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Who invented Chess?

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7th May 2009, 10:05am
#1
by Avig123
Scotland United Kingdom
Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 152

Do you know who invented chess and when. I do know that chess is the oldest board game that is still played but where did chess start. 

I wonder if it was made by a king in the olden days. What do you think?

7th May 2009, 10:14am
#2
by Glaedr
Karachi Pakistan
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 219

i heard it was invented by persians

7th May 2009, 10:14am
#3
by AreYouSure
Belgium
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 77

As it is now, it's from in the Middle-Ages.

7th May 2009, 10:16am
#4
by Niven42
West Lafayette, Indiana United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 3798

The actual origins of Chess are mostly lost in antiquity.  All we know for certain is that it originated in the Indian sub-continent about 1500 years ago and spread quickly across Asia and Europe.

7th May 2009, 10:17am
#5
by bomtrown
Baltimore, MD United States
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 799

There are books on this subject. AND websites. All of the proto-chesses came together somewhere in Europe and we are playing the European version today. There is no way to tell exactly who or where or when the first chess set was invented.

 

That's my understanding.

7th May 2009, 10:35am
#6
by Ziryab
Spokane, Washington United States
Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 3623
Niven42 wrote:

The actual origins of Chess are mostly lost in antiquity.  All we know for certain is that it originated in the Indian sub-continent about 1500 years ago and spread quickly across Asia and Europe.


We don't know that for certain. It may have entered the Indian sub-continent from China. We are fairly certain that it originated in Asia.

Nor is chess the oldest board game. Parcheesi may be as old. Go is older.

7th May 2009, 10:47am
#7
by dsarkar
United States
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 9104

Here is a quote from wikipedia:

"The history of chess, specifically that of Western Chess, spans some 1500 years. The earliest predecessors of the game originated in India in the 6th century AD and spread to Persia from there. When the Arabs conquered Persia chess was taken up by the Muslim world, from where it reached Southern Europe. In Europe, the game evolved into its current form in the 15th century. In the second half of the 19th century, modern tournament play began, and the first world chess championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw great leaps forward in chess theory and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Developments in the 21st century include the employment of computers for analysis, team consultations, and online gaming."

7th May 2009, 10:47am
#8
by billwall
Palm Bay, FL United States
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 3486

It's been attributed to the Chinese, Indians (Punjab district), Persians, Arabs, Egyptians, Mongolians, Tibet monks, Russians, aliens, etc.

7th May 2009, 10:49am
#9
by jhuschstp
St. Paul United States
Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 243

Backgammon and mancala and similar games are supposedly incredibly old too. Maybe older than anything else.

7th May 2009, 10:53am
#10
by Crazychessplaya
Warsaw Poland
Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 4832

Chuck Norris.

7th May 2009, 11:04am
#11
by febrilepawn
appleton United States
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 173

senet from 3500bc egypt is pretty old too.

 

*chuck norris* ????

7th May 2009, 11:46am
#12
by GideonShakes
Jersey City United States
Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 5

The spread of chess into Europe can be seen in linguistics. Chess is schach, schaak, echecs, and scacchi in German, Dutch, French, and Italian respectively. All of which are rooted in the Persian "shah," the term for the king. These European cognates are also the root for the chess term "check."

It is interesting that these words are cognates across the four languages despite two being Germanic and two being Romance.

In Spain and Portugal the words for chess are ajedrex and xadrez. Maybe chess reached the Iberian through the Arabs coming across the Strait of Gibraltar rather than overland through Europe. 

How about in the European languages that use other alphabets like Greek and Russian? Anyone know about them?

7th May 2009, 11:53am
#13
by rich
United Kingdom
Member Since: Jul 2007
Member Points: 27854

It was first invented and played in India.

7th May 2009, 11:54am
#14
by theEgg
Portland United States
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 28

I Invented it 

7th May 2009, 11:55am
#15
by AnthonyCG
Washington DC United States
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 6628
It was invinted somewhere in India but no one knows who did it. Then we'd know why White moves first, why bishops have that cut on them, and what is the rook supposed to be.
7th May 2009, 11:59am
#16
by socket2me
Northern Colorado United States
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 1105

I believe it originated in East Asia.  Genghis Kahn made it famous in Mongolia.  The game was played diffrently from European chess, which we play today.

7th May 2009, 12:35pm
#17
by RobertKaucher
Lebanon, Ohio United States
Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 140
GideonShakes wrote:

The spread of chess into Europe can be seen in linguistics. Chess is schach, schaak, echecs, and scacchi in German, Dutch, French, and Italian respectively. All of which are rooted in the Persian "shah," the term for the king. These European cognates are also the root for the chess term "check."

It is interesting that these words are cognates across the four languages despite two being Germanic and two being Romance.

In Spain and Portugal the words for chess are ajedrex and xadrez. Maybe chess reached the Iberian through the Arabs coming across the Strait of Gibraltar rather than overland through Europe. 

How about in the European languages that use other alphabets like Greek and Russian? Anyone know about them?


 Welsh calls it Gwyddbwyll (woodwisdom) and it is Fidchell in Old Irish, Modern Irish Ficheall. These all derive from a common Celtic root. They originally refered to a different game, though. Apparently the rules were lost in antiquity, but some people have tried to revive it from what little survived.

 It is шахматы (shachmatai) in Russian, which is derived from the same root as our word "checkmate." Most of the Eropean names for the game derive from this root, which means roughly "King's Death" "Shah Mat-" and derive from Persian. Chaturanga is the Sanskrit name and if memory servers means "four members."  Refering to the pieces/pawns other than the king and his advisor (our queen): knight, archer, elephant (rook) and foot soldier. The old Persian word for chess was derived from the same root as the Sanskrit word, not surprising as they are linguistically closely related.

7th May 2009, 01:03pm
#18
by Ricardo_Morro
Bridgeport, CT United States
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 892

The cut on the bishops stems from their origin as elephant tusks representing elephants. The rook is a tower, at various times and places once represented as the little fort carried on an elephant's back or the tower on a fortified ship.

7th May 2009, 01:11pm
#19
by richie_and_oprah
Marie Byrd Land United States
Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 1861

The area of the world we now call India is where it originated.

 

Forensic athropological evidence is available that suggests this is fact.

7th May 2009, 01:16pm
#20
by ilikeflags
downton abbey England
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 11286

erik did

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