A Brief History of Chess

With roots dating back to India in 600AD, chess is a historically celebrated game that has been played by world leaders, military generals, poets, philosopher, children, friends and family in its modern form for roughly 500 years. 

Legend has it the game was created by a Hindu Saint Sissa, a Brahman in the court of King Balhait, who was asked to create a game based on mental skill instead of the roll of dice orchance.  King Balhait insisted the game must require the use of reason and analysis in order to sharpen these mental qualities. 

Although the game has undergone changes since its creation, there are some incredible parallels between Sissa’s invention and the modern game we play today. For example, the initial form of the game was also played on a 64 squareboard with each player having 16 troops and each army alternated turns, or moves. 

From it’s birthplace chess traveled both East and West, morphing into Chinese Chess in the East whiletraveling through the Mediterranean, Russia, North Africa and Europe becoming the game we now play in the West.  Chess became so popular in Europe it was often used as a means of resolving disputes and conflicts! 

Today chess is played by over 600 million players worldwide in over 120 countries.  As of today, the greatest chess player in theworld, Magnus Carlson, resides in Norway while the other top 9 chess players reside in the U.S., Germany, India, China, France, and the Netherlands.   

With such a long interesting history and international appeal, you know there must be something special about chess!

Want to learn more? Check out our article "What Is Chess?".