History & Lessons
As I mentioned is a previous blog, I recently started a chess club at work. My first challenge was to give a talk at the first meeting that would be instructive to beginners and and interesting to the rest. I chose to lecture on the history of chess. Following the game form it's origins in China/India, through Persia.... along with the history of the moves.
I consider this my greatest chess brilliancy. Consequently, the newbies know how all the pieces move, and no one is sleeping. Fortunately for me, few know when Elephants became bishops, when Queens became powerful, or when (or by whom) casteling & en passant were invented.
One problem is that the origins of chess are somewhat nebulous, so I had to preface my talk with a disclaimer. 
"This history is not actual history in the sense that it contains little or no continuity from one event to another, includes copious poetic licence, or was written or censored by any governments or agencies of a govenrment both victorious and influential in any violent act of real estate acquisition. No lessons should be learned, transcribed, or reproduced without the express written consent of myself, Ruy Lopez, Dewy Cheatum & Howe law associates, and the National Football League."
Recently I found the article linked below. If I found this earlier, my disclaimer could have been truncated.
If you are interested in talking about chess history in your own chess club, or are just independently interested in chess history, this makes a great read (and there is swell background music):
