History of Chess

 The origin of modern European chess is undecided. One theory is that it originated in 6^th century A.D. India. Ancient Indian chess is similar to European chess, with pieces resembling current ones. There is the infantry that moves one space forward, the boat that jumps two spaces diagonally, the cavalry that jumps in an “L" shape, the elephants that moved in straight lines with no distance limit, and the king that moves one space in any direction and must be protected. The biggest difference was that this version had 4 players. Each player only had one of each piece, and 4 infantry.

 The other theory is that the first chess was invented in ancient China. However, Chinese chess is very different from European chess. Pieces move along intersections of lines on a 9x10 board, the pieces are distinguished between each other by characters written on them instead of shape, there is a “river" between the two players that affect some pieces, and there is a “fortress" on each player’s side that restricts two pieces’ movement. Aside from gameplay differences, some of the pieces are very different. This has brought up whether or not Chinese chess had influence on the Indian variation.

 The Indian variation came to Europe during the Crusades, when the knights returned with the new game. It was then the game became a two-player game, and this is why there are two of all of the pieces on the back row. The names were changed to reflect life in Europe in that time, and new ones were added.

 The pawns are the laborers by the various lords of those times. They were used in deals between lords or sacrifices in battle. They often died young from the work they were put through. The rooks are the castles of the middle ages. Knights were the knights that served lords. They were more respected and skilled than pawns, but would still die defending their land. The bishops were people in the Catholic Church, which controlled many aspects of life in that time. The queen is the partner of the king, but some were recorded to hold much power.