Andrade 1 Josh Andrade Mr.

McIntyre World History 4 March 2012 Chessay Chess is a board game involving war between two kingdoms. The purpose of the game is to defeat the other players kingdom and make their king surrender. Feudalism is a political and economic system based on land-holding and protective alliances, which emerged in Europe in the Middle Ages. The game of chess connects with the works of feudalism as confirmed by the pieces size and shape, movement, and location on the board. The size and shape of chess pieces represent the power of the social classes in feudalism. The pawns are the smallest pieces because they are the least important and relate to peasants in feudalism. The castles are bigger because they are protection for the higher-class people. The knights ride the horses as in battle. Finally, the king and queen are the biggest pieces because they are the most important in the game and in society. The movement of the chess pieces relates to their power in feudalism. The pawns also known as peasants are slow and can only move one space at a time. The castles can move up to a whole row because castles can be long and protect wealthy. The knights can move unlimited diagonally because they are more wealthy, but the horses are limited because they cant move around as easily. The queen can move unlimited in any direction because queens always gave them trouble. The king can only move one spot at a time in any direction. The kings power in feudalism was limited.

Andrade 2 Location is key to the game of chess and feudalism because it was based on social class order. The pawns are in the front because they are not essential. The castles are on the edges being as walls and protection. The horses, knights, queen, and king all build up in importance along the back line. The king and queen are next to each other as a couple and they are surrounded and have the most protection. As proven the game of chess and feudalism have many similarities. The game of chess was a good way for knights to use medieval strategy to practice for battles. The game of chess interacts with the works of feudalism as shown by the pieces size and shape, movement, and location on the board. Chess and feudalism paint a quality picture of the Middle Ages.