The History of Chess. H. J. R. Murray
Kauthar. ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ he exclaimed, ‘this is not the time to play, pray arise and attend to matters of more serious moment.’ ‘Patience, my friend,’ coolly replied the caliph, ‘I see that in a few moves I shall give Kauthar checkmate.”31
Al-Ma’mūn (D. 218/833), who succeeded his brother al-Amīn in the caliphate, was equally addicted to chess, though apparently with less success. ‘Strange that I who rule the world from the Indus in the East to Andalūs in the West cannot manage 32 chessmen in a space of two cubits by two,’ is the remark that aṣ-Ṣafadī records of this caliph. Al-Yazīdī (D. 310/922) is quoted by b. Badrūn and as-Ṣuyūṭī as giving Ma’mūn’s opinion that chess was more than a game, and that to play it was an excellent training for the mind. The caliph tried to improve the game by introducing some novelties, which never took root. He also insisted on his opponent playing his best. Thus in the MS. Y we read—
Al-Ma’mūn was one day playing with a courtier who appeared to be moving negligently in order to allow the caliph to win the game. Al-Ma’mūn perceived it, and in great wrath upset the board, exclaiming, ‘You want to treat me as a child, and to practice on my understanding.’ He then addressed the onlookers: ‘Bear witness to the vow which I now make that I will never play chess with this person again.’
But if al-Ma’mūn himself was only a weak player, he yet liked to have strong players about him. On his expedition from Khurāsān to Baghdād in 204/819 he watched Rabrab,32 Jābīr al-Kūfī, and ‘Abdalghaffār al-Anṣārī play. The presence of the caliph manifestly embarrassed the players. ‘Chess and reverence,’ observed al-Ma’mūn, ‘don’t seem to agree. They ought to talk together just as they would do if they were by themselves.’ This incident is most interesting, for Jābīr and Rabrab are named in the chess MSS. as belonging to the highest class of players, that of the ‘aliyāt or grandees. These MSS. give some End-game positions that are drawn from actual games between Rabrab and Abū’n-Na‘ām, whose name follows that of Rabrab in the list of ‘alīyāt. The names are plainly in chronological order, and this age of al-Ma’mūn must have been a notable one in the history of Muslim chess, since it saw three grandees of chess living at one time.
The next caliph—still another son of Hārūn—al-Mu‘taṣim (D. 227/842), possesses a chess reputation that appears to have no real basis.33 The only certain chess fact of al-Mu‘taṣim’s caliphate is the appreciation of the function of the fīl in chess which I quote in Ch. XIII, which was pronounced by his famous vizier Muḥammad b. az-Zayyāt (ex. 233/847).
During the rule of al-Wāthiq (D. 227/842) and al-Mutawakkil (D. 232/847)34 the great master al-‘Adlī ranked alone in the highest class of players. It was only towards the end of his life that a rival appeared to dispute his position in the person of ar-Rāzī. The match took place in the presence of al-Mutawakkil, and, by defeating his older opponent, ar-Rāzī was successful in establishing his claim to be ranked among the ‘alīyāt. Both players were chess authors, but while we possess large portions of al-‘Adlī’s work in the various MSS., all that has survived of ar-Rāzī’s work is a few opinions on the End-game, a few aphorisms, and a couple of problems. Notwithstanding this neglect, aṣ-Ṣūlī considered that ar-Rāzī was the greatest of his predecessors. Of al-‘Adlī he had a poorer opinion, and much of his own chess work took the form of a criticism of al-‘Adlī’s book.
Aṭ-Ṭabarī (D. 310/923) in his K. akhbār ar-rusul wal-mulūk (ed. Goege, 1881, iii. 1671)35 describes how the caliph al-Mu‘tazz (D. 255/869) received the news of his predecessor and rival al-Musta‘īn’s defeat and death in 252/866. The caliph was seated at chess when a messenger arrived bringing the head of al-Musta‘īn. Al-Mu‘tazz paid no attention to the news until he had finished his game.36
An incident that al-Maṣ‘ūdī (op. cit., viii. 13) tells of Aḥmad b. Mudabbir, collector of taxes in Palestine under al-Muhtadī (255–6/869–70) shows that wealthy people kept good chess-players in their households. A certain b. Darraj intruded into b. Mudabbir’s house on one occasion and was discovered among the company. His host addressed him thus—
A parasite may be pardoned his intrusion upon other people’s society whereby he disturbs the charm of their intimacy and discovers their secrets, but only on the condition that he is endowed with certain talents, as a knowledge of chess or nard, or the ability to play the lute or guitar (tonbūr).
The stranger replied that he excelled in all these accomplishments, so b. Mudabbir ordered one of his pages to play the intruder at chess. The latter asked what reward he would get if he proved successful. He was promised 1,000 dirhems if he proved himself superior to all the company in his accomplishments. The money was brought and placed on the table, since the parasite said its presence would stimulate him to his best efforts. He won the game of chess and was about to take the money, when the doorkeeper, who saw a danger of punishment for his carelessness in allowing the stranger to enter, intervened, and said that he was sure another of the pages could beat the stranger at chess. This page was summoned and the stranger was beaten. He claimed a game at nard, first winning and then being beaten by a better player, and so the contest went on, the porter endeavouring to escape the consequences of his carelessness and the stranger to escape the thrashing he deserved for his impertinence.
Al-Mu‘taḍid, caliph 279/892–289/902, was also a chess-player. Al-Muṣ‘ūdī mentions (op. cit., viii. 271) that his vizier Qāsim b. ‘Obaidallāh once heard him quote a verse from b. Bassām during a game.
It was under the following caliph, al-Muktafī (289/902–295/908), that the historian Abū-Bakr Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā aṣ-Ṣūlī37 first came into note as a chess-player of consummate skill. Ar-Rāzī was already dead, and no one had taken his place, when a certain al-Māwardī made his appearance at court and announced that his skill exceeded all that ar-Rāzī had ever possessed (H, f. 13 a). The caliph took al-Māwardī into favour, and when aṣ-Ṣūlī’s extraordinary talent at chess was reported to the caliph, he was not disposed to believe it. A match was arranged between the two players and took place in the caliph’s presence. Al-Muktafī was so led away by his partiality for his favourite that he openly encouraged him during the game. At first this embarrassed and confused aṣ-Ṣūlī, but he soon recovered his nerve, and finally defeated his adversary so completely that no one could doubt but that aṣ-Ṣūlī was by far the better player. When the caliph was thus convinced, he lost all his partiality for al-Māwardī, and said to him, ‘Your rose-water (māward) has turned to urine!’
The new grandee of chess was descended from Ṣul-takīn, a Turkish prince of Jurjān, whose ancestral home was situated at the south-east corner of the Caspian Sea, on the banks of the River Atrek. Yazīd b. Al-Muhallab converted the warrior during the conquest of Khurāsān. His grandson married a sister of the poet al-Ahnaf, and a son of this marriage, Ibrāhīm b. al-‘Abbās aṣ-Ṣūlī (D. 243/857), was known as a poet of some ability. Ibrāhīm’s nephew was the chess-player, who also proved himself a ready versifier and was moreover a convivial and entertaining companion. It was to the latter qualities that he owed his position at court under al-Muktafī and his successors, al-Muqtadir38 (D. 320/932) and ar-Rāḍī (D. 329/940). To this last caliph we owe a happy reference to aṣ-Ṣūlī’s play. In his youth the chess-player had acted as his tutor, and a warm friendship seems to have arisen as a result. Al-Maṣ‘ūdī, who himself was intimate with aṣ-Ṣūlī and owed to him much of his information about the later caliphs, says (ed. cit., viii. 311: also h. Khallikān; and H, f. 13 b, where it is attributed in error to al-Muktafī):
It is related that ar-Rāḍī-billāh was once walking in his country seat at Thurayya, and called attention to a lovely garden, replete with lawns and flowers. He asked his courtiers if they had ever seen anything more beautiful. The courtiers immediately began to dilate on the wonders of the garden, to extol its beauty, and to place it above all the wonders of the world. ‘Stop,’ cried the caliph, ‘Aṣ-Ṣūlī’s skill at chess charms me more than these flowers, and more than all that you have mentioned.’
After ar-Rādī’s death, aṣ-Ṣūlī found himself out of favour, and an