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History of chess

Photographs of real-size resin reproductions of the 12th centuryLewis chessmen. The top rowshows king, queen, and bishop. The bottom row shows knight, rook, and pawn.The

history of chess

, specifically that of Western Chess,spans some 1500 years. The earliest predecessors of the game originated inIndiain the 6th century AD and spread to Persiafrom there. When theArabsconquered Persia chess was taken up by theMuslimworld, from where it reached SouthernEurope.In Europe, the game evolved into its current form in the 15th century. In the second half of the 19th century, modern tournamentplay began, and the firstworld chess championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw great leaps forward inchess theoryand the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Developments in the 21st centuryinclude the employment of computersfor analysis, team consultations, and online gaming.

•

[edit] Origin

The precursors of chess originated in India during theGupta empire,

[1][2][3][4]

where its early formin the 6th century was known as

chaturaṅga

, which translates as "four divisions [of themilitary]":infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively.

[5]

InSassanid Persiaaround 600 the name became

chatrang

and the rules were developed further, and players started calling"Shāh!" (Persian for "King!") when attacking the opponent's king, and "Shāh māt!" (Persian for "the king is finished") when the king was attacked and could not escape from attack; theseexclamations persisted in chess as it traveled to other lands thereafter.Map showing origin and diffusion of chess fromIndiatoAsia,Africa, andEurope, and the changes in the native names of the game in corresponding places and timeThe game was taken up by theMuslim world after theIslamic conquest of Persia,with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names; in Arabic "māt" or "māta" َتاَم means "died", "is dead". InArabic, the game becameshatranj. The Moorsof North Africarendered "shatranj" as

shaterej

which gave rise to theSpanish

acedrex

axedrez

and

ajedrez

; in Portugueseit became

xadrez

, andin Greek

zatrikion

, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian

shāh

("king"). Thus, the game came to be called

sah

inRomanian,

šah

in Slovene,

schach

inGerman,

schaken

inDutch,

shakki

in Finnish,

szachy

inPolish,

scacchi

inItalian,

šahs

in Latvian,

skak

inDanish,

escacs

inCatalan,and

échecs

inFrench (Old French

eschecs

); there are two theoriesabout why this change happened:1.From the exclamation "check" or "checkmate" as it was pronounced in various languages.

From the first chessmen known of in Western Europe (except Iberiaand Greece) being ornamental chess kings brought in as curios by Muslim traders.Chess spread directly from the Middle Eastto Russia, where chess became known as шахматы (

shakhmaty

, treated as a plural).The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe.

[6]

Introduced into theIberian

Peninsulaby theMoorsin the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th century manuscript covering shatranj and backgammon anddicenamed the

Libro de los

juegos

.Another, but less likely, theory is that chess arose from the gamexiangqi(Chinese Chess) or oneof its predecessors.

[7]

However, the game of chesshas been attributed, not to the Chinese, but totheIndiansby both PersianandArabhistorians and literary writers.

][9]

Chess spread throughout the world and many variants of the game soon began taking shape.

[10

][11]

This game was introduced to the Near East from India and became a part of the princely or courtly education of Persiannobility.

[12]

Buddhistpilgrims, Silk Roadtraders and others carried it to theFar Eastwhere it was transformed and assimilated into a game often played on theintersection of the lines of the board rather than within the squares.

[11]

Chaturanga reachedEuropethrough Persia, theByzantine empireand the expandingArabianempire.

[13]

Muslims carried chess to North Africa,Sicily, andSpainby the 10th century.

[11]

The game was developed extensively in Europe, and by the late 15th century, it had survived aseries of prohibitions andChristian Churchsanctions to almost take the shape of the moderngame.

[14]

Modern timessaw reliable reference works,

[15]

competitive chess tournaments

[16]

andexciting new variants which added to the game's popularity,

[16]

further bolstered by reliabletiming mechanisms (first introduced in 1861), effective rules

[16]

and charismatic players.

[17]

[edit] India

Krishnaand Radhaplayingchaturangaon an 8x8 Ashtāpada. The earliest precursor of modern chess is a game calledChaturanga, which flourished in India bythe 6th century, and is the earliest known game to have two essential features found in all later chess variations — different pieces having different powers (which was not the case withCheckersandGo

), and victory depending on the fate of one piece, the king of modern chess.

[11]

Other game pieces (speculatively called "chess pieces") uncovered inarchaeological findings are considered as coming from other, distantly related, board games, which may have had boards of 100 squares or more.

[11]

Chess was designed for an

ashtāpada

(Sanskritfor "having eight feet", i.e. an 8x8 squared board), which may have been used earlier for a backgammon-type race game (perhaps related to a dice-driven race game still played in south India where the track starts at the middle of a sideand spirals in to the center).

[18]

Ashtāpada, the uncheckered 8×8 board served as the main boardfor playing Chaturanga.

[19]

Other Indian boards included the 10×10

Dasapada

and the 9×9

Saturankam

[19]

Traditional Indian chessboards often have X markings on some or all of squaresa1 a4 a5 a8 d1 d4 d5 d8 e1 e4 e5 e8 h1 h4 h5 h8: these may have been "safe squares" wherecapturing was not allowed in a dice-driven backgammon-type race game played on the ashtāpada before chess was invented.

[18]

A theory started in the late 19th century, mainly from the works of Captain Hiram Cox andDuncan Forbes, that the four-handed gamechaturajiwas the original form of chaturanga.

[20]

Other scholars dispute this and say that the two-handed form was the first.

[21]

InSanskrit, "Chaturanga" literally means "having four limbs (or parts)" and in epic poetry often means "army" (the four parts are elephants, chariots, horsemen, foot soldiers).

[12]

The name camefrom a battle formation mentioned in the Indian epicMahabharata.

[11]

The game Chaturanga wasa battle simulation game

[12]

which rendered Indian military strategy of the time.

[22]

Some people formerly played chess using a diceto decide which piece to move. There was an unproven theory that chess started as this dice-chess and that the gambling and dice aspects of the game were removed because of HinduandMuslimreligious objections.

[23]

Such theoriesarose later among some Christian religious bodies in Europe, resulting in some priests trying toforbid chess as agame of chance, including forbidding the diceless version by classing it as an"evasion".

[24]

The Arab scholar Abu al- Hasan 'Alī al- Mas'ūdī detailed the use of chess as a tool for military strategy,mathematics,gamblingand even its vague association with astronomy in India and elsewhere.

[8]

Mas'ūdī notes that ivoryin India was chiefly used for the production of chess and backgammonpieces, and asserts that the game was introduced to Persia from India, along withthe book

Kelileh va Demneh

during the reign of emperor Nushirwan.

[8]

In some variants, including in its Arabic formshatranj, a win was by checkmate, or bystalemate, or by "bare king" (taking all of an opponent's pieces except the king).In some parts of India the pieces in the places of the Rook and Knight and Bishop were renamed by words meaning (in this order) Boat, Horse, Elephant, or Elephant, Horse, Camel, but keepingthe same moves.

[18]

In early chess the moves of the pieces were:

•

King: as now.

•

Queen: one square diagonally, only.

•

Bishop:

○

In the version that went into Persia: two squares diagonally (no more or less), butcould jump over a piece between

○

In a version sometimes found in India in former times: two squares sideways or front-and-back (no more or less), but could jump over a piece between.