According to the United States Chess Federation, the game of chess started in India. Others argue that it began thousands of years before. Whatever its origin, the game has always pinned two players against each other, taking turns moving pieces and trying to capture an opponent’s king.
Identification
The game of chess is played on a square board with 64 spaces. The spaces that run horizontally are known as ranks and the spaces that run vertically are files.
There are 16 white pieces and 16 black pieces. Each color has a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two rooks and eight pawns.
The king can move one space at a time in any direction. The queen can move any number of spaces in any one direction. Bishops move only along a diagonal. Rooks move any number of spaces either along a rank or a file. Knights move a total of three spaces in an L-shaped pattern. Pawns move one space at a time along a file, except when capturing. They then move one space diagonally. When a player first moves a pawn from its starting position, he may move it two spaces.
History
There is still much debate about the origins of chess. Some scholars argue that it can be traced to 6,000 B.C. Mesopotamia because of the terra cotta statues that were found there, while others say it originated in a basic form in China around 2,000 B.C.
Generally, it is believed that modern chess got its start as the war game called “chatarung” in India in the year 600. Persian traders brought the game to Europe about 400 years later.
A paper by an Italian friar in 1474 set standards for the game, but many rules remained in flux until a century later. Philip Stamma of Syria is credited with developing the modern game by publishing work that focused on its strategy.
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Function
In the Indian game, a king was the central piece and a minister, not a queen, stood beside him. There were two elephants, two horses and eight soldiers. The elephants then moved as the rooks do now, along either a rank or file as far as desired or until contacting (capturing) another piece. The horses moved just as the knights do today, in an L-shaped pattern. They could move two spaces one way and one another, or one space one way and two another. They also were the only piece that could leap other pieces, just as they can today. Although much is not known about the rationale for movements of these pieces in those days, it is speculated that they matched their living counterparts: elephant pieces were strong and moved long distances, just as live elephants, and horses were more athletic and used for shorter distances and battles.
In Europe, the minister was not considered as necessary as it was in India, and there was much sentiment toward queens on that continent. Thus, the minister was replaced by the queen. Still, at first the queen was the weakest, not the strongest piece on the board. She could only move one space diagonally.
The bishop in European games was also much more limited, being allowed to move only two diagonal spaces. Pawns could not move two spaces on their first moves, and castling had not been created.
Modern piece movement was finally developed in Italy by the end of the 15th century. Pawns were allowed to move two spaces at first to speed up play, bishops could travel across an entire diagonal, and the queen was allowed to move in any direction. These measures were mostly meant to speed up the game, although the queen’s power reflected the strength of royalty at the time.
Modern Chess
The World Chess Federation (FIDE) is the worldwide authority for chess and oversees most of the tournaments. Many countries also have national chess associations, such as the U.S. Chess Federation.
Fun Facts
Although considered a strictly intellectual pursuit, chess has sometimes offered matches of a different sort. In Medieval times, for instance, chess games were sometimes arranged simply to give a woman and a man a chance to be alone together. And Benjamin Franklin, who in 1750 wrote an article praising the game for its brainy workout, particular loved to play against beautiful ladies.
Read more: Why Do Chess Pieces Move the Way They Do? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5367497_do-pieces-move-way-do.html#ixzz12MJM2zcw
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