Looking back: The origin of chess

November 6, 2009 | Posted by

There is much mystery and conspiracy surrounding the history of chess. There are many countries laying claim to the invention of chess, actually there are not many countries that have not claimed to be the games origin. Countries such as Egypt, china, Greece, Ireland, Uzbekistan and India have all claimed to be the home of this strategic game. When taking the evidence into consideration though it is much more likely that chess originated around the sixth century in India and was slightly altered and perfected in Persia where it then spread to Europe and eventually reached America.

Why it’s so special.

One very obvious and unusual difference between chess and other board games is the lack of a need for dice. Because there are no dice in chess it means that players must rely purely on their skill and strategy rather than the luck of the dice. There is an Indian legend that tells the story of a wise man being approached by the king and asked to make a game for him that would increase his mental power and have no elements of luck involved.

Where’s the proof?

Despite a lot of evidence being available to support the claims that India is in fact the origin of chess it is still a widely disputed topic. As with a lot of popular historic games there are many countries wanting to take claim of the games invention. The Chinese believe that their game known as Go is much better than chess; it is a much older game than chess and is considered by the masses to be more difficult to play. The Chinese are another country claiming that their country is where chess truly originated from stating that their game of Go has been around since 2,000 BC at the very least and also pointing out that just like chess the game of Go does not use any dice. There is a very likely possibility that this game may have inspired chess.

A plausible explanation.

Persia or Iran as you may be more familiar with calling it, claims that the game of chess is actually a derivative of their game of backgammon. The Persians can back up their claims with poems and other written literatures that appear to put the date of the game of chess back further than the Indian version. Although how the game came to be invented and where is still shrouded in mystery and debate, it is quite undeniable that the chess we play today which came to us from Europe was mainly from Persia but where the Persians got their inspiration from for the game is not known.
Could the game of chess really just be a little bit of all of these other board games combined into one game that uses aspects of each game? That is certainly a possibility. Unless more definitive evidence is discovered the true origin of chess may be something that we never uncover. There is no doubt though that the game of chess is a very popular one whether playing online chess or in person against other players, it is a great way to sharpen your wits and have some fun.

Categories: General Chess | Tags: chess, online chess, play chess | No Comments »