Single Comment

I propose that this game can be derived from the pre-chess or proto-chess described in a note to chaturanga by adding our rook to the outside of that array and then squaring off the board and adding two more pawns. From this game chaturanga can be derived by moving it back to the eight-square board and dropping the orthogonal-leaping camel (our dabbabah) or alternatively the alfil from the array and giving its place to the rook. From this game, Shatranj al-Kamil Type One, I think we can also derive the early form of Chinese chess, which was played on a board of eleven lines by eleven, that is, ten squares by ten. The rooks, or chariots, are retained unaltered. The elephants retain their move unaltered, except that it is now limited by the river, but I doubt the river existed on the earlier board. The horses retain their native move in slightly modified form. The orthogonal-leapers, camels in this game but dabbabahs to us, become pieces that leap orthogonally to capture, moving like rooks the rest of the time. The king and minister probably had the same moves as in the original game; the nine-castle was not found on that earlier board.