In this episode, we will look at the ancient origins of Chess in 6th-century Gupta India back when it was known as Chaturanga. From there we will discover how it evolved as it spread to Sassanian Persia and the Islamic empires like the Abbasids. We will see how it developed much of its core rules and strategy. Then we will look into how it continued its spread into Europe from the Byzantines and from Mediterranean merchants, and how this two-pronged approach combined with very abstract-looking pieces led to a lot of confusion as to what Europeans were to call the pieces and how they should be made. We will then look into the rules the Europeans added to make the game start a little faster as well as some of their more bizarre ideas like giving the pawns backstories and Fairy Chess. Finally, we will examine the impact chess has had on Western Civilization and how it can improve your life.
Sources for this episode are...
http://www.chess-poster.com/english/notes_and_facts/chess_piece_names_in_other_languages.htm
https://chessamid.medium.com/how-chess-conquered-europe-4d610466e5cd
https://www.chess.com/article/view/benefits-of-chess
https://www.chess.com/article/view/history-of-chess
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga
