Reformation of the UK Monarchy

@ghost-of-a-duke said
King Canute (1027) is believed to have been a chess player.

If so, it must've been shatranj, because chess hadn't turned into chess by that time; but in any case, there is none of Cnut's blood in the English royal house, or any other. His children and grandchildren all either died or went into a monastery.

@shallow-blue said
If so, it must've been shatranj, because chess hadn't turned into chess by that time; but in any case, there is none of Cnut's blood in the English royal house, or any other. His children and grandchildren all either died or went into a monastery.

The Ramsey Chronical reports of King Cnut playing chess until deep in the night and was a fervent chess player, learning to play the game during a pilgrimage to Rome. (He apparently donated a chess set to an Abbey in Winchester).

But yes, it was shatranj, the immediate precursor to chess.