Shatranj

In 1976, the famous grandmaster and rarity enthusiast David Bronstein returned home with a unique trophy: an unusual chess set in a box inlaid with mother of pearl. The pieces are so abstract that none can be identified without hints. All were made using the technique of medieval Persian chess — shatranj, as they called the game in the Arab East. Since Islam forbade the depiction of human figures and animals, we can only guess their identities: a symbolic elongated horse muzzle on the second piece from the edge; slightly protruding elephant tusks on the next piece. The king is depicted as the royal throne, while the queen (“vizier” or “prime minister” in the East) is also a throne but a less lavish one. The edge piece is a mysterious creature, the Roc, a mighty and formidable mythic bird. Europeans later saw the silhouette of a fortress wall merlon (the rook) in its shape. The heyday of shatranj in the East began in the 10th–11th centuries, when the first recognized masters, like Al-Suli, made history. The celebrated poet Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) even described life through chess:'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays.