~600 AD: CHESS IS BORN
The Arabic game Shatranj develops from the Indian game Chaturanga. Shatranj is the first game identifiable as chess. It was played on an 8x8 board and featured 16 pieces on each side, with similar pieces to today's chess: the soldier (pawn), the horse (knight), elephant (a weaker bishop), chariot (rook), the counsellor (a much weaker queen), and the shah (king). The game ended with checkmate, or if all of the pieces of one army except the king were captured. Shatranj was a battle taking place on a board and the first close ancestor of chess.
