Which country did chess originate from?

There are several statements about the origin of chess:

1. According to historical legends, chess originated in ancient India, and the earliest record seen in the literature so far was written in Persian during the Sassanian dynasty. It is said that a Hindu master saw the king's conceit and vanity and decided to teach him a lesson. He recommended a game to the king that was unknown at that time. At that time, the king was surrounded by a group of flattering ministers all day, bored, and needed games to get rid of his depressed mood.

The king soon became interested in this novel game. When he was happy, he asked the master what reward he needed in return for his loyalty. The master said: Please put 1 grain of wheat in the first box, 2 grains in the second box, 4 grains in the third box and 8 grains in the fourth box ... In other words, every order is ranked last. The king smiled and generously agreed to the humble request of his master.

However, when the wheat was ripe, the king found that according to the agreement with the owner, the wheat in India was not even half the number of squares on the chessboard. The amount of grain requested by the owner is actually astronomical.

Many people who study chess think that chess originated in India. This stems from the article "Indian Chess" published by British william jones in Asian Studies 1790. Most western scholars agree with him. Because the world culture at that time was British culture.

There is an interesting story about the emergence of chess. It is said that before 2000, India had a very cruel king. Do whatever you want. The king has a trusted minister. He wants to advise the king with the truth that "a king cannot exist without his subjects", but he is afraid to put forward his opinions publicly. He came up with a suggestion: on a wooden chessboard, two armies were formed with bone blocks to fight; On the one hand, there is a leader, Wang, and four arms, including chariots, horses, elephants and soldiers, which are combined into an overall lineup. The king is the most important chess piece, and the battle is over when a king dies; At the same time, Wang is also a weak link. He can only rely on his comrades, that is, other more powerful pieces to protect him. These pieces must protect the king together in the whole battle. A chess piece weaker than the king counts as a soldier. But if you are good at commanding, make the soldiers go deep into the enemy's base and reach the bottom of the opponent, the soldiers can become the strongest chess pieces. This is the first game of chess, and it spread quickly. On the one hand, it spread westward to Persia, Arabia and Europe, and after changes, it formed modern chess; On the other hand, it spread eastward to Myanmar, Southeast Asia and China.

It was not until 1970s that the situation changed. Dr Joseph Needham, a famous British scholar, clearly pointed out in China's History of Science and Culture that chess is the creation of China people. He analyzed in detail the relationship between the ancient game Liubo in China and astronomy, symbolism and mathematics. He said: "Only in China, the prevalence of Yin and Yang theory promoted the embryonic form of chess, invented astronomical divination, and then developed into a game with military significance." Later, Soviet scholars published articles in succession, refuting the Indian origin theory. 1972 Yugoslav historian bijiv's monograph "chess-a symbol of the universe" draws the conclusion that chess first appeared in China in 569 AD, and then gradually spread.

Dr. Cherevko, a researcher at the Far East Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, published an article in the 1984+0 issue of Soviet Chess. According to his research, chess originated from the idea of the Book of Changes: sixty squares, corresponding to eight trigrams, and black and white corresponding to yin and yang.

So far, no refutation articles by experts and scholars have been seen. It can be considered that Dr. Cherevko's view that chess originated from the Book of Changes has gained a firm foothold in the world.

Around 5000 BC, 8×8 line paintings (painted pottery paintings unearthed from Yuanyangchi site in Yongchang, Gansu) appeared in China. Before 10 century BC, it can be concluded that there was an ancient chess called "Liu Bo". In the 5th century BC, Liubo was reformed into a "plug-in drama". Confucius (55 BC1-476 BC) said that "there are no chess players" (The Analects of Confucius), in which chess refers to Liu Bo and Go. According to historical records, the "Elephant Play" invented by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty in the 6th century (the late Northern and Southern Dynasties) (AD 569) is basically the same as the "Hundred Treasure Chess" found underground in the Tang Dynasty: 8×8 sets (64 squares) with cubes and chess pieces placed on the squares, which is the pattern of modern chess.

At the latest at the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th century, Xiangxi entered India (the possibility of Liubo, Cisse and quasi-Xiangxi entering India earlier was not ruled out), forming the "Chatulanz" and "Chastelain" in the Middle East. Both Chatulanz and Chastelain are translated into Chinese as "four-color chess" (or "square chess"). The physical basis of archaeology is that four-color chess did not appear in India until the 8th century. The earliest written record of "four-color chess" is the Kashmir epic Rathanahar in the 9th century. "Chastelain" later evolved into "Persian chess" and was introduced to Europe. About15th century, wood was shaped into today's modern chess.

The "Indian origin theory" originated from the British, and the British had better deny it. In the Encyclopedia Britannica 1984 edition, the origin of chess is also said to be India or China, and the origin of India is emphatically introduced. However, when the English version of Chess China School was published in Britain in 2003, there was a sentence in the introduction edited by Britain's largest publishing group: "Although some earliest chess forms were found in ancient China". It is not easy for British scholars to change their views.

Today, people discuss the origin of chess and draw various conclusions through legend, hypothesis, archaeology and logic. Hypothesis points out the direction for archaeological argumentation, and legends supplement the lack of archaeological logic. After all, the chess generation is too old. Just like the oldest history, it takes a very long process to reproduce the truth. However, on the whole, there are two points about the origin that are universally recognized:

(1) Chess originated in Asia and was introduced to Europe.

(2) The original rule was to roll the dice to decide who would play chess.

In addition, experts and scholars seem to have reached a * * * knowledge on the origin logic:

First, chess is an artifact. It's essentially a model.

Second, chess is the materialization of human thought and consciousness. It is essentially a simulation.

Third, modern chess is the result of the continuous evolution of ancient chess.

Fourth, the influence of evolution comes from all aspects (including the influence of all kinds of chess).

Fifth, the way of evolution is gradual mutation.

Sixth, evolution and continuity exist.

Seventh, the study of the origin should start with the three elements of chess structure-chessboard, chess pieces and chess rules.

Eighth, chessboard, chess pieces and chess rules play different roles in the origin, evolution and stereotypes of chess.

Ninth, chessboards, chess pieces and chess rules must not appear at the same time.

Tenth, there is no "original inventor".

This can be explained as follows: In the real world, time is irreversible. Therefore, time can create history, and time can also destroy history. Starting from this logic, we will never find the "original inventor". I have to be content with "the product of society, the crystallization of wisdom." Actually, in many ways, chess is more like a movie.

There is another saying about the origin of chess that it was invented by Arabs. Because the chess that people are familiar with today was developed in Persia. The word "chariot" in chess comes from Persian.