History of Indian game Chaturanga

It is believed that the chess is derived from the Indian game ‘Chaturanga’. The name comes from
a battle formation mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata, referring to four divisions of an army,
namely elephantry, chariotry, cavalry and infantry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the
modern rook, bishop, knight and pawn respectively. An ancient battle formation, Akshauhini, is like the setup
of Chaturanga. Chaturanga was played on an 8×8 uncheckered board, called Ashtapada.

Chinese Origin

According to some the chess was invented in China around 200 BC by a commander, Han Xin, to represent
one particular battle. However, soon after the battle, the game was forgotten and then resurfaced in the 7th century
AD with several new rules. The game became popular under the name ‘XiangQi’ which means the elephant
game, losing its reference to the ancient battle. The elephant game was very dissimilar to the chess
game that is known today. They had other pieces, another board, and even other rules. According to this belief,
chess went from China to India and Persia afterwards.

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