ORIGIN OF CHESS
Although the game of Chess has roots not clearly known, it is believed to have originated around 400 AD. Historians say that Chess originally came from Asia. Similar games have been discovered on Egyptian sculptures and written documents almost a thousand years old have been found in and around the region. However, Chess as we know it today has undergone several changes from the draughts that we believe was its original version or something related to it.
The game traveled to the East by merchants and travelers, where it gave birth to Japanese and Chinese varieties of chess. It also moved to the West, to Persia, and eventually was overrun by the Arabs, to Arabia. It was in the Arabic countries that Chess reached its zenith where it became the pride of Kings and Caliphs.
The Arab merchants then took chess to Europe almost a thousand years ago. It became the favorite game played by the noblemen and the learned people of Spain. Cultivated in the courts of princes, it became the object of admiration and acquired poetic license. For centuries it remained a royal game reserved for the aristocratic, and accessible only to a refined taste. Later, as it moved through Italy and France, it found its home amongst even the common man.
Chess, over the years has changed in form. But in idea and essence, it has remained untouched all through the many centuries of its life. To discover this idea in chess, therefore is simple. It translates into a war between two parties - a war of extinction played according to a set of well-laid out and disciplined chess rules and chess strategies.
