Chess - Its Origins And Development
Rick Hendershot
Chess is one of the world's great board games. For centuries
chess players around the world have been mesmerized by its
challenges, and its great masters have been revered as
superstars of a different order -- superstars with brains.
** Origins and background of chess
Like many of our popular board games, such as checkers
(draughts) and backgammon, chess originated sometime in the
first millenium AD, somewhere along the Silk Road that ran
between Europe, Egypt, India and the Orient. Most historians
trace its origins back to northern India or Afganistan sometime
around 600 AD.
As one might expect, there is a good deal of controversy among
chess historians about both the date and place of the origin of
chess. While some place its origins in China, the most common
theory is that the version of chess we are familiar with
evolved from a game played in northern India called ashtapada.
This game used an 8x8 board (like ours), but had 4 players, and
moves were determined by the throw of dice.
As some historians point out, the unique features of ashtapada,
and its successor called chataranga, were deeply embedded in
Indian culture of the time. The fact that it was a
"four-handed" war game was consistent with the division of the
country into many kingdoms. And the use of dice to determine
moves was a reflection of the importance of Karma in Indian
religious thought.
** Evolution into modern chess
The gradual appearance of different types of Indian military
forces in the Indian board game known as chataranga --
elephants, chariots, cavalry and infantry -- was consistent
with the transition of the game from a relatively simple "race"
game to that of a war game.
In a race game players do not capture or extinguish their
opponents. If a player lands on the same square as an opponent,
the opponent would simply have to go back to the beginning and
start over.
But when the principle of capture or extinction was accepted --
where the captured opponent's piece is taken off the board --
this involves a different game concept -- a different "mind
set". And it was then just a matter of time before different
types of military forces, with different powers and values
would be introduced.
This transition from race game to war game is important. But
perhaps the most significant evolutionary step -- and the one
most difficult to explain -- was the elimination of the dice as
the means of determining moves. As Yuri Averbakh, a Russian
chess historian, points out, this was not something that would
happen "naturally" within a pure Indian context.
As he says, "To change the Indian war game into chess it was
necessary to throw away the dice. Unlike the previous stages
which were typical for the evolutional way of the game`s
development and were not contrary to the customs of the Indians
and their religious beliefs, giving up dice was a radical, a
revolutionary step forward that not only changed the game
itself but also its philosophy. In fact, that step meant the
withdrawal from the principle of Karma - the basic principle of
the Indian philosophy. Now the result depended entirely on the
players' will, on their choice. They became complete masters of
their destiny."
According to Averbakh this would not have happened without the
influence of Greece upon northern India. This influence
stretched back to Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC and
developed even further within what historians call the
Indo-Greek Kingdom. This was a large area including much of
Afganistan and northern India which was conquered by the
Greco-Bactrian kind Demetrius in 180 BC.
This kingdom lasted for about 200 years in which time the
region underwent a profound synthesis of Greek and Indian
religion, culture, languages and symbols. As Wikipedia says,
"The Indo-Greek kings seem to have achieved a level of cultural
syncretism with no equivalent in history, the consequences of
which are still felt today."
The Greek influence was felt for hundreds of years after the
demise of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. According to Averbakh it was
this Greek influence that "helpd the Indians to make the final
step for chess to appear." In particular, he mentions that
Greeks brought with them the war game petteia. Although it was
a simpler game, it had two of the features that chess would
eventually gain -- players could "kill" each other, and there
were no dice. "It was the player himself who decided where and
which pieces should move. He had complete freedom of choice."
** Chess in the Kushan Kingdom
Another writer goes even further in placing the origins of
modern chess in the Afganistan/Northern India region, but
places that development much earlier than 600 AD. Gerhard
Josten, in his article "Chess - A Living Fossil" claims that
modern chess is an amalgam of a number of different games. We
know this, Josten claims, because of its completely unique
feature of having three different types of characters:
1. A relatively immoble center piece -- the King -- the capture
of which is the object of the game.
2. A number of pieces that can make varying long moves -- moves
that cover more than one space.
3. A number of pieces that can only make short moves -- moves
that cover only one space.
Josten claims these different pieces originated in different
games, and were amalgamated in what we know as modern chess. He
claims type 1 pieces originated in Chinese games, type 2 pieces
originated in Mesopotamian divination rites -- in particular,
the Babylonian astrolabe, and type 3 pieces originated in
Indian race games.
According to Josten, chess did not spring fully developed into
existence in 600 AD but evolved over the first two or three
centuries of the first millenium -- in particular between 50 BC
and 200 AD. This development took place in a number of places --
India, China, and all along the Silk Road to Europe -- and each
of the areas would have influenced the others.
But the most likely place where it all came together was the
Kushan Empire, the eventual successor to the old Indo-Greek
Kingdom. This was the central Asian area encompassing much of
northern India, Pakistan, and Afganistan.
As we saw with the Indo-Greek Empire, this area stood at the
crossroads of Europe, India and the Orient, and was deeply
influenced by Greek culture. Most importantly, the Kushans were
cultural, religious and linguistic synergists. They took
elements from various cultures and forged these elements into
something new and different.
This, according to Josten, is exactly what happened to the game
of chess in the early centuries of the first millenium. It is
also why we have so few hard facts about this influential
period. As he says,
"Following the gradual disintegration of the Kushan Empire, the
neighbouring conquering states each claimed to be the
intellectual authors of chess, with no mention of the losers of
the battles, the Kushans.... The fall of the Kushan Empire may
thus be the main reason why so many facts have been lost and so
many unbelievable legends have arisen around the genesis of
chess..."
About The Author: Rick Hendershot publishes Linknet News --
http://www.linknet-news.com | Over 100 Chess Set Designs from
ChessBaron - Staunton based Chess Sets --
http://www.chessbaron.com | Philippine phone cards, India phone
card --
http://www.onechoicephonecard.com
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