Pawns: the original Sanskrit padati, or “foot soldier”, came to us via the Latin pedester to modern French pion and English pawn. In his article How Did the Chess Pieces Get Their Names?, which appeared on April 21, 2023, Frank Jacobs meticulously traces the various piece names in different languages around the world. This is reflected more or less recognizably in the piece names. It includes this map, which you can click to enlarge.Ĭhaturanga is Sanskrit for “four-limbed”, referring to the four sections of the Indian army: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. If you want to know more about the migration of the game around the world, you should read Frank Jacobs' 2017 article How Chess Went Global. And that, you will immediately recognize, is the origin of the modern term ‘checkmate’. The game was called chaturanga, and when it migrated to Persia (around 700 AD), it was called chatrang, which was derived from the players exclaiming “shāh māt!” (“the king is helpless or dead”). Still no ChessBase Account? learn more > The ultimate chess experience every day, Pla圜 welcomes 20,000 chess players from all around the world – from beginner to grandmaster.Ĭhess was invented in India during the sixth century.Memorize it easily move by move by playing against the variation trainer. Still no ChessBase Account? learn more > Learn openings the right way! Build and maintain your repertoire.Still no ChessBase Account? learn more > Real Fun against a Chess Program! Play, analyze and train online against Fritz.Top authors like Daniel King, Lawrence Trent and Rustam Kasimdzhanov Still no ChessBase Account? learn more > Thousands of hours of high class video training.Still no ChessBase Account? learn more > Sac, sac, mate! Solve tactical positions of your playing strength.Store your games, training material and opening repertoire in the cloud.

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French chess piece names