Games resembling chess have been around for at least a thousand years, but there are also board games that could be called chess’ ancestors that go back a further 500 years or so.
North-east India appears to have been the place of origin of a game called ‘caturanga’, which was played on a board with squares although they were not black and white. The name of the originator is also lost in the mists of history.
Caturanga was played by monks and the nobility in north-east India in the Sixth Century. Buddha came from Nepal a thousand years before that and it is considered that the priests took caturanga on their pilgrimages to the East. China has a game of chess called xiangqi, but it is unclear which came first.
Japan has a game called shogi, which is also played on a grid or uncheckeded squares. It appears that traders also took the game to northern Africa where the Persians took it up with passion.
The kings of Persia were known as Shahs and this became the basis of the word for chess in many European countries.
‘Shaxmati’ in Russian, had reached northern Europe by 1000 AD at the latest, but the path into the countries of Europe came from the north and the south. Vikings were playing a form of chess in Britain in the Eighth Century called ‘Taefl’ or ‘Hnefatafl’.
The game was known as ’shatranj’ in Persian and this entered Portugal and Spain with the Arab armies. However, by 1200 AD, the rules were being changed and by 1475, the game was approximately like the game we know and play today.
Chess became part of a knight’s formal education in tactics. Books and pamphlets on how to play chess began to be published in the late 15th Century.
By the 18th Century, the home of European chess had moved from Spain to France, but by the early 19th Century northern Europe was starting to figure significantly in the beginnings of European Chess Championships.
Chess clubs began to spring up all over Europe in the mid-19th Century. Britain and Ireland were beginning to figure highly in the tournaments. Individuals began buying books on chess and famous chess matches were printed so that they could be analyzed by aficionados.
Newspapers were publishing chess games and correspondence games were being played between the London and Edinburgh chess clubs in 1824. However, it took until 1851 before the first modern ‘all comers’ chess championship was staged. It was won by a German called Adolf Anderssen. Anderssen’s aggressive style became the manner of the day.
German players dominated the world chess scene until a Cuban, Capablanca, ruined it for them by holding sway as World Grand Master between 1921 and 1927. Capablanca did not lose a game for three years.
Alekhine, a Russian French player took the title from Capablanca and held it until his demise in 1946, although he lost it for two years to the Dutchman, Euwe.
No alterations to the rules of chess have been brought in for hundreds of years.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with the Gyro Helicopter S107. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Smart Toys for Kids.
