chess
chess. The origins of chess have been much discussed but remain obscure, since it developed over time. It seems to have begun in India or China about the 6th cent. ad and to have been adopted in Persia, where it was known as shat-ranj. It spread to the west through the Arabs and the Vikings, and a Viking ivory chess set, discovered in the Hebrides in 1831, has been dated to the 12th cent. One of the earliest books to be issued by Caxton (c.1481) was Game and Playe of the Chesse, a translation from a French translation of a Latin work. The medieval game was slow and was speeded up in the 16th cent. by giving the queen and bishop greater powers. Since then a reasonably standard game has developed, though with local variations. The game is controlled, with some difficulty, by the World Chess Federation, founded in 1924, which formulates rules, awards grandmasterships and masterships, and organizes the world championship.
J. A. Cannon
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