I had a nice chat at the Spring tournament with Mr Pasupalety and Mr Sequiera, both of whom grew up playing chaturanga. This is thought to be the ancestor of many types of chess played now across the world.
Chaturanga is a slow game, where the pawns can move only one square, there is no such thing as castling, and the Queen, called a Minister, is the weakest piece on the board! The Bishops (Elephants) also had a different move. When chess first came to Europe, it was in a form quite like this, and medieval chess had this same slow style.
