Mediaeval Chess

chess in western europe

Islam brought shatranj to Europe through Italy and Spain.

Chess may also have entered through the Byzantine Empire, though this is unlikely.

The Moorish ancestry of chess in the Iberian Peninsula is evident by considering its name, ajedrez, which evolved from the Arabic ash-shatranj, 'the chess'.

Elsewhere in Europe the name for chess was taken from the Arabic word for check, shah, the name of the shatranj king.

The old game was considered slow, particularly in the opening phase.

Consequently, many of the changes made in Europe were in tended to quicken opening play.

The Alfon so manuscript, which described chess as it was played in Spain around 1280, showed some of the new rules that were tried.

Pawns, for instance, were allowed a double step on their first move as long as a capture had not yet occurred in the game.

The mediaeval game in Spain also allowed its fers (the mediaeval queen) a leap to certain squares for its first move. 

This 'queen's leap' was used throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and was probably the first experimental move tried in Western Europe.

Different rules (assizes) were tried in different regions, but generally the mediaeval game was shatranj with the addition of assorted privileged moves.