The history of chess can be traced back to India to its earliest known predecessor, called chaturanga. From India, it spread to Persia where it was modified in terms of shapes and rules. Following the Arab invasion and conquest of Persia, chess was taken up in the Muslim world and subsequently spread to Europe via Spain and Italy. The game evolved roughly into its current state about 1500 CE.
Chaturanga originated in India in the 7th century CE. It translates to "four divisions (of the military)", infantry, calvary, elephantry and chariotry. These forms are represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook respectively.
The original name of chaturanga became chatrang which subsequently evolved to shatranj, due to the lack of ch and ng sounds in the Arabic language. Players started calling "Shāh!" (Persian for King) when attacking the opponent's king and "Shāh Māt!" (Persian for 'the king is helpless') when the king was attacked and could not escape from attack. These exclamations persisted in chess as it traveled to other lands.
Chess spread directly from the Middle East to Russia where chess became known as шахматы (literally checkmate).
By the mid 12th century, the pieces of the chess set were depicted as kings, queens, bishops, knights and men at arms (pawns). The rules of chess varied from country to country over the years.
As we look at modern day chess, rules are as follows:
- White moves first
- King moves from its square to a neighboring square
- Rook can move in is line or row
- Queen may move like a rook or bishop
- Pawn moves one square ahead
You should be sure to protect your king. Do not lose your pieces as each piece is valuable. Position your pieces so they can attack or defend. Avoid leaving your pawns isolated. The only way to win the game is to checkmate your opponent's king, which means trapping it from all sides so it can't escape!
You will need to figure out the letter combination to the lock. This should not be too difficult!