Chess. 



INDOOR AMUSEMENTS. 



CHESS. 



THE origin of this, the most purely intellectual 

 of all games of skill, has been much dis- 

 puted ; but thus much may now be considered as 

 certain, that under the Sanscrit name of Chatu- 

 ranga, a game essentially the same as modern 

 chess was played in Hindustan at least two 

 thousand years ago. In its gradual diffusion 

 through the world in succeeding ages, the game 

 has undergone many alterations and modifications, 

 both in nature and in name ; but marked traces 

 of its early Asiatic origin and descent are still 

 discerned by the learned in its nomenclature and 

 other characteristics. From Hindustan, chess 

 spread into Persia, and thence into Arabia. The 

 Arabs, it would appear, in the eighth century 

 introduced the game into Spain and the rest of 

 Western Europe ; and in England, chess-play 

 seems to have been known prior to the Norman 

 Conquest Into Constantinople, and probably 

 some other cities of Eastern Europe, the game 

 may have been imported from Persia at a period 

 earlier than its conveyance by the Moors into 

 Spain. 



The original Hindu game was played on a 

 board of sixty -four squares, as now, but by four 

 persons, two being allied against two, as in whist. 

 Hence the name Chaturanga, from chatur, ( four,' 

 and anga, * a member ' or ' component part.' The 

 name Shatranj, used by the Persians and Arabs, 

 is a corruption of the Sanscrit. The English, 

 French, and other European names are derived 

 from the Persian term shah, 'king.' Check, the 

 warning when the king is in danger, is but 

 another form of shah; in fact, 'king' is some- 

 times used for ' check;' and in German, schach is 

 both the name of the game and the term of warn- 

 ing. The term rook is said to be derived from 

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the Persian rokh, a corruption of the Hindu rath 

 or roth, an armed chariot ; but it has also been 

 derived from the Italian rocca, a bishop's staff. 

 Pawn is said to be from peon, an attendant, or 

 foot-soldier. 



The books written upon chess would form a 

 library. Of works on the antiquities of the sub- 

 ject, we may mention Dr D. Forbes's History oj 

 Chess (London, 1860). The best modern prac- 

 tical works on the art of chess-play are the 

 Chess-player's Hand-book, and Chess Praxis, by 

 Staunton ; Morph/s Games at Chess, edited by 

 Lowenthal ; Jaenisch's Treatise on the Openings, 

 translated by Walker ; and Horwitz and Kling's 

 Collection of End-games. 



The Chess-board Pieces and their Moves Principles of 

 the Game. 



The game of chess is played upon a square 

 board marked out into sixty-four square divisions, 

 which are coloured alternately black and white, in 

 order the more clearly to determine and denote 

 the respective movements of the several pieces. In 

 placing the board for play, each player must always 

 have a white corner square nearest to his right 

 hand. There are two sets of pieces of opposite 

 colours, of sixteen men each, and of various 

 powers according to their rank. These sets of 

 men are arrayed opposite to each other, and 

 attack, defend, and capture like hostile forces on 

 a battle-field. The diagram on next page will best 

 explain the name, form, and place of each man at 

 the commencement of the game. 



The superior officers occupying the first row on 

 each side are called pieces; the inferior men, all 

 alike in power, standing on the row immediately 

 in front of the pieces, are called pawns. Their 

 moves and powers, along with the peculiar terms 



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