An Adventure in Chess

Chess is cool. Let me tell you why.........

Chess, "The Game Of Kings". The art of war. Chess is my favorite game. It is the ultimate game to me. The only one I know of where luck has nothing to do with you winning. The only way to win a game is to outplay, to out-think your opponent. It is a game that you can learn very quickly, but that takes a life-time to master. It is a game where the moves are very limited, but the possibilities are endless. It is a game that is more than 1,000 years old, but new ways to play are being discovered today. It is a game played the world over, with very few differences. It is played in coffee houses in America, Palaces in Europe and dirt floor huts the world over. A study guide for Generals, or a children's playground game?

So what is it that makes the game of chess so cool? How has a game survived and remained so popular after so many centuries?

Where did this great game come from, and where is it going? Let's take a look.

The Immortal Game

The History of Chess

Chess is believed to have originated in the 6th century in India. From a game called Caturanga. It was a military game played with Infantry, Elephants, Calvary and Chariots. The game was further developed in Persia, where they added a Shah (King) and a Vizier ( Like a Wizard).

The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe. Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th-century manuscript covering shatranj, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos. Another theory contends that chess arose from the game xiangqi (Chinese Chess) or one of its predecessors, though this has been contested.

Chess Pieces frtom the 7th century found in Uzbekistan

By the 9th century, it had migrated to Europe and Russia by Muslim traders. It began to evolve into the game we know today as chess. Around the year 1475, a "Queen" replaced the Vizier, and became the most powerful piece on the board. Modern Chess was called "Queen's Chess". The first books about chess theory also began to show up around then, as did chess clubs.

In the 1800's,the last rule changes were adopted and finalized by international agreement., and International competitions began to be played. The organizations grew and developed. International competitions became commn-place.By 1886, the first World champion was decided. Wilhelm Steinitz, from Germany was the first titled World Chess Champion.

The title of Grandmaster was awarded in 1914, and The World Chess Federation (FIDE) was created in 1924. And in 1927, Vera Menchik was crowned the First Women's World Champion.

This is the modern structure of International Chess Competitions

Wilhelm Steinitz First World Chess Champion

Chess In Pop-Culture

How many games are so popular they move into pop-culture? As far back as the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, chess was a part of the noble culture; it was used to teach war strategy and was dubbed the "King's Game"

Gentlemen are "to be meanly seene in the play at Chestes", says the overview at the beginning of Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier (1528, English 1561 by Sir Thomas Hoby), "but chess should not be a gentleman's main passion."

At the same time, chess was often used as a basis of sermons on morality. An example is Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum ('Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess'), written by an Italian Dominican monk Jacobus de Cessolis circa 1300. This book was one of the most popular of the Middle Ages. The work was translated into many other languages (first printed edition at Utrecht in 1473) and was the basis for William Caxton's The Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474), one of the first books printed in English. Different chess pieces were used as metaphors for different classes of people, and human duties were derived from the rules of the game or from visual properties of the chess pieces

To the Age of Enlightenment, chess appeared mainly for self-improvement. Benjamin Franklin, in his article "The Morals of Chess" (1750), wrote:

"The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: I. Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action [...] II. Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: - the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations [...] III. Caution, not to make our moves too hastily. "

With these or similar hopes, chess is taught to children in schools around the world today and used in armies to train minds of cadets and officers. Many schools hold chess clubs and there are many scholastic tournaments specifically for children. In addition, many countries have chess organizations that hold tournaments regularly, such as the United States Chess Federation and the National Scholastic Chess Foundation.