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As the origins of Chess are obscure and the game has evolved somewhat over the centuries since it was first played, we cannot know who thought up the game or who first played it.
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FranMany countries claim to have invented the chess game in some incipient form. The most commonly held view is that chess originated in India. As a matter of fact, the Arabic, Persian, Greek and Spanish words for chess, are all derived from the Sanskrit Chaturanga. The present version of chess played throughout the world is ultimately based on a version of Chaturanga that was played in India around the 6th century CE. It is also believed that the Persians created a more modern version of the game after the Indians, called Shatranj. Another theory exists that chess arose from the similar game of Xiangqi (Chinese chess), or at least a predecessor, thereof, existing in China since the 2nd century BC. Scholars who have favored this theory include Joseph Needham and David H. Li. Chess eventually spread westward to Europe and eastward as far as Japan, spawning variants as it went. One theory suggests that it migrated from India to Persia, where its terminology was translated into Persian and it name changed to chatrang. The entrance of chess into Europe, notably, is marked by a massive improvement in the powers of the queen. The oldest known texts describing chess seem to indicate a bi-directional spread from the Persian empire. From Persia it entered the Islamic world, where the names of its pieces largely remained in their Persian forms in early Islamic times. Its name became shatranj, which continued in Spanish as ajedrez and in Greek as zatrikion, but in most of Europe was replaced by versions of the Persian word shāh = "king". There is a theory that this name replacement happened because, before the game of chess came to Europe, merchants coming to Europe brought ornamental chess kings as curiosities and with them their name shāh, which Europeans mispronounced in various ways. * Checkmate: This is the English rendition of shāh māt, which is Persian for "the king is finished". * Rook: From the Persian rukh, which means "chariot", but also means "cheek" (part of the face). The piece resembles a siege tower. It is also believed that it was named after the mythical Persian bird of great power called the roc. In India, the piece is more popularly called haathi, which means "elephant". * Bishop. From the Persian pīl means "the elephant", but in Europe and the western part of the Islamic world people knew little or nothing about elephants, and the name of the chessman entered Western Europe as Latin alfinus and similar, a word with no other meaning (in Spanish, for example, it evolved to the name "alfil"). This word "alfil" is actually the Arabic for "elephant", where "al" means "the" and fil means "elephant". The Spanish word would most certainly have been taken from the Islamic provinces of Spain. The English name "bishop" is a rename inspired by the conventional shape of the piece which resembles the tusk of an elephant and the mitre of a bishop. * Queen. Persian farzīn = "vizier" became Arabic firzān, which entered western European languages as forms such as alfferza, fers, etc but was later replaced by "queen". The game spread throughout the Islamic world after the Muslim conquest of Persia. Chess eventually reached Russia via Mongolia, where it was played at the beginning of the 7th century. It was introduced into Spain by the Moors in the 10th century, and described in a famous 13th century manuscript covering chess, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos. Chess also found its way across Siberia into Alaska.
Chess is commonly believed to have originated in India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as caturaá¹…ga, which translates as "four divisions [of the military]" -- infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively.
Another theory contends that chess arose from the game xiangqi (Chinese Chess) or one of its predecessors.
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history of chess spans some 1500 years. The earliest predecessors of the game originated in
India, before the 6th century AD. From India, the game spread to
Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently spread to Southern
Europe. In Europe, chess evolved into its current form in the 15th century. In the second half of the 19th century, modern
chess tournamentplay began, and the first
world Chess Championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw great leaps forward in
chess theory and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (
FIDE). Developments in the 21st century include use of
computers for analysis, which originated in the 1970s with the first programmed chess games on the market. Online
gaming appeared in the mid 1990's.
The game Chess is one of the most complex things man has invented. It is always a wonder as to who was the first person to invent this game. Its a very old history we need to get back in order to find out who first invented and played this game.
One of the earliest forms of chess appeared in India in the 6th century B.C. This is one of the reasons why India could be said the inventor of Chess since it was mostly played in India. The game that we play today has lot of changes since the earliest form was played by 4 players. From India, the next place to be influenced was Persia or Modern day Iran. The terms Check and Checkmate was introudced by Iran and the Persians modified the game to look it much like what we play today.
By the start of 13th century Chess was widely spread and even reached Europe and became popular. It is at this period, some of the popular forms of the game such as the capability of the pawn to be promoted once reaching the furthest square and the queen being the most powerful piece, were put into place in Spain and Italy. Hence the credit of inventing Chess according to the modern form can be told to Italians and Spaniards.
Hope this helps.
The origin of chess is uncertain and remains a highly debatable topic. There are numerous legends and stories surrounding the beginning of chess.
According to one of the theories, the earliest precursor of chess originated in India around 1500 years ago. It was a war game called Chaturanga, a Sanskrit name for a battle formation mentioned in the Mahabharata. The literal meaning of Chaturanga is ‘four limbs’, it is used to refer to the four divisions of the army: Elephantry, chariotry, horsemen and infantry which advanced into modern-day chess pieces. It had two key features common to modern day chess- each piece had a different power, and the king had to be defeated to achieve victory. It was believed to be played with a die on an 8x8 squares board gradually evolving into Shatranj. It spread to Persia at the time of Islamic invasion in 6th century AD. From India through Persia, chess reached Europe during the 15th century. This is where chess evolved into its current form.
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