Chess is a game, played
by two players. One player plays with
the white pieces, and the other player
plays with the black pieces. Each player
has sixteen pieces in the beginning
of the game: one king, one queen, two
rooks, two bishops, two knights, and
eight pawns.
The game of chess is
thought to have originated in what is
now northern India sometime before 6OO
AD but there are unverified claims that
chess existed as early as 100 AD.
The variation familiar
to Europeans and Americans traveled
through Iran (Persia) to the main commercial
centers of Italy and Spain by about
1000 AD. A bit later, sea-faring Vikings
carried the game into Scandinavia and
Iceland. By 1100-1200 AD, the game became
known in central Europe, and was well-established
across all of Europe by 1400 AD, with
the game rules which we use today. However,
Russia's dominance of chess is recent,
dating from the communist revolution
of 1917, after which government schools
for talented chess players were established.
One variation of chess (called Shogi)
is now popular in Japan; another variation
is played in China. Many local variations
in chess rules persist even today in
isolated rural areas, for example in
India. |