HISTORY OF CHESS

According to the archaeological evidence, board games have been known to the people since 4000 –3000 BC. Most of them were dice-driven races of pieces (chips) around the board or those modelling the combat where pieced destroyed each other. Ancient India in the 600s AD gave life to the game called Chaturanga, which required rational thinking, but where the moves of pieces were determined by dice. It is believed that namely this game was a direct ancestor of modern chess. Initially, this game involved four players that played a pair against another pair. Later their number reduced to two and the role of the second master of the pair transferred to firzan (the Persian for councillor, minister). Perhaps, this was the reason why the first master acquired a more important role of the king, whose death came to mean the loss of the game. As the religious consciousness of human progressed leading to allowing deities and gods a lesser role on the human affairs, dice were eliminated. Scientific approach, which we ought to use seeking the origins of chess, denies a single inventor of chess. A famous legend of a wheat (corn, in some versions) grain may well be related to many other board games. Brought to the ancient Iran, the game transformed in many ways. Ratha (military chariot) was not known there, so it was replaced by rukh, a mythic bird of fate or luck, a divine protector of the army, that can join the battle and help win. It became possible for the pawn to become a queen. This new game received a new name, shatrang, later called shatranj in the Arabic-speaking cultures. At the same time the game comes to China, perhaps with the Buddhist scholars travelling as missionaries. From there, the game reached Korea and Japan where it was transformed to the local realities and became known as shogi. After the Arabic conquest, in order to avoid conflict with Islam, prohibiting depicting living beings, pieces acquired an abstract form which was easy to copy by clay and did not require a skillful craftsman to be made. As many authors note, this greatly contributed to the spread of shatranj from the homes of nobility to common marketplaces and hovels of the lower classes. Russia has borrowed chess most probably from the Caucasus, Khorazm and the Khazars, then inhabitants the lower Volga region. There were several ways for shatranj to have been brought to Europe: Islamic conquest of Spain and Sicily, established trade routes through the Byzantine Empire and southern Russian principalities. The first written evidence is the so-called “Catalan Legacy” (1010) but definitely the game was known before that. This was proven by the archaeological excavations at Il de Trois island near the sea cost of Bretagne. Roman catholic church prohibited chess claiming its “gambling nature”, however unsuccessful, and the ban was abolished in 1400. Some medieval orders also tried to prohibit chess, King Luis IX, for instance, in 1254 issued the law that stipulated punishment for playing chess in France. In the 11-12th centuries chess nevertheless was a fine entertainment of the nobility and was included into education requirements for knights. In Europe like it happened in the other countries chess underwent some changes. First of all, the board became bi-colored (11th century), the abstractly shaped Arabic pieces began to obtain more pictorial forms. Firzan became Queen, for her role was more understandable for Europeans. Alfin was replaced by the bishop. Pawn was allowed promotion into the pieces other than queen. The latter, naturally, had a great impact on the endgame knowledge collected over the centuries: much of what was known became useless. In the second half of 15th century a significant reform of chess took place. Bishop and especially queen became stronger, having received larger freedom of maneuver. The pawn’s two-square move from the initial position acquired a uniform acceptance. Fast pace, at which the reformed chess of that period spread over the Mediterranean countries proves the fact that the chess “traveled” mostly by the sea routes. The reform of chess was taken in about the same time with the invention of printing, which greatly contributed to the spread of chess knowledge. In the 16th century new chess had completely pushed the old off the stage. History knows only of one place, a German village Ströbeck, where the old variation of chess was still practiced. As the interest to chess shifted from the upper to middle classes in the second part of 18th century, chess clubs in the cities became popular attracting the growing number of chess fans and organizing informal tournaments. The most famous was Café de la Regence in Paris. However, the players were limited to their hometowns, making seldom visits to “friendly” clubs in other cities. Though the first international matches between the individual players, were played earlier, the first international chess tournament took place in London in 1851. A great wave of interest to chess was risen by Morphy who came to Europe in 1858 and defeated some leading players of the time in a few months. The first official competition for the world title was held in the USA in 1886 and was won by Steinitz. The first world chess events gave birth to the idea of an international organization uniting the chess players and coordinating the chess activities around the world. But for various reasons it was only in 1925, when the creation of such organization became possible. FIDE, a French acronym for World Chess Federation, was founded in Paris.The number of tournaments played around the world is constantly growing. These days FIDE registered over 10000 official tournaments. Women’s tournaments are played separately from those of men but now, some women compete on the same level with men. Apart from the individual chess tournaments, FIDE regularly organizes the chess Olympiads, the World Cup, Grand Prix and a great number of World Championships.