Experts commonly believe that the game of chess has its origins in northwest India some time in the Gupta empire (6th century). Then, the game was known as Caturanga which is Sanskrit for the 4 divisions of the military. Infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. These 4 divisions would transform into the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook respectively.

The earliest evidence of the game was discovered in neighboring Sassanid Persia around the year 600. There, the game was known as Chatrang and revolved around 3 epic romances written in Pahlavi (Medium Persian). The game was adopted by the Muslim people after the Islamic conquest in Persia (633 to 644) and renamed Shatranj.

Later, the Spanish would associate Shatranj as Ajedrez, the Portuguese rendered it Xadrez, while the Greeks referred to it as Zatrikion; however, the remainder of Europe replaced it with the concept of the Persian Shah. In English, “shah” was a sound made in exclamation. The words are believed to have been altered to chess through Muslim traders arriving in Europe with ornamental chess pieces as curios before the game had even been introduced in Europe. Chess is known to have reached Western Europe and Russia through 3 routes with the earliest route being formed in the 9th century. In the 10th century it was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors and was cited in a a famous 13th century manuscript called Libro de los juegos which covered 3 games (dice, backgammon and Shatranj). By the start of the 11th century, the game had made its way across Europe.