How was chess founded?
The history of chess goes back almost 1500 years. The game originated in Northern India in the 6th century AD and spread to Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world subsequently, through the Moorish conquest of Spain, spread to Southern Europe. But in early Russia, the game came directly from the Khanates (muslim territories) to the southern places.
In Europe, the moves of the pieces changed in the 15th century. The modern game starts with these changes. So, in the second half of the 19th century, modern tournament play began. Chess clocks were first used in 1883, and the first world chess championship was held in 1886. So 3 years later The 20th century saw advances in chess theory, and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Chess engines (e.t.c. Stockfish, AlphaZero), and chess databases became important.
The history of pieces and moves are shown below:
| Original name | Modern name | Version | Original move |
|---|---|---|---|
| King | King | The world | now, didn't change. |
| Adviser | Queen | The world | One square diagonally only. |
| Horse | Knight | The world | now, didn't change. |
| Elephant | Bishop | Persia and west | two squares diagonally, but could jump over a piece between. |
| Old Indian version | two squares sideways or front- and-back. | ||
| southeast and east Asia | one square diagonally, or one square forwards. Like an elephant legs'. | ||
| Chariot | Rook | The world | now, didn't change. |
| Foot-soldier | Pawn | The world | one square forwards (not two), capturing diagonally forward; promotes to queen only. |
Facts about Chess:
1. The longest chess game theoretically possible is 5,949 moves.(Almost 5,950 moves!)
2. As late as 1561, castling was two moves. R-Kb1 then K-Kn1. But now, you only need one move!
3. The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” which means “the King is dead".
4. Ottó Bláthy [Hungarian electrical engineer] (1860-1939), credited for creating the longest chess problem--mate in 290 moves.
5. About 600,000,000 (Six hundred million) people know how to play chess worldwide! But a amount of 18,000,000 (Eighteen million) people doesn't know how to play chess.
Regards all,
Pea
