The history of chess

goes back almost 1500

years. The game
originated in northern
India in the 6th century.
It was called Chaturanga.
 A minority of historians believe the game
originated in China. Chaturanga was transformed
into the game xiangqi where the pieces are placed
on the intersection of the lines of the board rather
than within the squares. The object of the Chinese
variation is similar to chaturanga, i.e. to render
helpless the opponent's king, known as "general"
on one side and "governor" on the other. The game
of Xianqi is also unique in that the middle rank
represents a river, and is not divided into squares.
Chinese chess pieces are usually flat and resemble
those used in checkers, with pieces differentiated
by writing their names on the flat surface
Chess which appears to have been
invented in the 6th century AD.
Although this is commonly
believed, it is thought that Persians
created a more modern version of
the game after the Indians
 In Sassanid Persia around 600 the
name became Chatrang and the rules
were developed further, and players
started calling Shh! (Persian for 'King')
when threatening the opponent's king,
and Shh mt! (Persian for 'the king is
finished') when the king could not
escape from attack. These exclamations
persisted in chess as it traveled to other
lands.
The game was taken up by the Muslim
world after the Islamic conquest of
Persia, with the pieces largely retaining
their Persian names; in Arabic "mt" or
"mta" means "died", "is dead". In
Arabic, the game became Shatranj. In all
other languages, the name of the game
is derived either from shatranj or from
shah.
When the Arabs conquered Persia,
chess was taken up by the Muslim
world and subsequently, through
the Moorish conquest of Spain,
spread to Southern Europe
 Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and modern European names for chessmen

Sanskrit Persian Arabic English Spanish French

Raja (King) Shah Shah King Rey Roi

Mantri (Minister) Vazir/Vizir Wazir/Firzn Queen Reina Reine

Hasty/Gajah (elephant) Pil Al-Fil Bishop Alfil Fou

Ashva (horse) Asp Fars/Hisan Knight Caballo Cavalier

Ratha (chariot) Rukh Rukh Rook Torre Tour

Padati (footsoldier) Piadeh Baidaq Pawn Pen Pion

In Europe, the moves of the pieces
changed in the 15th century. The
modern game starts with these changes.
In the second half of the 19th century,
modern tournament play began. Chess
clocks were first used in 1883, and the
first world chess championship was held
in 1886.