HISTORICAL CHESS
Chessquest

 

 

Origin of chess and its cosmological roots
by Andreas Bunkahle (06 feb 06)
http://www.bunkahle.com/Schach/chess.html
Reprinted with permission Sept. 21, 2006

Chess - who does not know the royal game?
But, who knows how the roots of this ancient strategy game are ground deeply into astrlogical archetypes

The historical origins are not clear - some historians see India as the place of origin of this world-wide game, though others think that it originated from China. Chess has always been seen as a strategy and war game. The different pieces of chess symbolize the different types of weapons used in an army. Two armies engage combat. The white and the black pieces stand on the battlefield against each other.

In the famous Persian epos "Shahnameh" (Book of Kings), the main work of the epic of the Tadshish-Persian literature by Abu´l-Quasim Mansur Firdusi (932/43 - 1020/26) tells the following episode:

"The chess game is an image of war" says an Indian messenger at the reception of the Persian King Nuschirwan (529 bis 577). With this words he makes a gift of a valuable chess game to the King and he asks that this game is presented to the wisest man in the Persian kingdom. If the wise man can find out how the game works and what the rules for this game are then there is no wiser man on earth.

The Indian King Dewsarm would be willing to pay any asked tribute to the Persian King because wisdom stands higher than any other virtue in mankind. But if the wise man of Persia should not succeed the Persian King should be paying the tribute to the Indian King. The conditions were accepted. King Nuschirwan asked for seven days to think.

First the King and the wise men were trying to get behind the secret in vain. The Wezir of the King eventually found the solution to the riddle. Beaming he presented the placing of the pieces on the board to his King and said: "It is the same like on the battlefield."

As the day came the Indian messsengers went before the Persian King. First the conditions were repeated and the the wise Wezir sat before the chess boards. The horrified Indian messengers saw that he put the piece of the King in the middle of the chess board, next to it the Wezir who accompanies and advises the King in the battlefield. Both were sided by the war elephants who were followed by the knights. At the corners he placed the rooks.

"How could he possibly know that?", shouted the Indian messenger. "Never did he see a chess board or spoke to an Indian wise man!"¹

One of the original forms of chess - the Indian Chaturanga - was played with King or Commander of the army and with the pieces of elephant knight, chariot and the usual soldiers by foot. Originally this game was not a strategy game, but was played with dice and could be played with four players against each other. But already these four basic types of pieces show that the chess game exposed definite astrological archetypes.

The four types of weapons can also be associated with the four elements or the four quarters of a horoscope - in the following manner:

Pieces	Rook	Knight	Elephant/Bishop	Pawn
Elements	Earth	Fire	Air	Water
Trigrams
Seasons	Spring	Summer	Autumn	Winter:
Quarters	1. Quarter	4. Quarter	3. Quarter	2. Quarter
Weapon types	armed carrier, chariot, combat vehicle modern: tank or marine	knights, cavalry modern: airforce	archers modern: artillery	soldiers modern: infantry

If you include the fifth element the piece of the King there is an interesting parallel the four of five bases of the DNA²:

The chess game seems to ground especially on astrological principles.

Sam Sloan writes about the origin of chess³, that the grandfather of modern chess seems to be the Chinese Xiang-Qi. Xiang-Qi means literally "Elephant game" (Xiang = Elephant). Sloan writes:

"Actually, many Chinese themselves believe that their name, "elephant game", for Chinese chess, points strongly to an Indian origin. However, other Chinese say that elephants existed in ancient China, but died out due to climatic changes and although the character "Shiang" in "Shiang-chi" means or meant elephant, it also meant other things previously, and when the meaning of that character changed, so did the name of the game. For example, when "Shiang" is combined with another Chinese character, it means a constellation of stars in the sky, and for that reason "Shiang-chi" is sometimes said to be an astrological game. Also, the elephant is one of the weakest pieces in almost all versions of chess. Since the elephant itself is a strong animal, this lends support to the Chinese assertion that this character meant something else in ancient history."

In an medieval text the different pieces of chess were identified with planets in the following manner: ⁴

"Rex est sol
pedes est Saturnus
Mars quoque miles
Regia virgo Venus
Alphinus Episcopus ipse est Juppiter
et Roccus discurrens Luna."

(Translation)

The King is the sun
the soldier by foot (Pawn) is Saturn
but Mars is the knight
the Queen is Venus
the Alphin Bishop himself is Jupiter
and the fast running rook is the moon.

You can get more insights into the (astro-)logical "structure" of chess if you deal with the game's different variants.⁵ . If one compares the different versions of chess and traces back the roots of chess to its probable origin, one could conclude that the Chinese Xiang-Qi is the predecessor of all chess types.

In the order of the fields with black and red palace at the top and the bottom and the river which runs in the middle of the board, this kind of chess is very similiar to an astrological chart. (compare also the similiarity of the words chart, Chaturanga, Tschaturanga)

The pieces resemble the pieces of modern western chess quite strongly.

Rook/Chariot and knight are quite equal to the pieces of western chess though the knight must not jump over pieces. The elephant is allowed to move like the bishop but only two squares diagonally and must not cross the river. The mandarins are allowed to move one square diagonally and must not leave the palace (3 x 3 fields). The king must not leave the palace either and can move one square horizontally or vertically. The cannons move like rooks but take pieces by jumping over another piece and strike the piece behind. It is not a checkered board but 9 x 10 lines. On the crossings of the lines the pieces are placed.

If you take the effort and analyze the most used variants of chess nowadays e.g. the Indian Chaturanga, the Persian Shatranj, the Japanese Sho-Gu etc. you will realize that all of these games include puzzle pieces of an original chess which had grounded on an astrological basis of warfare. We look at the pieces of chess to recognize the archetypes behind that.

	ROOK
	Suggested I-Ching Trigram: Earth

THE ROOK
Other names for rook:

German: Turm, Rochen, Wagen, Streitwagen, Kriegswagen, Auto, Schiff, Riesentier, Elefant

English: Rook, Rock

Russian: Ship

Indian: Rukh (=Chariot), Ratha

Originally the rook was the chariot which is named rukh in Indian language. In the year 1527 the bishop of Albay, Vida, published a poem of a chess game between the gods Apollo and Mercury. The rooks were shown as a kind of cabin (tower) connected on the back of the elephants and so the European chess players also took this picture for the manufacturing of their pieces.

In almost all chess variants of the world, the rook moves always horizontally and vertically as many squares as the player likes. The "fastness" and straightforwardness of this piece lets one associate it with the chariot, which is faster and more effective in its appearance than an usual footsoldier (pawn). At the same time this symbol of the tower demonstrates firmness and power (knight's tower/tour) as a strong element of earth and which has a important role in chess. In modern warfare the rook can be connected to tanks which have also a strong power and firmness. More or less a tank is nothing else than an ancient chariot.

If you want to associate the rook as a symbol for a complete type of weapon it could also symbolize the marine since the rook is called "ship" in the Russian language.

	KNIGHT
	Suggested I-Ching Trigram: Fire

THE KNIGHT
Other names for Knight:

German: Springer, Rössel, Roß, Reiter, Pferd, Centaurus

English: Knight

French: Chevalier

Indian: Ashva

The knight is already known in ancient chess types for its special kind of move: One square diagonally and one square horizontally over vertically, it moves. In mosts chess variants the knight can jump over another piece.

The piece was always identified the cavalry of an army - which is not too hard to guess if one sees the piece on chess boards. The possibility to jump comes from the ability of the horse to jump in a very literal sense. The kind of movement of the knight also reflects the kind of jump which leads up and down. But the radius of movement is limited on 2 squares.

This could be the airforce in modern times because planes can jump or fly but have a limited range of action since they need to get back to their starting place.

	BISHOP
	Suggested I-ching Trigram: Sea/Lake
	ELEPHANT
	Suggested I-Ching Trigram: Mountain

THE BISHOP & THE ELEPHANT
Other names for Bishop/Elephant:

German: Läufer, Botschafter, Fahnenträger, Priester, Alfil, Fil, Alfin, Elefant, Gaja

English: Bishop, Priest

French: Fou (fool)

Italian: Alfiere (the one who carries the flag), Sagittifer (Archer)

The modern bishop has two different archetypes. One could differentiate between the modern Western bishop which can move as many squares as it wants and the ancient elephant who could move only exactly two squares diagonally, but which could jump over a piece in between. The modern bishop cannot jump. One encounters both pieces only in modern large chess variants - the most old or common chess variants have either the one or the other piece.

In the original chess versions it was always the war elephant that was associated with this branch of arms. In modern Western chess, this piece was called Alfil, Fil or Alfin which seems to be similiar to the word Elephant. Since there were no war elephants in Europe this piece changed to a bishop or priest and the chess rule for its movement also changed.

The bishop as well as the elephant always moves diagonally so that there is a strong element of "air" in it. By the movement of the bishop there arises the letter of an X. X or the Gifu rune is a symbol of communication and exchange since the rune means "gift" and underlines the air character of this piece. The association with the soldier who carries the flag with the bishop also strenghtens the character of communication and transition. Another name for it is "Sagittifer" = Archer. One can assume that the Indian war elephants had a kind of tower connected to their back in which were archers who shot from the height. This element also indicates the principle of air.

If you would like to transfer the ancient elephant and the modern bishop to branches of arms nowadays the elephant would symbolize the transport of troops, logistics, support. This correlates with the details of Chinese chess in that the elephant is not allowed to cross the river or middle of the board into hostile lines.

The modern diagonally moving bishop without limit of squares correlates to communication facilities, radio and radar. But if you have the ancient archer in mind it could also be the artillery. Here is the connection point between rook (tower) and bishop. The ancient war elephant had a kind of cabin or tower on his back in the same way as there exists a tower on tanks from which it shoots. Tanks as well as artillery belong to the branch of infantery.

	QUEEN
	Suggested I-Ching Trigram: Heaven
	WEZIR
	Suggested I-Ching Trigram: Thunder

THE QUEEN & THE WEZIR
Other Names for Queen/Wezir:

German: Dame, Königin, Wesir, Fers, Firzan, Berater, General, Ratgeber (advisor)

English: Queen

Very similiar to the bishop/elephant, there are also two archetypes which have melted into this piece. In original chess variants, there were only the advisor, general or wezir/firzan, each of which had only very limited movement. These pieces could move one square diagonally in any direction. In Chinese chess, (which could have been the most original form of chess) the advisor or mandarin was not even allowed to leave the king's palace at all. This palace was a field of 3 x 3 points which could have corresponded with the forbidden city.

Astrologically this is a hint to the IC (Imum coeli) or 4th house, the "inner homeland". This king's palace corresponds to the heart of a state or an army in which the king or the leader of the army dwells. Similiar to the bishop, there is also the principle of air - but it is more concentrated and more attuned to how it could actually fit the role of advisor of the king. The advisor needs to transfer the most important advices and strategies to the king. He is no direct warrior but a "thinker" and "man of mind".

In modern warfare branches, the piece of the Wezir is the general staff or the leading level of the army.

The modern Queen, which is missing in the ancient chess variants, moves as many squares as she wants in diagonal, vertical or horizontal direction. This piece is a relatively late invention which arose in the 15th century. This invention was accepted with great enthusiasm in western chess. The success of this piece also indicated that an inner archetype was struck. The Queen is the strongest piece in chess.

In modern branches of arms this figure would symbolize the hero, or the one man fighter - the special forces command, pioneers or marines. Maybe this piece was inspired by knighthood in Medieval times.

	KING
	Suggested I-Ching Trigram: Wind/Wood

THE KING
Other names for King:

German: König, Kaiser, Schah-in-Schah (König der Könige), Imperator

English: King

The rule for king movement is almost the same in each and every chess variant - in most chess variants it is moving one square in horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction. The king is the head of the state or of the army and symbolizes the chancellor, president or the top general. If the king as the heart of the army or state is captured the opponent has won. To checkmate the king is the process of capturing or putting the king to no power at all. It could also end in killing the king.

	PAWN
	Suggested I-Ching Trigram: Water

THE PAWN
Other names for Pawn:

German: Bauer (Farmer), English: Pawn

The pawn moves one or two squares and strikes diagonally one square. If you compare this piece with modern branches of arms it is the regular soldier in the regular troops who presents the majority in the army. In the same way the pawn outnumbers all other pieces on the board.

The promotion of the pawn to another piece or to a Queen would be the army promotion in real by special deeds. The special is given by the fact that the pawn managed to get to hostile basic line without being beaten.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE MOVEMENT OF THE PIECES

Air element: diagonal movements (Bishop, Elephant, Wezir, Queen, King, Pawn)

Fire/Earth element: Vertical and horizontal movements (Rook, Queen, King)

Fire element: Jumping, long movements (Knight, Elephant, Queen, Rook)

Water/Earth element: short movements (Pawn, Wezir, King)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY - FOOTNOTES

1

 Rolf Voland: Schach – ernst und heiter, Verlag Trbüne Berlin, 1983, S.38

2

 Vgl. Andreas Bunkahle: Medizin und Astrologie, S. 509 zu den Herleitungen und Zuordnungen der Basen zu den Elementen und Quadranten

3

 Sam Sloan: The Origin of Chess, Sloan Publishers, 1985, ISBN 0-9609190-1-5

4

 Lasa: Zur Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels über Vetula von Fournival (1220)

5

 A very recommendable website for chessvariants is http://www.chessvariants.org/

See also: chessvariants pieces

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Suggestion for an "original" archetype for chess:
"Chess/Aces" or "Chaces"

If one considers the shown archetypes which could correlate well with the 8 trigrams of Chinese cosmology it would be an idea to put up a kind of original chess in which these 8 principles or pieces find their place. I tried just to take historical pieces and integrate them fully back into the game.

The following suggestion is very plausible and has proved in several trials to be a brilliant chess variant. The variant was named Chess/Aces (German: Schach/As) because it includes astrological elements (ACeS = Astrological Chess exposes Strategy) and also it proved in playing this variant that strategical planning and development are most essential to this kind of chess variant.

Furthermore it seems to be an Ace under the chess variants - so Chess/Ace or Chess/Aces. This game was invented by Andreas Bunkahle in 2005 in Leipzig.

Rules for Chess/Aces (TM) resp. Chaces (TM)
Rules for Chess/Aces as PDF