Why Chess?
The History of Chess 🏆
Course 13 · Chapter 1 · Why Chess? Scope & Sources
Chess is one of the oldest games still played in much the same form. In roughly fifteen centuries it has travelled from northern India across Persia, the Islamic world and Europe, and now across the internet. This chapter explains what the game is, the vocabulary needed to follow the story, why it makes a good subject for history, and where reliable evidence is to be found. The broad outline is checked against published surveys; details are flagged "check".
The Game in Brief
Board and pieces
Two players, an eight-by-eight board of 64 squares, and sixteen pieces each: king, queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns.
The aim
To checkmate the opposing king: to attack it so that it cannot escape. Games may also be drawn, by stalemate, repetition or agreement.
A game that changed
The rules above are the modern ones. The earliest forms had different pieces, and the powerful queen and long-ranging bishop are a later development, in Europe (Chapter 4).
The Broad Outline
| Stage (check each) | Where and when | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Chaturanga | Northern India, by about the sixth century CE; sources differ between the fifth and seventh | 2 |
| Shatranj | Persia and then the Islamic world, from the seventh century | 2 |
| Arrival in Europe | Spain and Sicily, with other routes, by about the tenth century | 3 |
| The new rules | Southern Europe, later fifteenth century: the queen and bishop gain their modern power | 4 |
| Modern chess | Clubs, tournaments, world champions, computers | 5 to 9 |
The Language of Chess
| Term (check each) | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Chaturanga | The early Indian form of the game; the name is usually explained as referring to the four divisions of an army (Chapter 2). |
| Shatranj | The Persian and Arabic form of the game, the ancestor of European chess. |
| Checkmate | A king under attack with no escape. The word is usually traced to the Persian shah mat, "the king is helpless" (check). |
| Castling | A move of king and rook together, which developed in Europe in the later Middle Ages. |
| Opening, middlegame, endgame | The three phases of a game. |
| Fork, pin | Tactics: one piece attacking two at once, or a piece held in place because moving it exposes a more valuable one. |
| Gambit | An opening in which a player offers material for an advantage in position. |
| Exchange | Trading pieces; "winning the exchange" means winning a rook for a minor piece. |
| Stalemate | No legal move, but not in check. A draw in modern rules. |
Notation, with a Small Example
To study old games we need a way of writing them down. Modern players use algebraic notation: files are the letters a to h, ranks the numbers 1 to 8, and each piece has a letter. The opening below is a standard one, the Ruy Lopez, named after a Spanish priest who wrote about chess in the sixteenth century (check).
Whether the sixteenth-century writer first analysed this opening, or merely gave it his name, is a matter on which sources differ (check).
Why a History Course?
- It is a way into the history of cultures. The game's route from India to Persia to Europe follows trade, conquest and learning (Chapters 2 and 3).
- It is a way into the history of ideas. The change in the rules around 1500 shows a society reshaping an inherited game (Chapter 4).
- It is a way into modern history. The world championship became entangled with politics (Chapters 7 and 8).
- It is a way into the history of computing. Chess was an early test for machines and is now a field where machines are far ahead (Chapter 9).
- It has produced legends. Stories of origin, of grains of rice or wheat doubled on each square, and of a hidden player inside a machine are all to be tested (Chapters 2, 9 and 10).
Myths to Test
| Common claim | The question a careful reader asks (check each) |
|---|---|
| Chess is 4,000 years old. | What is the earliest evidence that is actually of chess? (Chapter 2) |
| A king rewarded the inventor with grains doubled on every square. | What is the oldest source for the story, and is it history or a lesson? (Chapter 2) |
| The queen has always been the strongest piece. | What did the piece do before the later fifteenth century? (Chapter 4) |
| The Turk was a thinking machine. | What was inside the cabinet? (Chapter 9) |
| Chess players are all geniuses. | What do studies of strong players actually show? (Chapter 10) |
Sources to Use
- Survey histories. H. J. R. Murray's A History of Chess (1913) is the classic; later work has revised parts of it (check which).
- Museums. The Lewis chessmen of the twelfth century are in the British Museum and the National Museum of Scotland (check which pieces are on display).
- Manuscripts and early printed books. From the later Middle Ages onward, texts on the game survive (check editions).
- Federation records. FIDE, the international federation founded in 1924 (check), holds the records of the modern world championship.
- Game collections. Large databases of games let a reader replay the great matches.
Exercises
In one paragraph, describe chess to someone who has never seen it: the board, the pieces and the aim.
Write a short imagined account of a game, using at least six terms from the vocabulary table.
Pick two claims from the "Myths to Test" table and say what evidence you would look for and where.
Quick Reference
- Route: India, Persia, the Islamic world, Europe
- Names: chaturanga, shatranj, chess
- Turning point: the new rules of the later fifteenth century
- Method: describe the story, check the dates, test the legends