Chess in early literature
One of the most common ways for chess historians to trace when the board game chess entered a country is to look at the literature of that country. Although due to the names associated with chess sometimes being used for more than one game, the only certain reference to chess is often several hundred years later than uncertain earlier references. The following list contains the earliest references to chess or chess-like games.
Byzantium
a. 923 – at-Tabari's 'Kitab akhbar ar-rusul wal-muluk'''''China
79 BC – 8 BC – lifetime of Liu Xiang 劉 向, who wrote Shuo yuan, a compilation of early Confucian anecdotes: "Do you still feel like playing xiangqi and dancing?". The rules of the game are not described in this text, so the ambiguity regarding which game it refers to is unresolved. "Xiangqi", apart from being the name of the chess variant played in China, has also been the name of two other unrelated games, and there is no scholarly consensus about it being a precursor to Chaturanga.c. 900 AD – Huan Kwai Lu
Describes the rules of xiangqi.
England
c. 1180 – Alexander Neckam's 'De Natura Rerum'''''France
a. 1127 – A song of Guilhem IX Count of Poitiers and Duke of Aquitaine.Germany
c. 1070 – Ruodlieb thought to be written by a monk near Tegernsee.India
c. 500 AD – Subandhu's Vasavadattac. 625 – Banabhatta's Harsha Charitha
c. 1030 – Al-Biruni's India describes the game of chaturaji.
1148 – Kalhana's 'Rajatarangini'''''
Italy
c. 1061 or 1062 – Letter from Petrus Damiani to the Pope-elect Alexander II and the Archdeacon Hildebrand. This letter is dated by the reference to Alexander as "Pope-elect".Persia
c. 600 – Karnamak-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan.