Indian chess

This article about regional versions of chess played in India. For ancient Indian chess variants, which are believed to be predecessors of chess by some historians, see Chaturanga.

Indian chess is the name given to the version of the game as played in India in the 18th and 19th centuries. Chess originated in India, and the more ancient forms are known as Chaturanga, and spread to the west via Persia in the 7th Century.^[1] There are several such variations, all quite similar to modern rules, with variants regarding castling, pawn promotion, etc. These variants were popular in India until the 1960s, and are possibly still played in rural areas.

Difference from Western chess

• The king is always placed at the right of the queen (as opposed to the left for Black).
• Some rules differ when only the king and pawns are left in play.
• The two-step initial movement of a pawn is absent in Indian Chess; thus, en passant is also absent.
• Normal castling between rook and king is absent. The king can make a knight's move once in a game, which is known as Indian Castling.
• On reaching the opposite end of the board, pawns promote to the piece of that square.

Noted players of Indian Chess

Moheshchunder Bannerjee of Bengal was a strong player whose games have been described by his partner John Cochrane. These included the following game in Grünfeld Defense against Cochrane in 1855—some 38 years before Ernst Grünfeld was born. John Cochrane-Moheschunder Bannerjee, May 1855 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Be2 Nxc3 8.bxc3 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nc6 11.Bb2 Bg4 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.Ba3 Qa5 14.Qb3 Rfe8 15.Rc5 Qb6 16.Rb5 Qd8 17.Ng5 Bxe2 18.Nxf7 Na5 and White checkmates in three moves (19.Nh6+ double check Kh8 20.Qg8+ Rxg8 21.Nf7#).^[2][3] Bannerjee's fondness for fianchettoed openings were noted by Cochrane in his writings in 1884, and eventually led to the class of openings called Indian defence (Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian etc.).

Mir Sultan Khan of Punjab transitioned from Indian chess to Western rules. During a visit to England for five years, he won the British Championship in 1929, 1932, and 1933.

Names of the pieces

In the variants in Bengal, the rook is commonly called a Boat, and the bishop is called an Elephant. In the Punjab and Rajasthan, the bishop is called a Camel. The knight has been called a horse since chaturanga times, and is attested to in the iconography of the modern knight.

• King
• Queen
• Elephant (Bishop)
• Horse (Knight)
• Boat (Rook)
• Army (Pawn)

Standardization

See also

• Origins of chess
• Chaturaji, four-handed version of Chaturanga
• Shatranj

References

1. ^ Indian chess: from origin to fame by K. R. Banerjee.
2. ^ Edward Winter, Kings, Commoners and Knaves: Further Chess Explorations, Russell Enterprises, Inc., 1999, p. 141. ISBN 1888690-04-6
3. ^ Cochrane-Moheschunder