Which country is the birthplace of chess?

Chess was invented many centuries ago, and it is still unknown who made them. Because of the long-standing events, the appearance of this game has acquired a lot of myths and legends.

What country is the birthplace of chess? If you believe the legends, the game originates in India.

History of chess

India is the birthplace of chess. It is believed that they appeared in the first centuries of our era. Later chess was transferred to different corners of the planet, and each people added something of their own: changing the name of the game, the shape of the figures, but the rules remained unchanged-put the mat to the king.

Historians of chess are sure that the game was invented not by a single individual, but by a large collective of different peoples, supplementing and transforming it at different times. Opinions of scientists converge only in one: India is the motherland of chess.

However, there are Chinese historians who do not believe that the Indian origin of chess is fully proved. They are looking for evidence to prove that the game came from China.

What is the birthplace of chess? Confirmations that refute the Indian origin of the game, no, and the first mention of it in Chinese literature refers only to the 8th century of our era. This only confirms that the birthplace of chess is India.

The legends of the origin of chess are very interesting and unusual, we will consider some of them.

Brothers Gav and Talhand

The description of this legend was found in the Persian poet Firdousi, who wrote the epic about a thousand years ago.

In one Indian kingdom lived the queen and her two twin sons, Gav and Talhand. It was time for them to reign, but the mother could not decide whom to put the king, because she loved the sons of the lonely. Then the princes decided to organize a battle, who won and becomes ruler. The battlefield was chosen on the beach and surrounded by a moat with water. They created such conditions that there was nowhere to retreat.

The condition of the tournament was not to kill each other, but to defeat the enemy's army. The battle began, which resulted in the death of Talhand.

Upon learning of the death of her son, the queen fell into despair. Arriving Gava, she reproached her brother for murder. However, he replied that he had not caused a personal injury to his brother, he had died from exhaustion.

The queen asked me to tell in detail about how the battle was going on. Gav, together with people from his entourage, decided to recreate the battlefield. To do this, they took a board, marked out the cells and placed on it the figures depicting the belligerents. Opposing troops were placed on opposite sides and placed in rows: infantry, cavalry and again infantry. In the middle row, in the center stood the prince, next to his chief assistant, then two figures of elephants, camels, horses and birds Rukh. Moving different figures, the prince showed his mother how the battle was going.

Thus, it can be seen that the ancient chessboard had 100 cells and the figures on it stood in three lines.

The most famous legend about chess and grain

This legend tells how the brahmin who invented the chess game cheated the king.

One day a Brahmin living in India invented chess and demonstrated how to play the ruling king in them, whom she liked very much. For this the king decided to fulfill any of his wishes. Then the Brahmin asked to give him grain, while saying that he would not ask for much. It is only necessary to put one grain on the first cell, the second two, the third four, the fourth eight and for each next cell the doubled number of grains from the previous cell.

The king agreed, however, when he began to fulfill the promised, the grain of his kingdom was over, and until the end of the board there were still many cells. In this way, we scolded the czar.

Game Chaturanga

Since the birthplace of chess is India, the game of Chaturang is considered the progenitor of modern chess game. The name denotes the presence of four components: infantry, cavalry, elephant, chariots. There must be four players. The board, consisting of 64 cells, was divided into 4 parts and each of them was put: 4 pawns, one figure of an elephant, a horse, rooks and a king. The goal of the game is to smash and destroy the enemy. The game used dice, on the throw of which the move was made.

Chaturanga from India moved to other eastern countries and eventually evolved. The troops merged and formed two teams, each of which turned out to be two kings. Then one king was replaced by an adviser. To go figures themselves, without the use of dice, the king can not be killed, only to block his movement on the board.

Transforming shapes

Existing, according to legend, the bird Rukh was eventually transformed into a rook. This is due to the fact that Islam forbade the image of living beings. Therefore, when chess appeared in the Arabian countries, the bird Rukh was changed, the wings were cut off: just small projections were made on the top of the quadrilateral. This is how the bird transformed into a rook.

Thus, the origin of the game itself is covered with many legends and fables, it is only known for sure that the birthplace of chess is India.

Appeared in ancient times, the game has gained popularity around the world. From the military, it has turned into cognitive, stimulating and developing memory, logic, attention, while requiring a certain perseverance.