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Modern Shatranj. A bridge between modern chess and the historic game of Shatranj. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It seems more likely to me that modern Chess did not evolve from Shatranj in such a straight line of ancestry, but involved a version on a larger board. In particular, the modern Bishop appeared in the medieval game of Courier Chess, where it was called 'Courier' and CO-EXISTED with the Elephant (confusingly called 'Bishop',there) on a 12x8 board. One can thus not say that one piece evolved from the other. When the game was shrunk back to an 8x8 board, one simply dumped the Elephant at the expense of the Bishop. Likewise, one could have dumped the General for the stronger Commoner, which also existed BOTH in Courier Chess. That would simultaneously realize two of the steps you describe. The Couriers could have evolved from the 'Pickets' in Tamerlane Chess, where they also coexisted with Elephants, but which extended an Alfil not by adding the Ferz move, but adding all the MORE distant diagonal moves to it first. For clarity, this theory is not based on historic fact, but purely on common sense.