Shatranj
Famous players
During the reign of the Arabic
caliphs, shatranj players of highest class were called
aliyat or grandees. There were only a very few players in this category. The most well known of them were:
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Jabir al-Kufi,
Rabrab and
Abun-Naam were three aliyat players during the rule of caliph
al-Ma'mun.
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Al-Adli was the strongest player during the rule of caliph
al-Wathiq. At this time he was the only player in aliyat category.
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Ar-Razi in
847 won a match against an already old al-Adli in the presence of caliph
al-Mutawakkil and so become a player of aliyat category.
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As-Suli was the strongest player during the reign of caliph
al-Muktafi. Al-Razi was already dead and there were no players of comparable strength before as-Suli appeared on the scene. In the presence of al-Muktafi he easily won a match against a certain al-Mawardi and thus proved that he was the best player of that time. As-Suli considered Rabrab and ar-Razi as the greatest of his predecessors.
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Al-Lajlaj was a pupil of as-Suli and also a great shatranj master of his time.
Player classification
Al-Adli as well as as-Suli introduced classifications of players by their playing strength. Both of them specify 5 classes of players:
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Aliyat (or aliya), grandees
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Mutaqaribat, proximes - players who could win 2-4 games out of 10 in the match against grandee. They received odds of a pawn from grandee (better players g-, a- or h-pawn, weaker ones d- or e-pawn).
* Third class - players who received odds of a Fers from grandee.
* Fourth class - received odds of a knight.
* Fifth class - received odds of a rook.
To determine his or her class, a player would play a series of match with a player of a known class without odds. If he wins 7 or more games out of 10, he belongs to a higher class.
Openings
{{Chaturanga diagram|=
tright | = | |bd| |kd|bd| |rd|= | | |nd|nd| |pd| |= | pd|pd|qd| |pd| |pd|= | | |pd|pd| | | |= | |pl| | |pl| | |= | pl|nl|pl|pl|nl|pl| |= | | | | | | |pl|= | rl|bl|ql|kl|bl|rl| |= | Mujannah - Mashaikhi opening. In opening shatranj players usually tried to reach a specific position, tabiya.
Openings in shatranj were usually called tabiya (pl. tabiyat), which can be translated as battle array. Due to slow piece development in shatranj, the exact sequence of moves was relatively unimportant. Instead players aimed to reach a specific position, tabiya, mostly ignoring the play of their opponent.
On the right is shown the position of the game, where white has played quite a popular tabiya Mujannah (the wingled, or flanked). Black in the middle of playing tabiya Mashaikhi (the sheikh's opening). The initial position in this game was with the white king on the right side. This position was reached after the following moves: 1. f3 h6 2. f4 b6 3. Nf3 f6 4. g3 e6 5. c3 d6 6. c4 Ne7 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. b3 e5 9. e3 d5 10. d3 c6 11. Rb1 Qc7 12. Rg1 Qd6. White and black can also play the same tabiya. For example, in the Double Mujannah opening, both white and black play the Mujannah tabiya, reaching a symmetric position.
The works of al-Adli and as-Suli contain collections of tabiyat. Tabiyat were usually given as position on a half-board with some comments about them. The concrete sequence of moves to reach them was not specified. In his book Al-Lajlaj analyzed some tabyia in detail. He started his analysys from some given opening, for example "Double Mujannah" or "Mujannah - Mashaikhi", and then continued his analysys up to move 40., giving numerous variations.Piece valuesBoth al-Adli and as-Suli provided estimation of piece values in their books on shatranj. They used a monetary system to specify piece values. For example, as-Suli gives piece values in dirhem, the currency in use in his time:| Piece | Value | | Rook | 1 dirhem | | Knight | 2/3 dirhem | | Fers | 1/3 - 3/8 dirhem | | Alfil | 1/4 dirhem | | Central pawn (d-, or e-pawn) | 1/4 dirhem | | Knight's or Alfils's pawn (b-, c-, f-, or g-pawn) | 1/6 - 1/5 dirhem | | Rook's pawn (a- or h-pawn) | 1/8 dirhem |
As-Suli also believed that the b-pawn was better than the f-pawn and King's side Alfil (on the c-file) was better than Queen's side one (on the f-file). Furthemore, an Alfil on the c-file was better than the d-pawn and the Alfil on the f-file was better than an e-pawn.* Origins of chess
* Early Arabic chess literature* H.J.R. Murray (1913). A History of Chess. ISBN 0936317019.
* D.B. Pritchard (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. ISBN 0952414201.* Shatranj by Hans L. Bodlaender.
* The Time of Shatranj and the Aliyat by Miguel Villa.
* SchemingMind.com - game server to play shatranj.
* Shatranj | Material Values Of Pieces
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