Relevant Papers

Articles intéressants

The Chess and Games Library

This page aims at presenting relevant papers for Chess history. As it is sometimes important to understand Chess in relation with other games, important papers dealing with other reflexion games are also presented.

The goal is to offer a space here for all interested individuals who will be able to easily reach the most advanced and important information on the domain.

Authors (any language) are welcome to send me their papers they would like to see appearing here.

The original Spanish text of Alfonso X's Book of Games (Libro de los juegos) (composed by Sonja Musser)

(Adams 1999): Colin Adams, The Struggle for Survival, an e-book introducing Tenjiku Shogi. Also available (with additions) here.
(Banaschak 1997): Peter Banaschak, Facts on the origin of Chinese chess (Xiangqi), 4th Symposium of the Initiative Gruppe Königstein, Wiesbaden, August 1997.
(Banaschak 1999): Peter Banaschak, Early East Asian Chess Pieces: An overview, PB's Homepage, August 1999.
(Banaschak 2000): Peter Banaschak, On the History of Chû Shôgi, The Chu Shogi Library, 2000.
(Berger 2004-1, Berger 2004-2): Friedrich Berger, From circle and square to the image of the World: a possible interpretation for some petroglyphs of merels boards, Rock Art Research 2004 - Volume 21, Number 1, pp. 11-25.
(Bock-Raming 1995): Andreas Bock-Raming, The Varieties of Indian Chess Through The Ages, Asiatische Studien - Etudes Asiatiques, XLIX 2, 1995.
(Brown 1964): Norman Brown, The Indian Games of Pachisi, Chaupar and Chausar, Expedition 6, Spring, pp32-35.
(Calvo 1998): Ricardo Calvo, Valencia Spain: The Cradle of European Chess, CCI Conference, Vienna, Austria, May 1998.
(Calvo 2001): Ricardo Calvo, The Oldest Chess Pieces in Europe, IGK Conference, Amsterdam, December 2001.
(Caso 1925): Alfonso Caso, Un antiguo juego mexicano: el Patolli, El Mexico Antiguo, 1925.
(Daryaee ?), Touraj Daryaee, The Games of Chess and Backgammon in Sasanian Persia, date and place of publication unknown. Also available here.
(DongLi 2002): Dong Li, Suspicions regarding what are alleged to be Sui Dynasty glass and agate Weiqi Chess piece, China Archaelogy and Art Digest, Vol.4 Number 4, April-May 2002.
(DunnVenturi 2006): Ann Dunn-Venturi, Ulrich Schädler, Nouvelles perspectives sur les jeux à la lumière de plateaux du Kerman, Iranica Antiqua, Vol. XLI, 2006.
(Eder 2007): Manfred Eder, Early Terracottas from Kanauj: Chessmen? Chapter II - Half an Answer and More Questions, 19th International Conference on South Asian Archaelogy, Ravenna, 2-6 July 2007.
(Fairbairn 1980): John Fairbairn, Shogi history and the variants, Shogi Magazine, n°27, September 1980.
(Ferlito-Sanvito 1990), G.Ferlito - A.Sanvito, Origins of Chess, Protochess, 400 B.C. to 400 A.D, The Pergamon Chess Monthly September 1990 Volume 55 No. 6.
(Gunter 1991): Ann C. Gunter, Art from Wisdom : The Invention of Chess and Backgammon, Asian Art, Winter 1991.
(Josten 1998): Gerhard Josten, The End of Colonialism in Chess, originally published in German for the 8th congress of the Chess Collectors International (CCI), Vienna, 1998. (Josten 2001): Gerhard Josten, Chess - A Living Fossil, Also in The Anatomy of Chess, Tübinger Beiträge zum Thema Schach Band 8, Pfullingen, Promos-Verlag, 2003.
(Josten 2005): Gerhard Josten, Einige Fragen an die Indologen zu Bana, Okkasioneller Rundbrief 28, 2005.
(Kruk 2001): Remke Kruk, Of Rukhs and Rooks, Camels and Castles, Oriens, Volume 36, pp288-298, Brill, Leiden 2001.
(De Leeuw 1981): J.E. van Lohuizen De Leeuw, A unique piece of ivory carving - the oldest known chessman, South Asian Archaelogy 1981.
(Leventhal 1978): Dennis A. Leventhal, The Chess of China, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China: Mei Ya, 1978. A compilation of selected excerpts mirrored from here.
(Makariou 2005): Sophie Makariou, Le jeu d'échecs, une pratique de l'aristocratie entre l'islam et chrétienté des IXe-XIIIe siècles, Les Cahiers de Saint-Michel de Cuxa, XXXVI, 2005.
(Mark 2007): Michael Mark, The Beginning of Chess, in "Ancient Board Games in perspective" (Edited by I.L.Finkel), British Museum Press, London, 2007. (See also my critical review).
(Panaino ?): Antonio Panaino, Hashtpây, date and place of publication unknown. Also available here.
(Needham 1962): Joseph Needham, The Magnet, Divination and Chess, in Science and Civilisation in China: Physics and Physical Technology, Part I: Physics, Cambridge University Press, 1962.
(Parton 1972a): Vernon Rylands Parton, 100 Squares for Chess and Damante, monograph, 1972. More can be found here.
(Piccione 1980): Peter A. Piccione, In Search of the Meaning of Senet, Archaeology 33 (July/August l980): 55-58. Also available here.
(Rajendran 2005): A. Rajendran, Exploring the Possibilities of Finding out the Nature of Chess in its Original Form, Okkasioneller Rundbrief 29, 2005.
(Romain 1999): Pascal Romain, Divination and Recreation in Ancient Near Eastern Board Games, Board Games Studies Colloquia, Florence, 1999
(Samsin 2002): Myron Samsin, Pawns And Pieces: Towards The Prehistory Of Chess, 2002. Also in The Anatomy of Chess, Tübinger Beiträge zum Thema Schach Band 8, Pfullingen, Promos-Verlag, 2003.
(Schmidt 2003): von Rainer Schmidt, Urschach und die Vorgeschichte des Xiangqi, Schach-Journal 1/1993. (Scan and OCR by JLC, errors are possible).
(Syed 2000, Syed 2000-fig): Renate Syed, Early Terracottas from Kanauj: Chessmen?, available from here. Composed from material also published elsewhere like in "Chess Originated in India - Four Contributions", Förderkreis Schach-Geschichtsforschung e.V., Arbeitspapiere, May 2000.
(Schädler 2001): Ulrich Schädler, Latrunculi, a forgotten Roman Game of Strategy reconstructed, Abstract Games, Issue 7, Autumn 2001.
(Shotwell 1994): Peter Shotwell, The Game of Go in Ancient and Modern Tibet, Tibetan Journal of Social Science, 1994.
(Shotwell 2006): Peter Shotwell, Go and Ancient Chinese Divination: A Commentary on A Journey in Search of the Origins of Go by Shirakawa Masayoshi, Yutopian 2006.
(Slobodchikoff 1953): Léon Slobodchikoff, Co Tuong, Le Jeu d'échecs des Vietnamiens, Bulletin de la Société des Études indochinoises, n.s., t. XXVIII, n° 4, 1953.
(Utas 1992): Bo Utas, Chess I. The History of Chess in Persia, Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp393-397, 1992.
(van Binsbergen 1997): Wim van Binsbergen, Board-games and divination in global cultural history: a theoretical, comparative and historical perspective on mankala and geomancy in Africa and Asia, 1997. See also here.
(Westerveld 1994): Govert Westerveld, Historia de la nueva dama poderosa en el juego de ajedrez y Damas, Homo Ludens, Der spielende Mensch XV, Salzbürg, p103-104, 1994.
(Zeng 1999): Zeng Lanying (Lillian L. Tseng), Divining from the Game Liubo : An Explanation of A Han Wooden Slip, China Archaelogy and Art Digest, « Fortune, Games and Gaming », Vol.4, n°4, October-December 1999.
(Zheng 1999): Zheng Yan'e, Preliminary Remarks on the Games of Liubo and Saixi, China Archaelogy and Art Digest, « Fortune, Games and Gaming », Vol.4, n°4, October-December 1999.

Original contributions:

(Mille 2006): Pierre Mille, L�Occident chrétien médiéval et les échecs. L�évolution des pièces non figuratives du 10e au début du 16e siècle. Revised text, received May 2008.
(Rudolph): Jess Rudolph, East Asian Shogi, a contribution which was formerly available on Internet. Saved before it became a dead link and printed on pdf.

Some papers of my own:

(Cazaux 2001): Jean-Louis Cazaux, Is Chess a Hybrid Game?, IGK Symposium, Amsterdam, 2001. Also in The Anatomy of Chess, Tübinger Beiträge zum Thema Schach Band 8, Pfullingen, Promos-Verlag, 2003.
(Cazaux 2003): Jean-Louis Cazaux, We Played Liubo Last Night!, Abstract Games, Issue 15, Autumn 2003.
(Cazaux 2004a): Jean-Louis Cazaux, échec et mad !, Vox Ludi Mars-Avril 2004.
(Cazaux 2004b): Jean-Louis Cazaux, Qui a inventé les jeux de cartes ?, Vox Ludi Juillet-Août 2004.
(Cazaux 2004c): Jean-Louis Cazaux, II règles pour jouer comme les Romains, Vox Ludi Septembre-Octobre 2004.

There are other websites which also display collection of papers. Many presented here have been mirrored from them (many thanks):

Any feedback will be appreciated. If you feel you can contribute in any way, please do contact me.

If you feel that any material here is a problem, please contact me too to ask/suggest a removal whatever your reason.

(Many thanks to all nice people, especially TD and ME, who provided me with these papers. Also SM is thanked)

09/01/2010