I. History of Chess

B. Shaturanga

• Invented around A.D. 600 in northern India

• Infantry - 4 pawns• Boatmen - a ship which could

move 2 squares diagonally but could jump over intervening pieces

• Cavalry - like a knight• Elephant - rook• Rajah - king• 4 players - 2 allied loosely against

the other 2• use of dice decided who went when

B. Shatranj

• Gambling was forbidden in India ,so they got rid of the dice and did

other changes • by 650 AD the game had reached

the Arab kingdoms– became a 2 player game– 2 Rajahs were demoted to Prime

Ministers– moves of the elephant and the

ships were swapped– resulting game was called Shatranj

B. Shatranj (continued)

• Theories on how Shatranj was brought to Europe– 1. Charlemagne & the

Empress Irene of the Byzantine court were contemplating marriage and Charlemagne was given a Shatranj set for a present (but queen had too much power) so he called the wedding off!

– 2. Knights of the Cross obtained the game from Arab lands during the Crusades (the court of Saladdin held Shatranj in high esteem)

C. Other forms of Chess

Chinese Chess or

Shiang-Chi Japanese Chess or Shogi

Sittuyin or Burmese Chess

Korean ChessCambodian Chess

D. European Chess

D. European Chess (continued)

• Chess was believed to reach Spain by the 11th century

• Chess in the form it is today appeared in Southern Europe at the end of the 15th century

D. European Chess (continued)

• Change in rules– 2 square pawn advance– capturing en passant– castling– king remained– pawns remained foot

soldiers– elephant became the bishop– chariot became the rook– queen became the most

powerful pieceHenry VIII Chess Set

E. Other Chess Sets

1

2

3

4

5

(1) American Civil War

(2) Gothic

(3) Sherlock Holmes

(4) Viking Raiders

(5) Roman