Chess

Introduction

Chess is perhaps the most famous game in the world. Chess in the Middle Ages, or Medieval Chess, was played much as it is in the 21st century, although there were many variations. In most areas, the game used essentially the same pieces and board as today.

History

The game that evolved into chess had its beginnings in Persia and India. From there, the game spread to Asia, and appeared in the Arab world by the 9th century. It was adopted in Europe during the Crusades, and many variations appeared in the European Medieval and Renaissance periods.

Medieval and Renaissance Versions

As described in Caxton’s Game and Playe of the Chess: a moral treatise on the duties of life (1474 C. E), the pieces were:

kynge (king), quene (queen), alphyn (elephant/wise man--like the modern bishop), rook (sitting on a horse), knyght (knight, also on a horse), and comyn people (common people or modern pawns). The "common people" were identified individually, each pawn representing a specific trade such as laborers/workmen, smiths, notaries, merchants and money changers, physicians/apothacaries (possibly alchemists), tavern keepers, guards, and retainers.

Chess was played differently in different countries and at different times in the SCA's period, making it impractical to list all variations here. But some common rules differences were:

King: His Majesty didn't castle, as castling appears to be a modern invention. Instead, the king could move two, three or four squares on his first move as long as this didn't put him in check or through check. Otherwise, he generally moved one square at a time as in modern chess.

Queen: Her Majesty could move only on her own color, and only one square at a time. In many earlier versions, she wasn't a queen but a fierce, or advisor.

Bishop: Moved diagonally, but was limited to moving no more than two squares at a time, and in some variations could jump pieces. In another variation, didn't move two squares, but instead could move to the opposite corner of three squares, still staying on the same color.

Pawn: Capturing en passant ("in passing") apparently wasn't used in all areas, but may have been used in France. But the pawn often had the option of moving two squares on its initial move.

In a game that ended with a Bare King (that is, one player had only a king left), the game was usually considered a stalemate.

The moves of Knights and Rooks were generally as they are today.

Sources

• The Chess Variant Pages
• Recreating Medieval Chess: from schachorum ludo to the queen’s chess by Carol Hamill
• Yalom, Marilyn. Birth of the Chess Queen: A History (HarperCollins, 2004).
• Murray, H. J. R. A History of Chess (London: Oxford University Press, 1913)
• Murray, H. J. R. A History of Chess (Northampton, MA: Benjamin Press, 1985) ISBN 0-936317-01-9