Why the History of Chess Boards and Pieces Exites Me

According to history sources chess is one of the oldest games to have survived to our modern days. First designed in the Far East, chess boards were present in the Chinese culture in the 2nd century BC, though some specialists claim that the game was already known in India long before that. Incontestable proofs of the chess existence are dating back only to the 7th century AD, when it was very popular in the Middle East, particularly today's Iran. Chess boards function and the rules to use each piece were inscribed in Persian poems and other literary forms. After it spread throughout the Muslim world, chess came to Europe via Spain during the Moor invasion.

The popularity of the game is easy to explain in the military context that one way or another has dominated the history of mankind ever since its beginnings. Chess boards are the figurative battlefields where kings and queens face each other in conflicts that rely on strategy, shrewdness and incredible intelligence. For the ancient Chinese, who worshiped their emperor, or for the wary Persians, chess boards made possible life representations at a smaller scale. Though there is no physical contest as such on historic chess boards, the game is appealing to even the most peace-loving person. Chess is definitely the great mind challenger!

Furthermore, with the upsurge of the Internet and the importance gained by the virtual world, chess boards become true mined fields online. If card playing is about luck, fate has absolutely no word to say in the creation of a chess strategy: there are head-on attacks and troop maneuvers, bluffing and trap setting all imagined by the player's intelligence. Sometimes players have to sacrifice their pieces in order to successfully end an ambush and finally capture the king, and colors, animations and sounds make interactive chess playing a lot more fun than traditional game forms.

Getting to be represented on chess boards in world tournaments could be a great honor and a true distinction for many chess lovers all over the world. There are zonal, inter-zonal, continental and finally world challenges for anyone who takes chess playing to a professional level. Though, in the past chess may have been considered as a sport of the aristocracy, our modern society no longer leaves room for such limitations. Chess continues a tradition and a link with the past, extending over centuries and nations all alike; when you're a chess lover you're beyond nationality.