A brief history of Chess


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A Brief History of Chess

Chess was invented, like many other things, in India. In those days, chess was played with dice. Throw of dice was used to determine which piece to move.The original name of that game and therefore of chess is Chaturanga. According to the Indian mythology, the best chess player of all is the king of Gods, Indra !

Chess then spread almost simultaneously to Arabs and Russia. By then it had assumed most of its present form. Still later, It found its way to Europe. Present day game of chess is the result of this evolution. Thus the history of the game is as interesting as the game itself.

The term checkmate comes from the arab term 'Shah mat'. 'Shah' means the king. 'mat' means loss. So 'Shah mat' means the king loses, and it is a correct description for the Checkmate, don't you think? Chess is called Shatranj in India. Chess pieces have different names too.

*Chess Piece*	*Indian Name*
Pawn	Pyada
Rook	Hathi (Means Elephant).
Bishop	Oont (Means Camel)
Knight	Ghoda (Means Horse - and now you know why the Knight is represented by a horse. It is not a knight at all, but a horse!)
Queen	Rani/Vazir. (Rani means Queen, and Vazir means the prime minister. Take your pick.)
King	Raja (means King)

Chess is one of the most complex games ever invented. It requires application of strategy and tactics together, a feat which is beyond the capability of most. It has often been accused of being a slow game, and some even find it boring. But the fact is that it is a very interesting game, and the number of variations that arise in a game does not allow you to get bored. And if you still think it is a slow game, watch Natwarlal play against itself!

It is somewhat befitting that the first world chess champion of 21st century is an Indian. Vishwanathan Anand has helped chess in india a lot, just by providing a great example. For some freeware chess programs, and links to other sites check out my chess links. There is lot of material on chess available on the Web today. I have listed Only the sites I found interesting.

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