Shatranj

Shatranj, Shatranj written English, is considered the Iranian precursor of the modern European game of chess and the successor to the Indian original chess Chaturanga. Shatranj / شطرنج / Šaṭranǧ is also the Persian and Arabic name of modern chess.

In Shatranj the moves of the pieces have substantial differences as to the modern game of chess. They correspond with the exception of Alfil those of Chaturanga.

Shatranj was very popular in the Arab world from the seventh century. In this form of the game of chess came to Europe, where it also became widespread, until it developed in the late 15th century, today with runners chess and checkers and Bauer double step.

King, rook, knight and pawn are already moving as in today's chess. However, the farmer has no double step, and accordingly there is no en passant. There is no castling, the king can perform a knight move once per game. The Alfil, the predecessor of the modern runner, attracts exactly two hexes in a diagonal direction, it can skip a figure. The Fers, which is replaced by the lady in today's chess, diagonal moves far a field. When a pawn reaches the last row, it always converts to a Fers.

The basic setting is as in modern chess, the Alfile take the place of the rotor and the Fers to the lady. Usually, the Kings are in the d-line, but this makes no real difference.

You win a game by hitting the opponent or matt patt sets or all the opponent's pieces except the king.

Shatranj can be played with or without the use of Tabijen. These are fixed opening move sequences that accelerate the start of the game, which is otherwise somewhat tedious by the lack of farmer double step. A chess composition in Shatranj is called Mansube.