Recalling chess positions which existed previously, is critical for assessing a current position that you are playing. They can help you to make an accurate assessment of an intricate position. Ever since chess was invented in 570 ad (or was it discovered ?) in the north-eastern part of India, remembering similar positions to the one which is being played can prove invaluable for winning a game. Research has indicated that in manuscripts from the early 7th century, a game called ‘Chaturanga’ (which later changed to ‘Shatranj’) is mentioned, a precursor to chess as we know it today. Naturally, we cannot be sure that there were no earlier forms, but the evidence seems to suggest that the game was invented from scratch by a single person in this area of India at around this period of time.
No one knows the name of that ‘single person,’ but we know for certain that it took a brilliant mind to create a game such as chess. Kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers, teachers, investors, businessmen, laymen, etc, continue to be fascinated by the game. It boasts an extraordinary number of possibilities. The original chessboard was mathematically revolutionary. A common theory is that India’s development of the board and chess was likely the consequence of India’s mathematical enlightenment involving the creation of the number zero.
The rules of Shatranj were very similar to those of modern chess. The game was played on a board with 64 dark and light squares, with pieces which we would find quite familiar. It was based on the army formation of the period. There was an infantry (padati, today’s pawns), elephants (hasti , our bishops) the cavalry (ashwa , the knights) , chariots (rat-ha , today’s rooks) and a
