eLibrary: Chess Along the Silk Road

The modern game of chess is a perfect example of cultural exchange along the silk roads. Starting in the North-West of the Indian subcontinent, it entered Persia sometime around the 6th century CE. The game was carried to China by Buddhist monks, and by Islamic armies and traders throughout Central Asia. The Moorish conquest of Spain introduced the game into Europe, where it was eventually codified into its current form.

NOTE:

Some of these links come from Academia.edu and Researchgate.net. These require a free one-time registration.

To research further yourselves, you may consider registering with Jstore.org which gives limited but free monthly access to its collections.

Articles

A useful timeline is Vitez, Origins of Chess, 2008 [website]

How to play

How to Play Xiangqi / Chinese Chess / 象棋 [website]

How to Play Chess: 7 Rules To Get You Started [website]

The Indian Chess [website]

Averbakh, Y. A History of Chess From Chaturanga to the Present Day 2012 [pdf]

Chaturanga Through the Ages: a Game of Elephants, Generals, and Madwomen 2017 [pdf]

Donovan. L. The Complete Guide to Chess, 2015, 144pp [pdf]

Ferlito, G. and Sanvito, A., On the Origins of Chess, 1990 [pdf]

Josten, G., ‘Chess- a Living Fossil’, Cologne: Initiative Group Königstein., Symposium2001 [pdf download] 

Kiekintveld, C. e.a ‘Empirical Game-Theoretic Analysis of Chaturanga’ in AAMAS-06 Workshop on Game-Theoretic and Decision-Theoretic Agents, 2006 [pdf]

Kraaijeveld, A.R., ‘Origin of Chess–A phylogenetic perspective’. Board Games Studies, 3, 2000, 39-50. [pdf]

Kylasov, A.V., 2019. ‘Traditional sports and games along the Silk Roads’. International Journal of Ethnosport and Traditional Games, 1, 2019, 1-10. [pdf]

Mark, M., ‘18 The Beginnings of Chess’, in I. Finkel (ed) Ancient Board Games in Perspective, 2007, 138-157. [pdf]

Moore, G., ‘The Mysterious Origin And Strange Descent of Chess: The Path of Evolutionary Inventive Drift’ [pdf]

Murray H.J.R. A History of Chess,Oxford, 1913. 945pp [pdf]

Paraskiewicz, K.,  ‘Persian checkmate:” The King is oppressed”: on the origin of the chessmen’s names’. Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia, 8, 2003. [pdf] 

Remus, H. ‘The Origin of Chess and the Silk Road’, Silk Road Journal, 1, 1, 2003, 6-8. [pdf]

Samsin, M.J., Pawns and Pieces. Towards the Prehistory of Chess. Mimeo, 2002 [pdf] 

World Xiangqi Federation, A short Introduction to Xaingqi, 24pp [pdf]