Al-Adli

Al-Adli al-Rumi (Arabic: العدلي الرومي), was an Arab player and theoretician of Shatranj, an ancient form of chess from Persia. Originally from Anatolia,[1] he authored one of the first treatises on Shatranj in 842, called Kitab ash-shatranj[2] ('Book of Chess').

He was recognized as the best Shatranj player in the 9th century[3] during the reign of al-Wathiq until his loss to al-Razi, just before[4] or early into[5] the reign of al-Mutawakkil.

In his treatise al-Adli compiled the ideas of his predecessors on Shatranj. The book was lost but the problems he discussed survived in the works of successors.[4] Mansūbāt were end game scenarios, where victory was obtained either by checkmate or stalemate, or by baring the opposing king.[6]

From his work came a variant[7] of the Dilaram problem,[8] attributed to al-Suli[9][10] and called Dilaram checkmate. In a manuscript from the early 15th century, a similar problem was accompanied by the story of a figure named Dilaram, who was the favourite slave of a certain chess player reduced to a desperate position in a match.[11][12]

  1. ^ Péchiné, Jean-Michel (November 1997). Roi des jeux, jeu des rois, Les échecs (in French). Découvertes Gallimard. p. 30.
  2. ^ Murray 1913, p. 169.
  3. ^ Golombek, Harry (1981). The Penguin Encyclopedia of Chess. Penguin. p. 11.
  4. ^ a b Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 408.
  5. ^ Murray 1913, p. 170.
  6. ^ Le Lionnais & Maget 1967, pp. 182, 236.
  7. ^ Murray 1913, p. 318.
  8. ^ Giffard & Biénabe 2009, p. 789.
  9. ^ Murray 1913, p. 311.
  10. ^ Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 109.
  11. ^ Giffard & Biénabe 2009, p. 336.
  12. ^ Le Lionnais & Maget 1967, p. 116.