Whether you play the game of kings on a wooden chess set or with an electronic chess device, chess is a game that is rich with history. Chess most likely began in the Indus Valley with the game of Chaturanga, which means "four parts," because two to four people played it. Each player had fewer pieces than players of today's modern chess game do. With Chaturanga, instead of rooks there were chariots, or even ships, and the king could move two squares at a time. But this ancient game was definitely similar to today's chess, and many gaming historians believe it is the root of the game of chess.
The Arabs would have learned chess from the Persians and then introduced the game to the Europeans, with whom they were fighting, and whose lands they sometimes occupied. Being unfamiliar with Persian names and courtly customs, the Europeans renamed the pieces to reflect their own society. So, with today's game of chess, whether it is played on a traditional wooden chess board or using a 21st century electronic chess device, we are actually playing with European medieval history.
The pawns in chess are serfs. These serfs outnumbered the nobility and clergy in medieval Europe just as the pawns outnumber every other piece on the chess board, and they were considered the nobility's property. While the nobles were actually supposed to protect the serfs, they often got caught up in their own petty wars and intrigues. In fact, the serfs were often made to fight alongside the nobles--only to be sacrificed to the enemy in order to protect the regular army and nobles. This scenario actually mimics the use of pawns in chess today--as they are mainly used as blockers and sacrifices to capture the more powerful pieces.
On each extreme side of the chess board when the game begins, a player has a rook or castle. These were the protective safe havens in medieval times. Set up next to the rooks, one on each side of the board as well, are the knights. The knights were the regular soldiers of the day and lived in castles, and of course they were mounted (typically) and thus with their horses they could make leaps or end-runs around others. Knights were often landed barons and the primary defenders of serfs and commoners. Chess strategies of advanced players put the knights into action very early, sometimes even opening the game with a knight's move. As we move in closer to the royal court (the king and queen) we find it flanked by two bishops. The bishops have great power in chess and this and their positioning on the board symbolize the medieval Church's great power, which often got caught up with that of the secular royal court. Chess players dispute whether the knights or the bishops are truly more powerful in the game. The diagonal-only movement of the bishops probably symbolizes the indirect political machinations of the Church.
Now we come to the court, where the greatest power and the most important piece are. The queen is without question the game's most powerful piece, symbolizing the fact that queens in medieval Europe often pulled the strings behind the scenes, at once protecting, yet at the same time, manipulating the king and the court so as to keep their own power (and lives) intact. And then we have the king--the game's most important piece and the root of all of a player's power, since if the king is check-mated the player loses--symbolically, the player's kingdom has fallen, as his king has lost all of his power.
So whether you play the classic wooden chess game or the modern electronic chess game, be mindful of the history before you.
