History of Chess by H. J. R. Murray is widely regarded as the most authoritative and most comprehensive history of the game. Murray's aim is threefold: to present as complete a record as is possible of the varieties of chess that exist or have existed in different parts of the world, to investigate the ultimate origin of these games and the circumstances of the invention of chess, and to trace the development of the modern European game from the first appearance of its ancestor, the Indian chaturanga, in the beginning of the 7th century. The first part of the book describes the history of the Asiatic varieties of chess, the Arabic and Persian literature on chess, and the theory and practice of the game of shatranj. The second part is concerned with chess in Europe in the Middle Ages, its role in literature and in the moralities, and with medieval chess problems, leading up to the beginning of modern chess and the history of the modern game through to the 19th century.
