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Ethopian Chess

 

Introducing Senterej - The Ancient Ethiopian Chess Game 

Ethiopian Chess

This page is prompted by the article written by Richard Parnkhust in the May-June issue of Ethiopian Review Magazine.   According to Pankhrust, the Ethiopian Chess was played for many hundred years.   Qerquis, people who played the game, were condemed by the then legal code, Fetha Negest.   He made references such as Aleka Taye’s dictionary, a record by Alessandron Zorizi who met an Ethiopian Monk Aba Thomas in Venice, who told him that Emperor Lebna Dingel Played Chess at the royal court in Shoa with a Venetian artist Hieronimo Biccini.   In the second half of the centuary an Ethiopian Chronicle states that the Great Ruler of Tigray Ras Michael Sehul played Senterej, according to his custom at the time of the battle of Fageta in 1769.    Here are some important notes about the game.  

Our future plan is to do a historical research of the game, develop it and reintroduce it back to the children of Ethiopia.   Please send comments and additional information

Also check Some details on the game here.  From our search under chess variants, we found that Senterej is very similar to shantranj.   It seems Ethiopians have been playing the game from very early on.  For details please check this site.   Here is a summary of the description of the game by R. Pankhurst who worked on the history of Senterej, which appeared on the ‘Journal of Ethiopian Studies’, in 1971. 

The game has been played in Ethiopia for at least half a millennium.   It was played for many hundreds of years.   The Game was played with pieces of differing colors.  When you have the chance to take your adversary’s piece you strike it with great force from the place you play with much noise.  Every family member participates around and has a voice in the game and can seize pieces at pleasure to show any advisable move. 

A large chessboard all the squares of which were red in color separated only by a small blue band.   The Ethiopian board consisted of 8 x 8 squares.  Chess pieces were coarsely made of ivory, very large and clumsy or made of horn and delicately fashioned.  

Amharic Names for Chess Pieces

Negus analogous to king. 
Ferz- played in some ways the role of the queen. 
Fit equivalentt to bishop. 
Der equivalent to castle. 
Ferese equivalent to knight. 
Medeq equivalent to Pawn. 

 

Amharic game terms

Sera means he made.   Gedele means he killed or eliminated for capturing a piece.   Mot means death.   But Checkmate comes from the Persian words Shah (king) Mot (dead) or the king is dead. 

Place pieces on chessboard in more or less the same position as Chess.   On each corner of the board sits the castle (Der) which can move horizontally or vertically to any distance.  

Ferese (Knight) Ferese sits next “to the castles” on the board moving inward- moves a straight and a slant, can jump over any intermediate piece. 

Fil also known as Saba or man next to the horse, can move diagonally but only three squares and could jump over an intermediary square. 

Negus (king) is placed in one of the two central squares.  It is powerful.   Always place this piece in the square on the players right.   Negus moves one square at a time in any direction and its capture results in the end of the game.  

Ferz is the king’s companion is a male Councillor can move diagonally one square at a time.  

Medeq (pawns) are placed in a row in front of the other pieces.   Move one step forwards at a time only.  A Medeq reaching the opponents first square could be replaced by any of its player’s pieces, which had by then been captured.  

Werera phase (Mobilization phase): players move as they wish as fast or slowly as they like without waiting for their opponent to move.   The king can move two squares to the right and the nearer castle can be moved or shifted to the immediately adjacent square (probably equivalent to castling).  Werera ends until after the first capture.  The players move alternatively as in the modern western game. 

Sentereje is based on a combination of observation, prudence, strategies and surprises.   It is a way of testing and trying the spirit of the players.   The best was to win to achieve checkmate with only two bishops or with a queen and a pawn.  

Chess Links

·         Historic Chess Variants

·         The Chess Variant Pages: Index

·         Exite Chess Search

·         Steve Pribut's Chess Page

·         Michael Niermann's Chess Tournament Calendar

·         Shogi - Japanese Chess

·         tkChess

 

 

 

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