The Great Silk Road from its very beginnings more than two millennia ago this most famous of all ancient trade routes has been synonymous with adventure, mystery and wonder. Even today the very name invokes time-dimmed images of robed figures and camels heavily laden with exotic trade goods plodding endlessly through a wilderness of sand and intrigue
As merchants, artisans, and missionaries travelled along the trade routes, they brought with them new products, ideas, technologies and culture. And an inseparable part of that culture was the game of chess. It is generally agreed that the game originated in one of the countries along the Great Silk Road. The most common belief is that chess originated in India, where it was called Chaturanga around the VI century AD. The Persians too are widely accepted as the creators of chess. In fact, the oldest known chess pieces have been found in archaeological sites on ancient Persian territories. Another theory claims that chess arose from the similar game of Chinese checkers. 
By ways of The Great Silk Road chess entered the Islamic world, where the names of its pieces largely kept their ancient Persian names throughout the early Islamic period. Later, the name shatranj was commonly used, and once chess had arrived in Spain at the court of the Umayyads, it was referred to as ajedrez. Later, as it spread throughout Europe, the name of the game was replaced by the Persian word Shah = "king".
Key spots of this cultural exchange were the so-called Caravansarais - large dwellings, generally surrounding a court, where a caravan could rest at night. These relay stations were constructed at intervals of a day’s journey all along the Silk Road throughout Muslim lands of the Near and Middle East and North Africa. Various game boards, such as chess and backgammon, cockfighting, arm wrestling, and other entertainments were available for traders at Caravansarais. Many were in desolate surroundings but others were at the gates of towns or within their boundaries. These structures offered facilities for the essential needs of the people and the camels of a caravan: a well for water, a place for the animals to rest, a sheltered area for the unloaded baggage, rooms for sleeping, kitchen and of course entertainment facilities, including chess. Chess was mainly a means of entertainment for travelling merchants, but surprisingly, it was also a nice source of income for some local nimble guys.
 When and where do you think the first chess "professionals" turned up? The world famous Cafe La Regence and the likes in London or Madrid spring to mind. But we will have to go further back in time, to the Caravansarai era. There is plenty of historical evidence that Caravansarais were also gambling venues. Often games were played for stakes and chess was certainly among the most popular. With Caravansarais brimming with rich merchants, they presented the ideal playground for "chess professionals", who indeed made an easy game of it. The most clever ruse and stratagems were conceived to lure a rich guest to be game for a game.
Let's imagine for a moment what it was like, life at the Caravansarai. It is evening, a caravan arrives, guests are welcome and taken to their quarters, baggage is unloaded and stored in warehouses, the camels are given feed and water, dinner is ready for guests… Now what? Of course, a merchant, eager for distractions after a long, dull ride through the deserts, will be looking for some fun. As he ambles around, admiring the architecture and the artwork of his lodging, while he listens to the nightingale sing in a bird cage or the tune of a string instrument drifting through the night, he is approached by a homely, humble man and after the usual polite exchange of formalities invited, by that same person for a game of chess. The tactic is that of a hunter and his pray.
Merchants were used to playing for small stakes with friends and companions. So the game starts, and so does the playing around. The hunter lets the victim indulge in the pleasure of winning for a while, making seemingly foolish mistakes, "blunders". This continues until our hero is in the midst of a winning streak. Throughout, the room has filled with amazed spectators and the victim is showered with compliments about his superior knowledge of chess and his smart moves. 
Now it's time to move in. Our supposed “loser” wins the next game "by sheer fool's luck" and is delighted to no end. The victim still bathes in the illusion of grandeur. He now loudly proclaims that it is his debt of honor to offer a stake! The clever mate will state with a trembling voice that by no means could he afford to match such sums, and why not keep it to the cost of, say, a dinner only? Guess who wins this one? Of course the pray. Next, the accommodation fee is at stake… a dose of cannabis for the hookah water pipe and so it goes and the stakes gradually rise, the hunter to his great chagrin loses game after game, swearing he will make up for it, and the prey gets more and more excited and daring until finally, having lost all his possessions, our hunter "takes his last chance", wagers his golden ring, his "great grandfather's only legacy" which is, not surprisingly, worth about two hundred times all the previous stakes put together. And lo and behold, luck is on his side, our merchant blunders a rook and a knight and finally, for his king, there is no escaping… while our “professional” just cannot believe his good fortune.
But since the nature of man is such as it is, our merchant still believes he has the upper hand and eagerly sets up a rematch on the very next occasion that he will be staying at that very Caravansarai and over and over again he will be a victim of that same game until he realizes what a silly child he has been!
by Jamshid Begmatov
Photos Andrea Leuenberger |
