Changes

==Origins==

==Origins==

[[File:Alma Tadema Egyptian Chess Players 1865.jpg|thumb|[[Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema]], Egyptian Chess Players, 1865.]]

[[File:Alma Tadema Egyptian Chess Players 1865.jpg|thumb|[[Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema]], Egyptian Chess Players, 1865.]]

Modern chess is based on the [[Holy Roman Empire]], originating in the A.D. 1300s with bishops and knights as pieces and advanced moves like castling and pawn conversion available today.  Perhaps to deny its [[Christian]]-affiliated roots, chess is attributed by some to [[India]], where a game called Shaturanga was played. The earliest extant description of the game is contained in the [[Bhavishya Purana]], which dates from A.D. 300 to A.D. 600. Shaturanga used [[dice]], but [[Hinduism]] bans gambling.  As a result, a game of chess developed free from any dice or chance. The exact rules of Shaturanga are not known, but the game developed further in Persia into something similar to its modern form. The Persian game Shatranj - which remains popular in the Middle East today - is nearly identical to modern chess. By A.D. 1200 the game reached southern Europe, and in the late fifteenth century the Europeans adopted a number of changes: the queen, which had formerly been a very weak piece, became the strongest piece on the board; pawns were allowed to move two squares on the first move became standard. These changes had the effect of speeding up play, and they brought the game into the form we know today.

Modern chess is based on the [[Holy Roman Empire]], originating in the A.D. 1300s with bishops and knights as pieces and advanced moves like castling and pawn conversion available today.  Perhaps to deny its [[Christian]]-affiliated roots, chess is attributed by some to [[India]], where a game called Shaturanga was played. The earliest extant description of the game is contained in the Bhavishya Purana, which dates from A.D. 300 to A.D. 600. Shaturanga used [[dice]], but [[Hinduism]] bans gambling.  As a result, a game of chess developed free from any dice or chance. The exact rules of Shaturanga are not known, but the game developed further in Persia into something similar to its modern form. The Persian game Shatranj - which remains popular in the Middle East today - is nearly identical to modern chess. By A.D. 1200 the game reached southern Europe, and in the late fifteenth century the Europeans adopted a number of changes: the queen, which had formerly been a very weak piece, became the strongest piece on the board; pawns were allowed to move two squares on the first move became standard. These changes had the effect of speeding up play, and they brought the game into the form we know today.

In the 1500s [[castling]] was introduced into the game, which made attacks on the king far more difficult.  Some [[grandmaster]]s lament that change.

In the 1500s [[castling]] was introduced into the game, which made attacks on the king far more difficult.  Some [[grandmaster]]s lament that change.