Changes

==Origins==

==Origins==

Chess has its roots in [[India]], where locals played a game called Shaturanga. 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, the game of chess developed free from any dice or chance. [[European]] travelers visited India in the 15th century, and brought back knowledge of the game, and modern chess was developed in southern Europe.

Chess has its roots in [[India]], where locals played a game called Shaturanga. 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, the 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 very like 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, and allowing pawns 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.

There has been some speculation that chess has roots in [[China]], and that is is related to [[XiangQi]] (Chinese Chess) and [[Shogi]] (Japanese Chess).

There has been some speculation that chess has roots in [[China]]. It's clear that chess is in some way related to [[XiangQi]] (Chinese Chess) and [[Shogi]] (Japanese Chess), but scholars disagree about whether either of these variants predates Shaturanga.

==The Board==

==The Board==