The attacking infantry advances steadily, their elephants already having broken the defensive line. The king tries to retreat, but enemy cavalry flanks him from the rear.
Escape is impossible. But this isn't a real war — nor is it just a game.
Over the roughly one-and-a-half millennia of its existence, chess has been known as a tool of military strategy, a metaphor for human affairs, and a benchmark of genius. While our earliest records of chess are in the 7th century, legend tells that the game's origins lie a century earlier.
Supposedly, when the youngest prince of the Gupta Empire was killed in battle, his brother devised a way of representing the scene to their grieving mother. Set on the 8x8 ashtapada board used for other popular pastimes, a new game emerged with two key features: different rules for moving different types of pieces, and a single king piece whose fate determined the outcome.
The game was originally known as chaturanga — a Sanskrit word for "four divisions." But with its spread to Sassanid Persia, it acquired its current name and terminology — "chess," derived from "shah," meaning king, and "checkmate" from "shah mat," or "the king is helpless."
After the 7th century Islamic conquest of Persia, chess was introduced to the Arab world. Transcending its role as a tactical simulation, it eventually became a rich source of poetic imagery.
Diplomats and courtiers used chess terms to describe political power. Ruling caliphs became avid players themselves.
And historian al-Mas' udi considered the game a testament to human free will compared to games of chance. Medieval trade along the Silk Road carried the game to East and Southeast Asia, where many local variants developed.
In China, chess pieces were placed at intersections of board squares rather than inside them, as in the native strategy game Go. The reign of Mongol leader Tamerlane saw an 11x10 board with safe squares called citadels.
And in Japanese shogi, captured pieces could be used by the opposing player. But it was in Europe that chess began to take on its modern form.
