When did chess appear in the world. Chess and its history. Chess in Southeast Asia

birthplace of chess

. “Do not count diamonds in stone caves” - the country from which the guest arrived.

Where is Uttar Pradesh

Ancient state in Asia

Unfulfilled dream of Columbus

Home of the sparkler

The country where the tramp from the famous movie lived

The country, which, according to the old man Hottabych, is located "on the very edge of the earth's disk" and is inhabited by "gold-bearing ants the size of a dog"

Elephant Tea

Where did Afanasy Nikitin go across the three seas?

Which state has the "in" domain?

In which country did vegetarians originate?

Home country of actress Vivien Leigh

What country did Arabic numerals come from?

It was in this far from fictional country, according to Volka Kostylkov, that ants almost the size of a dog lived.

The largest number of films per year is released in this country

tea country

In which country is the cow considered a sacred animal?

Which Asian country has Delhi as its capital?

What country was Columbus looking for?

Columbus wanted to get into this country, but missed

A country in Asia with a lot of elephants

The country where Columbus wanted to go, but never managed to

The country, the purpose of the journey of the merchant Afanasy Nikitin

Where did the game of bridge first originate?

According to the old man Hottabych, this country is located on the very edge of the globe

Country with its own ocean

Birthplace of the Kama Sutra

The country that Columbus was looking for

State in Asia

Homeland of the Raja

The birthplace of yoga

Country where cows are revered

A country where rupees are in circulation

Country, birthplace of the bridge

A country full of yogis and fakirs

Country of fakirs and dervishes

Asian power

The country that "gave" the world a guru

Rome is Italy, but Delhi?

Riga is Latvia, and Delhi?

China's southern neighbor

Close to China and Sri Lanka

Land of elephants and saris

Hindu country

The object of the search for Christopher Columbus

A country where cows are sacred

Pakistan's eastern neighbor

Close to Nepal and China

Indira Country and Rajiv Gandhi

Between China and Sri Lanka

A country where cows are idolized

The land of saris and Kamasutra

In which country are cows sacred?

Land of tea and elephants

Country of ladies with a mark on the forehead

Country in South Asia

Bangladesh's western neighbor

Which country until 1896 was known as the only supplier of diamonds in the world?

The area surrounding Delhi

Lady cow country

The address that Columbus got wrong

Country with the city of Delhi at the head

Country of Yogis

Its capital is Delhi

A country full of sarin ladies

Lilac variety

The land of women dressed in saris

The area around Delhi

A country where ladies wear saris

Close to Pakistan

The second most populous country in South Asia

State in Asia

The erroneous name given to the American continent by Columbus in the 15th century.

Almost every nation has preserved many legends and fairy tales about such a subject as chess. It is now impossible to establish the history of its origin in its original version. It's not even really a game. This is philosophy. Not a single scientist has found its origins, although careful research on this issue has been carried out for several centuries. It is believed that it was the ancient Indians who invented chess. The history of their appearance in Russia speaks of Persian roots: - the death of the ruler, this is how these two words are translated from Persian. Scientists argue not only about this. Even the time of occurrence of the game more or less precisely cannot be established. The most common opinion is that chess was born in the first century AD in North India. The history of its origin is drawn only from legends, since this game is the prototype of wars and battles.

Back to the origins

Of course, chess is a bloodless war, but a war that consists entirely of the ability to defeat the enemy with intelligence, cunning, and foresight. The rulers of ancient states devoted a lot of time to such useful pastime like a game of chess. The history of its origin suggests that there were cases when the rulers of two warring clans resolved their disputes at the chessboard, thus not causing harm to any person from their troops.

Researchers show the world a brief history of chess, which talks about even more ancient game"Chuturanga", from which "Chaturaja" gradually formed - already with sixty-four cells on the board. The figures, however, were located differently - in the corners, and not along the front. Excavations show that it was in the first century that this game spread, and therefore it is called the birth of chess.

legends

And what beautiful legends were made about chess! Short story, but very instructive, about how one smart peasant sold this game to his king, an example of this. Somewhere it is told about a king, somewhere about a rajah, somewhere about a khan, somewhere about wheat, and somewhere about rice, but the essence always remains the same. Apparently, the legendary peasant devoted more time to studying chess than to farming, because in return he simply asked for wheat grains according to the number of cells on the board, but in geometric progression: the first cell is a grain, the second is two, the third is four, and so on.

It seemed to the king that the peasant was not asking much for such an excellent game. But despite the fact that there are only 64 cells on chessboard, so many grains in the bins of the king was not found, the grain of the whole world would not be enough. The king was amazed at the mind of the peasant and gave him all his harvest. But he now had a game of chess. The history of this intellectual fun has been lost for centuries, but a huge number of interesting legends have been preserved about their development.

Infinity

Just as it is impossible to collect grain to the sixty-fourth degree, even if you empty all the barns of the world, it is also impossible to play all possible games on a chessboard, even if you have not left it for a minute since the creation of the world. The history of the creation of chess, this ancient intellectual game, despite its "venerable age", is also constantly updated with new wonderful information. It was, is and will remain the most widespread and world-favorite board game. It has everything - sports, science, and art. And its educational value is enormous: the history of the development of chess contains many examples of personal development with the help of this game. And yet a person achieves success by perseverance, gets the logic of thinking, the ability to concentrate, plan actions, and predict the course of thought of his opponent.

It is not for nothing that the history of chess is so interesting for children. Scientists, psychologists and educators study personality traits by observing children who prefer fun. Even the capabilities of the computer were tested through this game, when tasks of the enumeration type were solved - choosing the best of all options. It must be said that each country has taken root its own name for chess. In Russia - with Persian roots - "chess", in France they are called "eshek", in Germany - "shah", in Spain - "ahedress", in England - "chess". All the more different is the history of chess in the world. Let's try to take a closer look at individual countries where this game appeared earlier than others.

Indians or Arabs?

In the sixth century, Chaturanga was already widely played in the northwestern provinces of India. And it's still quite a little like a game of chess, since there were fundamental differences. The move was made according to the result of the thrown, not two, but four people played, and in each corner of the board stood: a rook, an bishop, a knight, a king and four pawns. The queen was absent, and the pieces present had much fewer opportunities in battle than the modern rook, knight and bishop. To win, it was necessary to completely destroy the enemy troops.

Then, or a century later, the Arabs began to play this game, and innovations immediately appeared in it. The book "History of Chess" (handbook) describes that it was then that there were only two players, and each had two sets of troops. In the same period, one of the kings became a queen, but he could only move diagonally. Bones were also abolished, each player made a move strictly in turn. And now, to win, it was not necessary to destroy the enemy to the root. It was enough stalemate or mat.

The Arabs called this game shatranj, and the Persians called it shatrang. It was the Tajiks who gave them their present name. The Persians were the first to mention shatranj in their fiction("Karnamuk", 600s). In 819 the first chess tournament by Caliph Khorasan al-Ma'mun. The three most powerful players of that time tested their own and the enemy's strengths. And in 847, the first book about this game appeared, the author - Al-Alli. That is why researchers argue about the history of the origin of chess and about the homeland, and about the time of their occurrence.

In Russia and in Europe

How this game came to us, the history of the game of chess is silent. But it is known when it happened. In the 820s, the Arabic shatranj with the Tajik name "chess" was described in the monuments that have survived to this day. Which way they came, it is now difficult to establish. There were two such roads. Either through the Caucasus Mountains directly from Persia, passing through the Khazar Khaganate, or through Khorezm from Central Asia.

The name quickly turned into "chess", and the "names" of the pieces did not undergo major changes, since they remained similar both in meaning and in consonance with Central Asian or Arabic. However, the history of the development of chess grew with modern rules of the game only when Europeans began to play it. The changes came to Russia with great delay, nevertheless, the old Russian chess was also gradually modernized.

In the VIII and IX centuries there were constant wars in Spain, which the Arabs tried to conquer with varying success. In addition to spears and arrows, they also brought their culture here. Thus, shatranj was carried away at the Spanish court, and after a short time the game conquered Portugal, Italy, and France. By the 2nd century, Europeans were playing it everywhere - in all countries, even in the Scandinavian ones. It was in Europe that the rules were especially strongly transformed, as a result, by the fifteenth century, turning the Arab shatranj into a game that is known to everyone today.

For some time, the changes were not coordinated, and therefore, for two or three centuries, each country played its own parties. Sometimes the rules were pretty bizarre. For example, in Italy, a pawn that reached the last rank could only be promoted to the piece that had already been removed from the board. Until the appearance of a piece captured by the opponent, it remained an ordinary pawn. But even then in Italy castling existed both in the presence of a piece between the king and the rook, and in the case of a “beaten” square. Books and reference books about chess were published. Even a poem was dedicated to this game (Ezra, 1160). In 1283, a treatise on chess by Alphonse the Tenth the Wise appeared, which describes both the obsolete shatranj and the new European rules.

Books

The game is very widespread modern world, so much so that almost every second child says: "Chess is my friends!". Almost every one of them knows the history of the emergence of chess, since there are many wonderful books: fascinating ones for children, serious ones for adults.

All famous chess players have their own library of favorite works about this game. And everyone has a different list! Much more fiction has been written about chess than about all other sports combined! There are fans who have collected more than seven thousand books on the subject of the game in their own library, and this is not all that has been published.

For example, Yasser Seirawan, a grandmaster, four-time world champion, who has written many excellent books about his favorite game, including textbooks, literally "under his pillow" keeps the books of Mikhail Tal, David Bronstein, Alexander Alekhin, Paul Keres, Lev Polugaevsky. And each of these numerous works leads him, when re-reading, into "continuous admiration." And the international master and researcher of the history of the emergence of chess (he also wrote books about it for children), John Donaldson loves the book by Grigory Piatigorsky and Isaac Kazhen. Professor Anthony Sadie is a legend chess game, he managed to collect a huge chess library and write several books himself, each of which became a desktop for all fans of this game in the world. And for some reason he reads most often Russians, but on the same topic: Nabokov ("Luzhin's Defense") and Alekhine ("My best games").

Chess theory

Systematic theory began to develop in the sixteenth century, when the basic rules were already universally accepted. A full textbook of chess first appeared in 1561 (by Ruy Lopez), where all the stages distinguished and now were already considered - endgame, middlegame, opening. The most interesting type was also described there - the gambit (the development of an advantage due to the sacrifice of a piece). Philidor's work, published in the eighteenth century, is of great importance for chess theory. In it, the author revised the views of the Italian masters, who considered a massive attack on the king to be the best style and for whom pawns were auxiliary material.

After the appearance of this book, the positional style of playing chess began to really develop, when the attack ceases to be reckless, and a strong and stable position is built systematically. Strikes are precisely calculated and directed to the weakest positions. For Philidor, pawns have become the "soul of chess", and defeat or victory depends on them. His tactics of promoting the chain of "weak figures" survived the ages. Why, it has become the basis of chess theory. Philidor's book went through forty-two editions. But still, Persians and Arabs wrote about chess much earlier. These are the works of Omar Khayyam, Nizami, Saadi, thanks to which this game has ceased to be perceived as a war. Many treatises were written, peoples composed epics, where they associated chess games with the ups and downs of life.

Korea and China

Chess "gone" not only to the West. Both Chaturanga and early versions of Shatranja penetrated into Southeast Asia, since two players participated in different provinces of the same China, and other features were visible. For example, the movement of the pieces for a short distance, there is no castling, either. The game also changed, acquiring new features.

The national "xiangqi" is very similar to ancient chess in its rules. In neighboring Korea, it was called "changi", and along with similar features, it also had some differences from the Chinese version. Even the figures were placed differently. Not in the middle of the cell, but at the intersection of lines. Not a single figure could "jump" - neither a horse, nor an elephant. But their troops had "cannons" that were able to "shoot", killing the piece they were jumping over.

In Japan, the game was called "shogi", it had its own characteristics, although it was clearly derived from "xiangqi". The board was much simpler, closer to the European one, the pieces stood in a cage, and not on a line, but there were more cells - 9x9. The pieces were able to transform, which the Chinese did not allow, and this was done ingeniously: the pawn simply turned over, and the sign of the piece turned out to be on top of it. And more interesting: those "warriors" that were taken from the enemy can be set as their own - arbitrarily, almost anywhere on the board. The Japanese game was not black and white. All figures are of the same color, and the affiliation will be determined by the setting: with a sharp end towards the enemy. In Japan, this game is still much more popular than classical chess.

How did the sport start?

Chess clubs began to appear from the sixteenth century. Not only amateurs came to them, but also almost professionals who played for money. And two centuries later, almost every country had its own national chess tournament. Massively printed books about the game. Then there is also a periodical on this subject. First, single, then regular, but rarely published collections are released. And in the nineteenth century, popularity and demand forced publishers to put this business on a permanent basis. In 1836, the first purely chess magazine, Palamede, appeared in France. It was published by one of the best grandmasters of his time Labourdonnais. In 1837 Great Britain followed the example of France, and in 1846 Germany began publishing its own chess magazine.

International matches have been held in Europe since 1821 and tournaments since 1851. The first "chess king" - the strongest chess player in the world - appeared in London at the 1851 competition. It was Adolf Andersen. Then in 1858 this title was taken from Andersen by Paul Morphy. And the palm was taken to the USA. However, Andersen did not reconcile himself and regained the crown of the first chess player already in 1859. And until 1866 he had no equal. And then Wilhelm Steinitz won, so far unofficially.

Champions

Again, Steinitz became the first official world champion. He defeated Johann Zuckertort. It was also the first match in the history of chess where the world championship was negotiated. And so the system appeared, which exists now in the continuity of the title. The world champion can be the one who wins the match against current champion. Moreover, the latter may not agree to the game. And if he accepts the challenge, he independently sets the place, time and conditions for the match. Only public opinion could force the champion to play: the winner who refused to play with a strong opponent could be recognized as a weakling and a coward, so most often the challenge was accepted. Usually, the agreement to hold the match provided for the right to a rematch for the loser, and victory in it returned the title to the champion.

Since the second half of the nineteenth century, time controls have been used in tournaments. At first, it was an hourglass, limiting the chess player's time per move. It couldn't be called convenient. Therefore, a player from England, Thomas Wilson, invented a special clock - a chess clock. Now it has become easy to control both the whole game and a certain number of moves. Time control entered chess practice quickly and firmly, it was used everywhere. At the end of the 19th century, matches were no longer held without a clock. At the same time, the concept of time trouble reigned. A little later they began to hold matches of "rapid chess" - with a limit of half an hour for each of the players, and a little later, "blitz" appeared - from five to ten minutes.

Story emergence and development chess spans many centuries. Archaeological excavations indicate that games in which it was necessary to move chips on the board existed as early as approximately the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. According to an ancient legend, the game of chess was created by a certain Brahmin. In exchange for his invention, he asked the raja for a seemingly insignificant reward: as many grains of millet as would fit on a chessboard if one grain is placed on the first cell, two grains on the second, four grains on the third, etc. However, in fact, it turned out that there is no such amount of grain (1.845 × 10^ 19 grains, which can be stored in a storage with a volume of 180 km³) on the entire planet. It is not known whether everything happened in reality or otherwise, but, one way or another, India is considered the birthplace of chess. BUT story this once again emphasizes the fact that in chess the number of combinations is infinite, thanks to which this ancient most interesting game will never exhaust itself.

The oldest form of chess war game Chaturanga - appeared in the first centuries AD. e. In India, a type of army was called chaturanga, which included war chariots (ratha) - boats, elephants (hasti), cavalry (ashva) and foot soldiers (padati). The game symbolized the battle with the participation of four types of troops, which are controlled by the leader. The pieces were located at the corners of a square board (ashtapada) in 64 cells, 4 people took part in the game. The movement of the pieces was determined by throwing the dice. To win the game, it was necessary to destroy all the enemy troops. Chaturanga existed in India until the beginning of the 20th century, and its name changed over time to "chaturraja" - the game of four kings; the figures began to be painted in 4 colors - green, yellow, red and black. The successor of chaturanga was the game shatrang (chatrang), which arose in Central Asia at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th centuries. In this variation, the game had two "camps" of pieces and a new piece depicting the king's adviser - farzin; only 2 opponents began to take part in the game. The object of the game was to checkmate the opponent's king. Thus, the "game of chance" was replaced by the "game of the mind." In the VIII-IX centuries. shatrang penetrated from Central Asia to the East and West, which became known under the Arabic name shatranj. In shatranj (IX-XV centuries), the terminology and arrangement of shatrang figures was preserved, however appearance figures have changed. The fact is that religion was against the use of living beings to designate chess pieces, so the Arabs began to use abstract figures in the form of small cylinders and cones for this purpose. This greatly simplified their creation, which, in turn, contributed to the further spread of the game among the masses. The development of the game was rather slow, so only the rook, king and knight went according to modern rules, while the range of action of other pieces was extremely limited. For example, the queen moved only one square diagonally.

So, the use of abstract images to create chess pieces contributed to a change in the perception of chess - they were no longer perceived as a symbol of war, battle, but began to be associated with everyday ups and downs, which was reflected in the epic and treatises dedicated to the chess game (Omar Khayyam, Saadi, Nizami), opening new page in history of chess.

Development of chess.

In the period of the early Middle Ages (VIII-IX centuries), the Arabs, as a result of the conquest of Spain, moved shatranj to Spain. After that, this game began to spread in Western Europe, where the further transformation of the rules continued, which as a result turned shatranj into modern chess.

Chess acquired its modern look only by the 15th century, although due to the inconsistency of changes, for several centuries different countries had their own, sometimes quite bizarre, features of the rules. For example, in Italy until the 19th century, a pawn that reached the last rank could only turn into those pieces that had already been removed from the board, and it was not forbidden to move a pawn to the last rank in the absence of such pieces. In this case, the pawn remained a pawn and turned into the first piece captured by the opponent at the moment when the opponent captured it. Castling was also allowed if there was a piece between the rook and the king and when the king passed through a beaten field.

History of chess quite rich, and as they spread in Europe, chess and works of art began to appear telling about this game. The first poem about chess, written by Ezra, appeared in 1160. In 1283, the first chess book in Europe, a treatise by Alphonse X the Wise, was published. This book is of great interest in the study history of chess, since it contains a description of both new European chess and the already obsolete shatranj. Approximately in 820, the Arabic shatranj under the Central Asian name "chess" appeared in Russia, in Russian acquiring the name "chess" already known to all of us, coming, as it is believed, either directly from Persia through the Caucasus and the Khazar Khaganate, or from the Central Asian peoples, through Khorezm. In any case, the Russian name of the game is inherited from Tajiks or Uzbeks, the names of the figures in Russia are also consonant or similar in meaning to Arabic or Central Asian ones. Changes in the rules, later introduced by the Europeans, penetrated Russia with some delay, gradually turning the old Russian chess into modern. The emergence of the so-called descriptive notation is also associated with the Arab period, thanks to which it became possible to record the games played.

However Christian church throughout history of chess took a sharply negative position, equating them with gambling and drunkenness. But, despite church prohibitions, chess spread both in Europe and in Russia, and among the clergy there was no less (if not more) passion for the game than among other classes. And already in 1393 in Europe, the Regenburg Cathedral removed chess from the list of prohibited games. Note that in Russia there is no information about the official abolition of the church ban on chess, but at least since the 17th-18th centuries this ban has not actually been in effect. Ivan the Terrible played chess. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, chess was common among the courtiers, the ability to play it was common among diplomats. Documents of that time have been preserved in Europe, which say that Russian envoys are familiar with chess and play it very well. Princess Sophia was fond of chess. Under Peter I, assemblies were held with indispensable chess games.

In the XIV-XV centuries. the traditions of Eastern chess in Europe were lost, and in the XV-XVI centuries. a departure from them became obvious after a series of changes in the rules for the moves of pawns, bishops and queens. But by the 15th-16th centuries, the chess rules had basically settled down, thanks to which the development of a systematic chess theory began. In 1561, the priest Ruy Lopez - the author of the popular debut " spanish party”- published the first complete chess textbook, in which the stages of the game that are now highlighted - opening, middlegame and endgame were considered. He was the first to describe a characteristic type of opening - "gambit", in which an advantage in development is achieved by sacrificing material.

A great contribution to the development of chess theory in the 18th century was made by the famous French musician Francois-Andre Danican Philidor, who had a huge impact on the development history of chess. He seriously revised the views of his predecessors, first of all, the Italian masters, who believed that the best style of play was an aggressive attack on the opponent's king with all available means and used pawns only as auxiliary material. Philidor developed the so-called positional style of play. He believed that the player should not rush into reckless attacks, but systematically build a strong, stable position, inflict precisely calculated blows on the weaknesses of the opponent’s position, if necessary, resort to exchanges and simplifications if they lead to a profitable endgame. The correct position, according to Philidor, is, first of all, the correct arrangement of pawns. According to Philidor, “Pawns are the soul of chess; only they create attack and defense, victory or defeat depends entirely on their good or bad location. Philidor developed the tactics of advancing the pawn chain, insisted on the importance of the pawn center and analyzed the struggle for the center, was the author of the well-known Philidor Defense. In many ways, his ideas formed the basis of the chess theory of the next century. Philidor's book "Analysis of a Chess Game" became a classic, it went through 42 editions only in the 18th century and was reprinted many times later.

Modern chess.

In 1886, the United States hosted the first official World Championship match in history of chess. The struggle unfolded between Steinitz and Zukertort. By winning this match, Steinitz became the first world champion. He was not only the strongest chess player, but also the founder of the school of positional play. Steinitz, as it were, decomposed the position into its constituent elements, singled out the most significant of them, allowing it to be objectively assessed and outline the most expedient, most effective plan of action. In fact, he proposed fundamentally new campaign to the game. The basis of his strategy was the gradual accumulation of small advantages, in maneuvering in order to strengthen his position and weaken the enemy.

The importance of the positional school for the development and dissemination of chess can hardly be overestimated. Instead of a game based only on a specific calculation, a purely scientific method was proposed, based on an objective assessment of the pluses and minuses of a position.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a new trend appeared in painting, sculpture and music - modernism. And at the same time, such a trend as "hypermodernism" or "neo-romanticism" was born in chess. Hypermodernists criticized a number of attitudes of the positional school. For example, they believed that the positional school overestimated the role of the pawn center and developed the concept of a piece-pawn center, when not only pawns, but also pieces control the central squares. This led to a number of new beginnings: the Reti Opening for White, the Nimzowitsch Defense, the Grunfeld Defense, the Queen's Indian and King's Indian Defenses, and the Alekhine Defense for Black.

In addition, the hypermodernists abandoned the positional school of playing black advocated by the supporters of the gradual redemption of the white initiative and the equalization of the game. They strove for counter active actions, for seizing the initiative, for counterplay.

Nimzowitsch, a representative of the hypermodernist chess school, is also credited with the development and practical application of various methods of maneuvering in the middle of the game - tacking, prophylaxis, restriction of mobility, blockade, etc.

The main achievement of the hypermodernists, which had the greatest impact on the future history of chess– they made chess interesting again, returned tactical game full of sacrifices and combinations. While emphasizing the leading role of strategy, the positional school unwittingly belittled the role of tactics. Meanwhile, Nimzowitsch repeatedly emphasized that the combination should follow logically from the strategy itself. It is also significant that in their games the hypermodernists showed the beauty of strategy, demonstrated in practice that it, like tactics, is fertilized by inspiration, fantasy and intuition. Thus, they further expanded the idea of ​​chess as an art.

However, representatives of the positional school still dominated the chess Olympus, and in 1921 the Cuban Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942) became the third world champion. For understanding the position and technique of positional play, he was called a "chess machine" and was considered invincible. In 1927, having won a match against Capablanca, the Russian Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) became the fourth world champion. In 1935, Alekhine, in a match held in various cities in Holland, lost to the Dutchman Max Euwe, who became the fifth world champion, but in 1937 he regained the title of champion by winning a rematch.

After the end of World War II, the USSR joined the chess federation - FIDE, and Soviet chess players began to dominate the world chess arena. Of the eight chess players who in the post-war years were crowned with the laurels of the world chess champion, seven grandmasters represented the USSR: Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosyan, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov. Soviet chess players Lyudmila Rudenko, Elizaveta Bykova, Olga Rubtsova, Nona Gaprindashvili, Maya Chiburdanidze became world champions among women.

General computerization and the Internet in the late 20th - early 21st centuries. greatly influenced the development of chess. In 1997, the computer (Deep Blue) already wins the match against the world champion. Thus, we have entered the 21st century - the century of computer chess programs.

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The emergence of chess, like the emergence of many other things on Earth, is shrouded in mystery over the years, overgrown with myths and conjectures, and, as usual, has many versions.
And it was very interesting for me, as the daughter of a chess player and an international chess arbiter (one of the oldest and most experienced arbiters in Russia), to delve into the books of my father's library and other sources, and this is what I dug up with great pleasure.

Who Invented Chess

There are several legends about this. You can choose whichever you like best. Although you can believe in all at once, they are not mutually exclusive.

Chess Legend #1 “Gav and Talhand”

This legend was described a thousand years ago by the Persian poet Firdousi in the epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings).

There lived in ancient India two twin brothers, two princes - Gav and Talhand. And, as often happened in history, a struggle for power flared up between them. The poem says that the queen could not give preference to any of them, because. She loved both sons equally. This is clear to me, of course. Another thing is not clear - why, in this case, she did not divide her kingdom in half. I would divide and give each son half the kingdom. But she did not do this, and as a result, each prince gathered an army for himself, and a battle was declared, which was supposed to determine the strongest. And it was clear that the battle would not be for life, but for death, because. in fact, no one could escape from there - the battlefield was set up on the seashore and surrounded on all sides by a deep moat with water.
The poem again says that while the battle was going on, the queen did not sleep, did not eat. Worried. So, she knew about this fight and watched from afar.
Talhand died in this battle.
When the queen was informed of the death of Talhand, she fell into despair and began to reproach Gav that he had killed his brother. Somehow there is no logic here. Did she not realize that one of her sons would die in this battle? The conclusion suggests itself that, apparently, the condition of the battle was not to kill the princes. As in chess - to defeat the army, but you can’t touch the king himself, you can only declare checkmate. If so, then there is logic.
During the disassembly, it turned out that Gav did not kill Talhand. There were no wounds on his body. Talhand died of heat, hunger and thirst, losing consciousness while sitting on his elephant.
What is it about chess? And here's what.
The queen demanded to be shown everything in detail - how the battle developed, and how it happened that Talhand died without wounds. Woof, in order to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of his mother, called together the wisest mobeds. Mobed is a priest in Zoroastrianism. (Members of the family were Zoroastrians. In India, a small percentage of the population still professes this ancient religion.)
So, the mobeds arrived - and all night, without closing their eyes, they delved into the essence of the matter: they studied what shape the battlefield was, where the ditches were located, how the battle went, how the shahs and their troops moved, and other details. After that, from ebony wood they made a square board depicting a battlefield, and from ivory they cut out and placed figures on the board - two troops facing each other.
On that board, 100 squares were drawn (as we know, there are 64 squares on a modern chessboard - 8 horizontally and 8 vertically).
The front row is the infantry, behind it is the cavalry. The shah was located in the center of his army in the second row. Next to him stood a mentor, the wisest closest assistant. Next are two elephants. Camels stood next to the elephants. Next are two horses. And along the edges - two fighting birds Rukh. It is clear from the text that there was also a third row - infantry (see below - lines highlighted in red), i.e. according to this legend, in the original chess, the pieces were not in two, but in three rows.
Mentor, camels, roc bird… very interesting!
But it is more interesting to read about this source in the translation of Mikhail Dyakonov, a well-known orientalist. Here is the text:

There are so many interesting things in this text! For example:

“Whoever passes through the field will be glorious in mind, Like a mentor, next to the king.”

An analogue of the promotion of a pawn is traced (when a pawn, having reached the opposite edge of the board, can turn into any piece of its color).

• Or take the image of a mentor who stands next to the king and "all the wise wise."

  “Here is the shah in the middle of his retinue, With him next to the mentor - all the wise wise.”

  In modern chess, next to the king, instead of a mentor, there is a queen, i.e. Simply put, queen. Isn't it symbolic that the mentor (male) smoothly transformed into the queen, the king's girlfriend (female). 🙂

• The field of his (her) activity also smoothly transformed:

  “The mentor goes into battle near the check And only goes forward one cell.”

  In modern chess, the queen, as you know, is not tied to the king and walks all over the board without restrictions - both vertically-horizontally and diagonally.

• War elephants also expanded their field of activity. Or rather, lengthened it.

  "Three cages are fighting elephants, They can see battlefields for two miles."

  Only from this text it is not clear how they moved to three fields: straight - or diagonally, as now.
  But really, according to the logic, it seems that the elephant should not jump to the far end of the board in one move, they are not so quick, the elephants. But in modern chess he easily jumps. 🙂

• But the horse has not betrayed itself since a long time ago, and it jumps with the letter G:

  “And the horse can also go three cells, But it runs to the third, deviating from the path.”

• And I personally feel sorry that camels have disappeared from circulation. With camels, chess would be even cooler!
• Well, the Roc, of course. Modestly gave way to the beautiful boat. But she (the Rukh bird) was so huge that during the flight she covered the sun with her wings and could easily lift an elephant into the air! If she had not left the chessboard, then the development of chess would probably have gone along some other path ...
• And they don't write anything about castling. Apparently, it was not in the original version.

In general, move by move, Gav, with the support of invited mobeds on this chessboard, recreated the whole picture of the battle for his queen mother. This is how chess was born.

And then it’s completely sad (although it’s much sadder if Talhand died). The queen mother sat over this chessboard, heartbroken, without food or water, shedding bitter tears until her end came.

Legend No. 2 “About chess and grain”

This is perhaps the most common story about how there was a brahmin in India, and one day he invented chess. Just took and invented them. At leisure. In his free time from his brahminical affairs. And the Indian king liked this invention so much that he said to the Brahmin:
- Oh, the great inventor of this great game, the wisest of the wisest, ask for any reward, I will fulfill everything.
So or so said the Indian king in admiration.
Although in some versions of this story, there is also an ideological background twisted - supposedly a brahmin did not just invent those chess, but with a great secret purpose. That king, it turns out, was so poorly managed with state affairs that he brought his kingdom into decline, and he did not listen to the advice of any wise brahmins. And in order to gently and delicately show the king that he alone is not a warrior in the field, and that without the help of other state figures (and even pawns!) He will not be able to do anything, it was with this great goal that the Brahmin invented chess at his leisure.
The king's hint was understood correctly, and he decided to thank the brahmin for the lesson in worldly wisdom.
Was there this ideological background or not, in any case, the result is obvious: "Ask for any award, I will fulfill everything."
And don't be a fool for a brahmin... Some versions of this story add that it was the same brahmin who invented the degree of number. It was the same Brahmin or not - we do not know, but he certainly knew the raising to a power (in contrast, apparently, from the king). And he easily says:
Oh, great king! I am a modest little brahmin, and I do not need many riches. Give me just a little grain, and that's enough. A little bit. Place one seed on the first square of the chessboard, two seeds on the second, four on the third... and so on... doubling constantly.
Some strange brahmin, the king thought, but oh well. He does not want a lot of grain - do not. I'll give him as much as he wants.
He put one grain on the first cell, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth, 16 on the fifth…etc…. First, his first barn was empty... Then the second... the third... The king was no longer happy that he had contacted this cunning brahmin. He no longer needs any chess! He has already given the brahmin all the grain that was in his country, and he hasn’t even got close to the 64th cell! ..
And since then, all the children at school, when studying raising a number to a power, are asked the same problem in mathematics - about the unfortunate king, the cunning Brahmin and the grain on the chessboard.
And by the way! Some chess historians claim that this legend dates back to about the year 1000 BC! (This is a question "When Chess Was Invented")

Story #3 “Chaturanga”

Chess historians believe that the progenitor of modern chess is ancient indian game chaturanga.
The word "chaturanga" means "an army consisting of 4 parts": infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots.
The Chaturanga board, like modern chess, is divided into 64 cells. Each corner has 4 pawns (infantry), 1 knight (cavalry), 1 bishop, 1 rook (chariot) and 1 king (general). Four people play, two by two, each has an army of its own color (black, red, yellow, green).

The goal of the game is to destroy all enemy forces. But! The movement of figures in chaturanga was determined by throwing dice.
Chaturanga is believed to have originated in India between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE. From India it spread to other countries of the East.
Over time, the number of troops in the chaturanga changed, while the number of figures remained the same - instead of four troops of 8 figures each, there were two troops of 16 figures.
Those. two armies merged into one. Each army got two commanders, one of which turned into a queen (adviser). The rules of the game have also changed. Now it became impossible to kill the king (shah), but you can only set traps for him. Another important change is that dice throwing has been removed from the game.
Such updated version called "shatrang".
Pay attention to the photo of Chaturanga. There this game is called “Chatrang”. Even from the names it is clear that this is the same game: Chaturanga - Chatrang - Shatrang.

Legend No. 4 “The story of the shatrang”

Another interesting legend related to the history of chess.
It says that the Indian king once sent a shatrang (as we already know, shatrang is the original version of chess) to the Shah of Iran with a caravan of camels, so that he could unravel the essence of the game. A letter on silk was attached to the shatrang, which said that if the shah revealed the secret of this beautiful game, he would surpass all the wise men, and in this case the Indian king would send any tribute requested by the Iranian shah. And if there is no such sage in Iran who could unravel the mystery of chess, then, on the contrary, you would be kind enough to pay us tribute and send it to India, because our knowledge is ahead of yours. Because the king is famous for knowledge, not for treasures!
At the same time, the Indian ambassador gave the shah one hint that in this game all the images of the figures and the ways of their movements were taken from the war, from the rules of the battle.
The shah asked for seven days to solve this game.

Day and night, the shah and his wise men tried to unravel the meaning of the game - where which piece should stand and how to move. But to no avail. And then a comrade volunteered, a vizier named Buzurgmihr, who said that he saw what the outcome of the party should be, i.e. what should be the output, but how to get to this outcome is not yet clear, but he will try to understand it.
And the shah, with joy and relief, handed him a chessboard with pieces and sent him to think. “All hope is in you,” the Shah said. "Don't let the state down."
Buzurgmihr stared at the board and began to think a thought. And he came up with it!
On the appointed day, the shah summoned all his associates - and the Indian ambassador, of course. The vizier sat down in front of the board and began to arrange the pieces. The Indian ambassador looked at this matter with all his eyes, and his eyes became more and more saddened, because all the figures were placed correctly.
Infantrymen stood in the front row, behind them in the center was the shah, next to whom stood the wisest dastur, pointing out the most correct paths in battle. Remember the mentor from Legend #1? Here, a dastur acts as a mentor - this is the same mobed (priest in Zoroastrianism), only of a higher rank (yes, these are also Zoroastrians). Well, further down the list - elephants, horses, Roc birds.
Everyone froze in amazement. How did he manage to unravel the correct arrangement of the figures, because he had never seen them in his eyes? ..
As a reward for the fact that the vizier did not let down the power, the shah generously endowed him with precious stones and presented him with a horse.
And the vizier Buzurgmihr was so carried away mind games that he went to his home, closed himself there, plunged into thoughts - and invented backgammon.
And what did the Shah of Iran do? Correctly! He sent these backgammon to India. With the same caravan of camels with which chess arrived here from India, and with the words that there are many wise Brahmins in India, and let them try to reveal the meaning of the game of backgammon.
And ... oh, woe to my beloved India! .. Mystery new game they couldn't open it. And by agreement, and as a sign of admiration for human thought, the Indian Raja loaded gold, clothes, pearls and gems- and sent to Iran. Here the fairy tale ends.

Homeland of chess or where chess was invented

Now it is clear to us where they were invented. Homeland of chess - India. Definitely!
From ancient India, chess gradually penetrated to the West - to the countries of the Arab Caliphate, and to the East - to Burma, China, Japan ... Each people brought some elements of their culture to them, the appearance of the pieces changed, the name of the game changed, but the basic principle remained the same. same - the main piece of the opponent was declared a checkmate.

At the same time, chess historians unanimously decided that everything is simple and clear with authorship - this game has no specific author.
“There is no doubt that chess (in its modern version) was not invented by one person, but is the result of collective folk art, moreover, not one, but many peoples” - all chess historians agree on this. At the same time, they also agree that their origin is undoubtedly Indian.

Some Chinese historians do not believe that the Indian roots of the game of chess are fully proven. They admit that both Indian and Chinese chess may have evolved from a common, as yet undiscovered, predecessor.
However, they do not deny the fact that the first mention of this game in Chinese literature dates back only to the 8th century AD. So the superiority of India is not in doubt even among Chinese historians.

When was chess invented

Chess historians believe that they originated around the 6th century AD. The earliest found documents belong to this time. This is if we talk about those chess that have a form familiar to us and known rules. At the same time, there is a lot of evidence that before the advent of today's chess, there were similar board games, which were also based on the tactics of the battle, the main figure was the shah (commander), and he had his army as assistants.
As an example, a certain Persian poem written in 600 AD is cited, where Indian chess is mentioned and it is said that they penetrated into Persia from India.
Harold Murray, an English orientalist and an outstanding historian of chess, in his fundamental work “The History of Chess” (1913) even names the exact date of the appearance of chess - 570 AD. He claims that before 570 there was no information about chess, although individual travelers of those times described India in detail, but this game was not mentioned.
In the year 700, the first mentions of a blind chess game are already found, i.e. without looking at the board.
In the 8th century, there are already reports of qualifying tournaments!
And in the 9th century - the first treatise on chess Al-Adli.

Some interesting facts from the history of chess

In Arabic chess, for example, for a long time the queen was a minor piece and could only move one square diagonally. The bishop was limited in its movements to three squares diagonally, while the bishop could jump over the piece. The rook also once moved only two squares.
Over time, the queen became the main piece on the chessboard (after the king).
The rules were gradually changed - in order to speed up the pace and spice up the game.

Where did the legendary bird Rukh go? For what reason did she give way to the rook? Blame everything, it turns out, the Arabs. I rummaged through my father's chess books and found this explanation.
Initially, in India, in chess (or rather, in shatrang), the pieces were given a shape that corresponded to their names. The elephant looked like an elephant, the rider looked like a rider, and so on. But during their large-scale Muslim conquests, among other cultural riches, the Arabs got acquainted with chess. Of course, they adopted this wonderful game. According to the laws of Islam, the image of living beings was forbidden. And from the Rukh bird there were small stumps of wings in the form of protrusions at the top of the quadrangle. This symbolic image of a fabulous bird served as a prototype of the modern boat.
Just in case, let me remind you that even earlier - before the Rukh bird - these extreme cells on the chessboard were occupied by Indian chariots (rathas).
So, here is such a curious step-by-step transformation: ratha - bird Rukh - boat.

And here's another one interesting fact from the history of the development of chess, which I read in a large thick book by Jerzy Gizhitsky “With chess through centuries and countries”. True, this is no longer about India, but about Russia, but the fact seemed very curious.
In Russia in past centuries, when playing chess, sometimes the strength of the queen was increased. They came up with the idea that the queen can walk not only in straight lines, but also in the letter G, like a horse. In this case, the queen was called "the queen of all." And before the start of the game, it was necessary to agree in advance how the game would be played - with an “ordinary queen” or “every queen”.

Good day, dear friend!

The generally accepted view is that the origin of chess is Indian. The specific authorship of the chess game has not yet been established. Who Invented Chess? Historians believe that the invention of chess is the fruit of the collective creativity of several peoples.

The birthplace of chess

There are several legends about the origin of chess. The most common one is:

Around the sixth century, a game called chaturanga appeared in India.

The board in chaturanga looks like this: Four people play. Two against two. Each has its own "army" of a certain color. The objective of the game is to destroy all the opponent's pieces.

Subsequently, as the chaturanga spread in the ancient East, the number of players decreased to two, and 16 pieces each. That is approximately the way we know chess today.

Interesting fact: in chaturanga, moves were generated not by players, but by dice.

Historians agree that chess with rules of the game similar to modern ones appeared in the 6th century. It is this time that the found manuscripts are dated, in which chess was first mentioned.

Worldwide distribution

Around the 7th century, Arabs, Chinese and other peoples of Southeast Asia became interested in Chaturanga. Accordingly, the game has undergone changes, including the name.

Shatranzh among the Arabs, among the Persians - shatrang. To the east, the Chinese xiangqi, across the sea, the Japanese version, shogi. In Thailand, makruk. These varieties still occupy a dominant position in the East.

Around the 8th - 9th centuries, chess settled in Europe. Starting from Spain, where the Arabs "brought" shatranzh. Then France and by the end of the 9th century chess won the hearts of most of the peoples of Europe, including Scandinavia.

On Russian soil, chess, as historians say, first appeared straight from Persia around the ninth century. Then, as usual, the influence of enlightened Europe made itself felt, and around the tenth century, chess in Russia finally acquired European outlines.

The rules of chess also changed gradually.

Interesting fact: In Italy in the eighteenth century, there was a rule: a pawn, upon reaching the promotion square, can only become a piece that is not on the board in this moment. A pawn on the last rank could remain a pawn. The transformation took place at the moment of capture of any figure by the opponent. The pawn became this captured piece.

persecution

In the 14th-16th centuries, chess was practiced both in the logical version and in the "gambling" one. The rules were similar to the Chaturanga rules. When the move was determined by the number rolled on the dice.

This type of chess was perceived as a kind of dice game and was banned by the church as a game of chance.

The rejection of "gambling" chess was also demonstrated by many statesmen, equating chess with an idle pastime.

However, bans were bans, but chess spread in European culture more and more. . By the way, including among the clergy. During excavations, chess was found and is being found in almost every estate of the 15th century.

Gradually, the prohibitions began to be simply ignored. Moreover, among the courtiers, diplomats, the ability to play chess well was recognized as a rule of good form.

Development of the theory

In the 16-17th century, the rules of chess were gradually unified. It became possible to develop theoretical models of the game.

According to Philidor, pawn position plays a key role in the game. It is around pawn chains that the whole game is built.

In 1585, the first international tournament was held in Spain.

Kind of sport

From the 17th century, chess clubs began to form. The first professionals appeared.

Interesting fact: The Italian master Lorenzo Busnardo, according to unconfirmed reports, already in the 17th century earned a fortune by participating in tournaments.

In the 18th century, national championships began to be held, then international tournaments and matches.

The first unofficial world champion was announced by Adolf Andersen, who won the tournament in London in 1851. The crown then went to Paul Morphy, then back to Andersen after Morphy stopped performing.

And finally the first official world champion was Wilhelm Steinitz, who defeated J. Zukertort in a match in 1886.

Another milestone event is the establishment of time control. In the beginning there were simple hourglasses. The inventor of a real chess clock is an Englishman T. Wilson

It is with time control that the sports component is largely connected, which eventually forced the world community to recognize chess as a sport.

Ways of development of chess

Chess developed rapidly in the 20th century. A significant contribution to this process was made by the Soviet chess school. In the USSR, chess was cultivated and supported by the state.

With the collapse of the country in chess, there has been some stagnation. It is difficult for chess to compete in terms of entertainment and profitability with sports such as football, for example.

FIDE is making efforts to make tournaments more spectacular and attractive to sponsors. So, the round robin was replaced by a knockout system and some other changes, mainly related to the speeding up of the game.

The end of the 20th century was marked by another epochal event - the computerization of chess. Today, the best computer programs play better than humans.

Deep study of the theory and computerization have led to an increase in the popularity of non-traditional types of chess. For example, where the significance of the opening theory is practically reduced to nothing.

And yet chess is being revived in our country. This is a welcome fact. There is confidence that this is not a one-time surge, but a long-term trend.

Thank you for your interest in the article.

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