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Chaturanga for four players.. Oldest multiplayer chess variant. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Pallav Nawani wrote on Wed, Jul 13, 2005 08:48 PM UTC:

There is insufficient information to determine with _complete certainty_
where chess originated. But it is sufficiently clear that chaturanga is
the most likely predcessor of chess. If the first description of chess is
what you are looking for then you need not go further than the game of
chaturanga (with dice) played between Duryodhana and Yudhishthira which
is
detailed in the Indian religious epic, Mahabharata. That description (and
Mahabharata)  is (conservatively) dated approx 1000 BC!

One crucial thing is that Chaturang has many variants. Obviously,
variants
develop over a period of time, and of popular games only. Chess peices
still bear a striking resemblance to the Chaturanga played in India, etc.
Chaturanga must have had _some_ relation to the original chess, and may
well be the original itself, Murray notwithstanding.