Page 9 - Insights Into The Scriptures - The Jaredites

Murray states that there are many versions of chess, and many
Oriental countries have developed their own variation. I, myself, played
one of these. The main thing I remember about this game was that instead
of each piece being able to capture the king, the only piece in that game
that could was the one that would be equivalent to our pawn. The other
pieces could take everything else, but only the pawn could capture the
king. My strategy had previously always been to willingly sacrifice the
pawns for the sake of winning, but in this game, if you lost all your pawns,
you couldn’t win. And if both players lost all their pawns, the game was a
draw because the king could not be killed or captured. I admit, I lost every
game of that form of chess that I played.
This different game raised another question or idea for me. Can
only certain people kill or capture the king for it to effectively end the war?
References about war between Oriental leaders usually say that one leader
defeated the other in battle and slew him. This could mean one army won,
then the king of the winning side was given the right to slay or put into
captivity the opposing king. When Coriantumr was willing to give the
kingdom to Shiz if Shiz would spare the people, Shiz agreed as long as
Coriantumr would give himself up so Shiz himself could slay him with his
own sword (Ether 15: 4-5).
According to Nibley, the ancient battles were often a chivalric
competition between the two kings [5]. They had to be last to fall. He says
that the king would be pressed until they could not move, and as has been
previously mentioned, there appears to be a preference to capture the
opposing king instead of killing him.

The game of chess ends with the phrase, “checkmate.” When I was
young, I used to think that phrase was English, and when I said to my
opponent, “check, mate,” I tried to use my best English accent. However,
Murray says that “checkmate” comes from “shah – māt.” A shaw is a king,
and “māt” is Persian and means helpless or defeated [4]. So, the phrase is
saying to your opponent, “Your king is helpless or defeated.” It is not
saying he is to be killed.
Murray claims that the core concept of the six main variations of
chess are all the same. Even the pieces are set in the same basic pattern
with the king in the center, rooks in corners, knights next to rooks, and
bishops next to knights. All have pawns in the front, and all games end
with checkmate.

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