Chess, the celebrated game of kings, has been a well-liked strategy game for about the past 1,400 years. It's still immensely popular, and a fairly sizable tournament industry has been built up to support it. There's a chance that even you play it. But, would you like to satisfy your curiosity about where did Chess originate?
The game's birthplace was in India, right around the year 600 A. D. The Indians called it "Chatarung", which makes reference to the divisions of India's military. These four divisions were the infantry, the cavalry, the elephantry, and the chariotry. These pieces that represented these divisions eventually became the pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. This was the first known board game to have had distinct playing pieces, each with different abilities. It's also the first known board game to have had its outcome determined by the fate of just one piece. The modern version of chess retains both of these two characteristics. Even though there was a King, there wasn't a Queen. Rather, the piece beside the King was known as the "Advisor". The playing board was quite ingeniously engineered, based on sound mathematical principles.
Then, around the year 1000 A. D., it got spread to Persia, where it became an integral part of the education curriculum for Persian nobles. It then spread across Europe via Persian traders. By about the middle of the twelfth century, carved game pieces represented Kings, Queens, Bishops, Rooks and "Men at Arms".
In its modern form, a game can take several hours to complete. But in its original form, it could take even longer. At that time, the Queen and the Bishop were much weaker than they are now, which made it much slower for a player to develop his pieces and to checkmate the enemy King. During the medieval era, players would often speed things up by setting up "mid-game" positions on the board, and starting play from there.
At about the end of the 1400s, the rules of the game went through a radical makeover. The Queen, who used to be the weakest player, became the most powerful. The Bishop was made more powerful by allowing it to have a longer range. The game could now be played much faster, and the idea of starting the game in "mid-position" was no longer necessary. More exciting checkmates could now be possible.
It's not known who created the new, revised rules, or if it may have been a group that created them. Whatever the case, though, these revised rules became standardized at some time during the sixteenth century. A faster pace allowed the game to be much better suited for organized matches, and the revised rules made it much easier to author books about chess strategy.
Now, Chess is quite the international sensation. Organized matches are held at all levels, from the local to the international. Matches are closely followed by fans, and the winner could take home a big jackpot. More than one big-name international player has become a celebrity, nearly achieving the notoriety of some rock stars.
There are currently many books, clubs, magazines, and shops that are specifically for the "game of kings". And, it can be a great hobby, especially if you need to develop critical thinking skills. Invest just a bit of time in Google searching, and you'll find many resources that will help you answer the query, "Where did Chess originate?"
The game's birthplace was in India, right around the year 600 A. D. The Indians called it "Chatarung", which makes reference to the divisions of India's military. These four divisions were the infantry, the cavalry, the elephantry, and the chariotry. These pieces that represented these divisions eventually became the pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. This was the first known board game to have had distinct playing pieces, each with different abilities. It's also the first known board game to have had its outcome determined by the fate of just one piece. The modern version of chess retains both of these two characteristics. Even though there was a King, there wasn't a Queen. Rather, the piece beside the King was known as the "Advisor". The playing board was quite ingeniously engineered, based on sound mathematical principles.
Then, around the year 1000 A. D., it got spread to Persia, where it became an integral part of the education curriculum for Persian nobles. It then spread across Europe via Persian traders. By about the middle of the twelfth century, carved game pieces represented Kings, Queens, Bishops, Rooks and "Men at Arms".
In its modern form, a game can take several hours to complete. But in its original form, it could take even longer. At that time, the Queen and the Bishop were much weaker than they are now, which made it much slower for a player to develop his pieces and to checkmate the enemy King. During the medieval era, players would often speed things up by setting up "mid-game" positions on the board, and starting play from there.
At about the end of the 1400s, the rules of the game went through a radical makeover. The Queen, who used to be the weakest player, became the most powerful. The Bishop was made more powerful by allowing it to have a longer range. The game could now be played much faster, and the idea of starting the game in "mid-position" was no longer necessary. More exciting checkmates could now be possible.
It's not known who created the new, revised rules, or if it may have been a group that created them. Whatever the case, though, these revised rules became standardized at some time during the sixteenth century. A faster pace allowed the game to be much better suited for organized matches, and the revised rules made it much easier to author books about chess strategy.
Now, Chess is quite the international sensation. Organized matches are held at all levels, from the local to the international. Matches are closely followed by fans, and the winner could take home a big jackpot. More than one big-name international player has become a celebrity, nearly achieving the notoriety of some rock stars.
There are currently many books, clubs, magazines, and shops that are specifically for the "game of kings". And, it can be a great hobby, especially if you need to develop critical thinking skills. Invest just a bit of time in Google searching, and you'll find many resources that will help you answer the query, "Where did Chess originate?"
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