#Chess pieces names in english update#

With the flourishing of inter-continental trade and the Arabs’ expanding expire, chess was flung into all corners of Asia and Europe. The pieces are very abstract, as Islam prohibits the production of life-like figures. Pieces of Shatranj, the Islamic version of chess that evolved from the Persian game, chatrang. Arabic sets are said to have made the game very popular, as it made the production of sets very easy. They are generally made of stones and clay instead of ivory.

Arabic pieces are abstract, but follow the general shape and size proportion of their Indian and Persian counterparts. In Moslem hands the pieces lost their detail and character as Islam forbids and takes the production of life-like figures as idolatry. Persia came to be conquered by the Muslims, who then called the game by its Arabic name, shatranj. The left piece is probably the Elephant (Pil), while the right one is the Horse (Ashva). As every chess player knows, checkmate means “Shah mat,” the Persian expression that the king is dead.Ĭhatrang ivory pieces from about 760 AD found in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Chaturangas’s Raja became the Shah, the Mantri became the Wazir, the Gajah became the Pil, the Ashva became the Asp, the Ratha became the Rokh, and the Padati became the Piadeh. Chaturanga refers to a battle formation of olden India’s army, and the game, like present-day chess, was played with six pieces of differing powers, namely: the Raja (King), the Mantri (Minister), the Gajah (War Elephant), the Ashva (Horse), the Ratha (Chariot), and the Padati (Footsoldier).Ĭhaturanga spread to Persia where it became known as chatrang, and there the pieces took different names. Scholars believe that it is a derivative of an ancient Indian game called chaturanga, which was flourishing in northern India by the 7th century.

What they once were, and how they have come to be the inspiring figures we play with today, after all, is the story of chess itself.Ĭhess did indeed start as the war game that it is. These pieces impress us in more ways than one, and whether they move us artistically or whet our longing to know more about the societies where chess took root, it is worth knowing their development over a thousand years. They hearken to an old world with all its warfare and social hierarchy, and stir the imagination of their real-life equivalents and the battles they took part in. Far from being just beautiful figures of many shapes and sizes, they are really symbols. P3TD.Chess pieces have always been very alluring, quite apart from the game itself. F.4FD P.3R this is Aljechin-Opocensky in old French notationĪnd what about Fisher-Tukmakov, Buenos Aires 1970, in old Spanish : 1. Let us be glad we have algabraïc notation all over the world, although the old English was not bad at all ( I expect some reactions now. in Dutch the Bishop is now a 'Loper', a runner, a messenger and was originally a 'Raadsheer', a councillor, a senator (letter R). K D T L S and K D V S J and perhaps somebody else now can add the correct letters according to the new countries in that region.Īnother nice thing is to know the oldfashioned term in a specific language, e.g.

The original book is dataed 1976, so gives Jugoslavian and Czechoslovak with letters resp.

Bijl I found ( to start with ) the following six Russian terms : King - Koról, Queen - Fjerz', Rook - Lad'já Bishop - Slon, Knight - Kon', Pawn - Pjéska.Īnd also important are the letters used in foreign analyses, for successively King, Queen, Rook, Bishop and Knight :īulgarian Tz D T O K Russian Kp/Kr F L C/S K Perhaps somebody can give the cyrillic letters for Bulgarian Tz and D and for Russian F and L, I dont have them in my computer ( I think).ĭanish K D T L S German K D T L S English K Q R B Kt/N French R D T F C Hungarian K V B F H Italian R D T A C Dutch K D T L P Norwegian K D T B S Polish K H W G S Portugese R D T B C Rumanian R D T N C Spanish R D T A C Swedish K D T L S Knight - skakač (meaning jumper), or konj (meaning horse) Queen - dama (meaning madame) or kraljica ( meaning queen ) Hungarian (the words in parenthesis are widely used, maybe more often than the official names)

#Chess pieces names in english update#

When somebody is posting the translation I will update this post Post the translation in your native language of the following chess terms: This should be funny and it's very simple.