Chess
Jaques Staunton Chess
The most commonly used design for chess pieces in the world today is the Staunton design, invented in 1847 by John Jaques of London. Prior to that time pieces were usually awkward to use, top-heavy or overly ornate. John Jaques elegant but practical design was named after Howard Staunton, the world's leading player, and was an immediate hit. Over the next 40 years or so it was gradually refined into the classic pattern of 1890 and by the turn of the century Staunton had become the de-facto standard both for home and tournament play.
Jaques
Chess Cabinet
|
Jaques
Book-Style Chess
|
Other Chess products
|
|
|
|
Product Index
General
Info
View
Basket
Contact Us
Game Rules
Shortcuts
Chess
Go
Croquet
Skittles
Bowls
Poker Sets
The Origin of Chess
A great deal has been written about the origins of chess and there is still a lot of debate on the subject. The earliest clear ancestor of chess is shaturanga or chaturanga which was invented by a 6th century Indian philosopher. It was a battle between four armies each under the control of a Rajah (king), two players being loosely allied against the other two and and each containing 4 corps - Infantry, Cavalry, Elephants and Boatmen. The board of 64 squares used for shaturanga, was borrowed from an earlier game called ashtapada, which was a race game played in ancient India.
Under Hindu law, gambling became forbidden early on in the Hindu civilisation and, to avoid the gambling laws, shaturanga players dispensed with the dice. Another early modification was the merging of the allied armies into a single army making the game a two player form and duplicating the pieces, both developments which have survived until today. Other changes also occurred; and the resulting game was called shatranj.
There are three versions of the story of arrival of shatranj in Europe - did it come from the Saracens via Spain, from the Byzantine empire as a present to Charlemagne or was it brought back from the Middle East by Knights returning from the Crusades?. Nonetheless, in Europe, the game developed into modern European chess now played worldwide while in China, Japan, Burma, Thailand and Korea, other variants became just as popular.
You can learn more about the History of Chess from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.