Chess (chaturanga) is thought to have originated in India around 600 CE. The Indian game was adopted by the Persians (as shatranj) and then reached the West through the Arab conquest of Spain. Simply put, in chess, two opposing teams of white and black pieces face each other on an 8 x 8 chequered square board.
Precursors to chess originated in Gupta empire in India during 4th to 6th century . There, its early form in the 7th century CE was known as chaturaṅga (Sanskrit: चतुरङ्ग), which translates to "four divisions (of the military)": infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry.
The original chess was invented in China, right around 200 B.C., by a military commander named Hán Xin ("Hahn Sheen").
Chess first appeared in India about the 6th century CE. By the 10th century it had spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. Some regard the game chaturanga to be the precursor of modern chess because of the different piece abilities and the win condition being the capture of a singular piece (king).
But the Indologists' group has almost come to the conclusion that chess originated in Kannauj when it was the capital of Maukhari kingdom in the 6th century. The Maukhari ruler Sharva Varman had gifted the game of 'chaturanga' to his contemporary Persian ruler Khushrau-II in lieu of saltpetre (a variety of gunpowder).
Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Champion, widely considered the "father of modern chess," extensively analyzed various double king-pawn openings (beginning 1.
The history of chess goes back almost 1500 years. The game originated in northern India in the 6th century AD and spread to Persia.
Where Did Chess Originate? The earliest form of the game that's now called chess can be dated back to India in the sixth century. Like the modern game, this predecessor, called chaturanga (or catur) was played on an 8x8 grid and featured pieces generally similar to those of modern chess.
Today we know that chess originated from the Gupta Empire (600CE), of India. However many people firmly believe that chess was played by the ancient Egyptians. But, the game we think of as chess and what the Egyptians used to play are completely different.
Some claimed that it was invented in the Tang Dynasty (around 700 A.D.); then in the South Song Dynasty (around 1,200 A.D.), it evolved into the form and rules that we now are familiar with. Chinese Chess or Xiangqi is a traditional board game that has been around for thousands of years.
Muslim scholars tend to place chess, a skill-based game, in a different category from games of chance, such as dice, but frown upon it if it distracts a person from performing the five daily prayers. Placing bets under any circumstances is forbidden.
Chinese Chess is a lot harder, it is more difficult to draw, there is no stalemate, you cannot chase any piece no more than three times, there is no perpetual checks, in the endgame you can win with slightest and minimum pieces and pawns don't interlock they capture forward and when they pass the river, the pawn can ...
Differences from Western chess
The pawn's two-step initial move is absent in Indian chess; thus, the en passant capture is also absent. Normal castling with rook and king is absent. The king can make a knight's move once in a game, known as Indian castling.
In Indian Chess, the game that was played in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries in India (not to be confused with its ancestor Chaturanga), the rules allowed no castle, and double-step pawn moves were not allowed but: The king can make a knight's move once in a game, known as Indian castling.
Chess has risen in popularity in India in the last few decades primarily due to chess Grandmaster and former 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand. It is believed that chess originated from Chaturanga of ancient India. The All India Chess Federation is the governing body for chess in India.
India is one of the best and fastest developing countries in chess, for sure.
Historical accounts about chess vary as many claim that Arabs taught it to westerners through Andalusia and during the Crusades. However, it remains unclear where the game originated from as many trace its roots to India while others trace them to China.
The first documented history of the game is from the 9th century when al-'Adli wrote what is considered to be the first book about this pastime, entitled, The Book of Chess. However, the greatest chess players in early Islam were Al-Suli and his pupil al-Lajlaj who were renowned in the Abbasid court of Baghdad.
Judaism Recognized Chess in 1500
After many bans in various countries, the game of chess was finally recognized in 1500 by the Jewish religion.
The queen (♕, ♛) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. It can move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally , combining the powers of the rook and bishop. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king.
For a long time chess was a predominantly male activity and players achieved ratings by playing in all male tournaments. When women started to play they were at a much lower level and so all female tournaments started to get organised, which resulted in women achieving 'female' ratings.
It's not often that people associate Vikings with playing games. So it might surprise you to know that they played a version of chess for more than 1000 years. These chess-like games were known as Tafl games and they were once popular in medieval Scandinavia.
Chaturanga was flourishing in northwestern India by the 7th century and is regarded as the earliest precursor of modern chess because it had two key features found in all later chess variants—different pieces had different powers (unlike checkers and go), and victory was based on one piece, the king of modern chess.
Legend. Sissa, a Hindu Brahmin (in some legends from the village of Lahur), invents chess for an Indian king (named as Balhait, Shahram or Ladava in different legends, with "Taligana" sometimes named as the supposed kingdom he ruled in northern India) for educational purposes.
Among the most powerful countries in chess today is India (with an average gain of 68.99). These statistics do not reveal the reasons why players from certain countries consistently underperform, while the opposite is true in other countries.