Chess is a popular board game that has its roots firmly set in ancient history, but even though it has been around for some time, the origins of the game are something that most people are unaware of. In most cases, people tend to point towards China as being its place of birth, but if you thought that as well, you would be wrong.
Instead, we have to travel to India to discover its origins because even the name of the game comes from that part of the world. It all stems from a Sanskrit word ‘chaturanga’, which roughly translated means ‘four members of an army’ and even though it started off in a different form to how we play it today, most experts say that this was the first version.
Apparently, the game referred to foot soldiers, chariots, horses, and elephants, so it did have to go through a few adaptations to get to the version that we are familiar with today. It is believed that the game spread from India into what is now Iran before it was readily accepted in the Muslim world, which sped up the rate that it spread. After that, it made its way into Southern Europe, and the rest truly is history, as it quickly became a game that would end up extending to the rest of the world.