👑 We are starting a new column dedicated to a pastime, game, and sport that is very popular in Russia. We are talking about chess.

👑 Chess in Russia has a history of more than a thousand years. It did not enter Ancient Rus from Europe, but directly from the East, where this game was born, via the Caspian–Volga route. This is evident, in particular, from the Russian names of the chess pieces. Thus, queen in Russian is ferz, from a Persian word meaning commander-in-chief, related to the Arabic vizier—the first minister. Rook in Russian is ladya, i.e., a boat. Bishop is slon, i.e., an elephant. These were the names of these pieces in India, and later in Persia and Arab countries. And the very Russian word shakhmaty (chess) comes from the Persian words shah and mat, meaning “the sovereign is dead” (as we know, checkmating the king is the goal of the chess game).

🤴 Chess pieces have been found in archaeological excavations in many ancient Russian towns: Kiev, Polotsk, Novgorod, and many others. Chess was especially popular in Novgorod, where pieces are found in excavations at many estates.

👑Chess found its reflection in Russian epic poetry, in byliny. The bogatyrs play chess before a battle. In one of the byliny, a woman who has disguised herself as a man—the wife of the bogatyr Stavr, who fell out of Prince Vladimir’s favor—plays chess with Vladimir and, winning, frees her husband from prison.

♟Chess, despite the church’s disapproval, which extended to chess its opposition to gambling, was loved by Russian tsars as well, including Ivan the Terrible and Boris Godunov. At that time, chess was apparently played according to the rules of shatranj. By the end of the 17th century, there was a transition to the standard European rules.

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