Chess (Shatranj) and Story of Dil-Araam

The first written reference to the game of Chess (Shatranj) occurs in a Persian work dating from about AD 600. The oldest chess problem on record dates with a very interesting story. The story concerns a king who, having lost all of his possessions in previous games to a foreign prince, only left with his favorite wife, who he calls Dil-Araam - comfort for heart or mind (from Persian words dil - heart or mind, and aram - ease, comfort). He makes a final desperate attempt to mend his fortunes and wagers his wife against everything he has lost in the previous games. However, his last game , too, goes very badly and he eventually finds himself one move away from being mated. Dil-Araam is observing the game from behind the purdah (curtain or the screen), that separates the room into men and women sections, that was the custom in those days in Persian household.

The king takes a break and goes to Dil-Araam behind the curtain. He tells her that he has to give her up as agreed if he lost this game. She proves to be a genius in Shatranj, and gives the king a hint how to win, in a very artistic and intelligent way by singing a stanza like poetry, which goes like this in Persian language: "Shaha do rukh bidayh, Dil-Araam ra madayh, peel-o-piyadah paysh kun -o- asp kisht maat" which means, "O'King, give up two rooks, don't give up Dil-Araam, advance the elephant (bishop) and pawn, and checkmate with knight." So the King sees the solution, and wins the game. The position is provided here, using modern pieces. The elephant is represented by the bishop. Remember, in those days, the elephant (Bishop) moved two squares along any diagonal, jumping any intervening piece. The other pieces left on the board had the same moves as in modern day chess.

The rules of the game, the setup, and the moves of the pieces, in those days resembled those of modern day chess, but bishop (elephant) and queen (prime minister) had different moves. The moves of all the pieces are given in the table below. No castling was allowed, and pawn (Soldier) in the 2nd rank moved only one square. Also, the initial positions of the king and prime minister were opposite those of the king and queen in modern chess, such that the kings were always on the dark square. The table below also shows the Persian names for the pieces with their moves and their modern equivalent names with their modern moves.

Name	Translation	Modern Equivalent	# of Pieces	Moves (according to old rules)	Moves (according to Modern rules)
Shah	King	King	1	One square in any direction	One square in any direction
Firzeen	Prime Minister	Queen	1	One square diagonally	Any number of unobstructed squares in any direction
Fil	Elephant	Bishop	2	Two squares diagonally; may leap intervening pieces	Any number of unobstructed squares diagonally
Faras	Horse	Knight	2	One square orthagonally, then one square diagonally; may leap intervening pieces	One square orthagonally, then one square diagonally; may leap intervening pieces
Qila	Castle	Rook	2	Orthagonally, any number of unobstructed squares	Orthagonally, any number of unobstructed squares
Baidaq	Soldier	Pawn	8	One square forward; captures one square diagonally forward; on reaching the back rank it is promoted to a Firzeen.	One or two squares forward from the second rank; one square for ward from any rank; captures one square diagonally forward; on reaching the back rank it is promoted to Queen, Rook, Knight, or Bishop.