TedEd: A brief history of chess

A TedEd by Alex Gendler

Chess has been many thinks throughout is millennia of existence. Our earliest records of it are from the 7th century, but a legend points toward its beginnings in the 6th century. When a Gupta prince was killed in battle, his brother came up with a way to represent this to their mother. It was set on an 8x8 ash tapada board, and it was known as Chaturanga - Sanskrit for “four divisions”. Its key features were different movement rules for different pieces, and a king whose fate decided the game. In Persia, it acquire its current name - chess from “shah”, meaning king, and checkmate from “shah mat”, the king is helpless. It spread to Arabia after its conquest of Persia in the 7th century, becoming a source of poetic imagery. The Silk Road took the game to Asia, resulting in many variants. In China, the pieces were placed at corners of square as in Go, and in Japan, captured pieces could be used by the opponent. In Europe, it took its modern form. It became a part of court society, being used as a metaphor for people performing their proper social roles. For this reason, it was disliked by the Church. In the 15th century, the piece of advisor became the powerful queen, becoming the game we know today. The game began to be analyzed, creating Chess Theory, and moved to the public. Up to the 19th century, when formal competition began, dramatic play was popular. It took on a more important role in geopolitical power, with the USSR cultivating the best chess talent, and causing Russia to dominate the championships for a century. However, newly emerging tech has ousted humans altogether, starting with the IBM computer Deep Blue. It is good to remember, however, that these breakthroughs have been the result of human ingenuity.