vida in 1513, and its translation into English.
• A critical review of an academic paper entitled "The Beginnings of Chess".

• The Champions Hall of Fame in Chess
• The Champions Hall of Fame in Xiangqi and Shogi

All this will be completed in the future.

In memoriam of H.J.R. (Harold James Ruthen) Murray (1868 - 1955)

Greatest Chess historian ever, author of the monumental "A History of Chess" (1913).