A 2012 survey found that 605 million people play chess regularly, nearly 1500 years after the game was first played. The names of the pieces and the moves may have changed, but the rules that developed over a millennium and a half represent a culmination of many cultures and players that helped to develop the Game of Kings. The forgotten history of the game of chess deserves to be remembered.
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Script by JCG
#history #thehistoryguy #chess
I'd like to watch a history on Carrom.
Played the Delta airlines computer on last flight, lost most games. But two games after my move. The computer locked up and didnβt make a move. π
Wow, everyone seems to be on the chess bandwagon lately. So many new players to crush. Itβs been fun lately.
The ability to play against a computer anytime on my phone has got me playing again. It is humbling but beating the computer is satisfying.
Somewhat surprised you didnβt mention the incredibly famous Chess Men of Lewis. My favorite piece is the Bezerker.
I tried playing it once with my cousin and I don't know how to play it I guess you've got to have a nerve to play I've got a chess βοΈ set of the Civil War that's a collector piece but I prefer checkers
I am half Egyptian and I hate Cleopatra and the Ptolemaic dynasty because they were foreigners who took over Egypt. I wish that the rulers at that time were Egyptians and had the same skin tone as the people they ruled. But this is not the case, just because you don't like the history doesn't mean you should have the right to change it. The truth is that Cleopatra and the Ptolemaic dynasty were all white Mediterranean people from Europe who ruled over Native Egyptians and Nubian minorities.
When it is not stolen by British or European it is not invention, discovery because fundamentally lie is many inventions claimed done by Europeans are really not theirs but from indo-china region and all of a sudden after brutal colonial period they are blank and have nothing to invent any more. But yes if it is not European it must be story π .
THC lol nice
One thing to realize about computers playing chess "better" than humans is that they brute-force it, unlike humans. When a chess program makes a move, it has already played through the thousand, or even millions, of possible options for your moves and its moves and decided which one produced the "best result" by various metrics (e.g., capturing a piece at no return cost, capturing a better piece with a lesser piece, gaining control over key portions of the board, that kind of thing). Humans appear to do this somewhat, too, but they are not brute forcing it, they are bypassing much of the need to check every possible move against every other, by "pruning" the option tree much more aggressively. They decide that "X to e4" is the best option while only actually considering a few thousand options or so, not millions.
You might consider an overview of other board games, as well — Backgammon is an obvious one, as is Go, but also perhaps a summary of other games that have developed in the last couple centuries as people have gained more leisure time — Monopoly is an obvious example, but there have been an explosion of "tabletop games" (as opposed to "board games", which are more in the Monopoly vein) since the 1996 introduction of Settlers of Catan. There are now thousands of tabletop games which use and exercise a very wide variety of "mechanics" for play, many of which avoid randomness substantially (one of the major developments is reducing the use of dice), as well as not even necessarily using boards at all.
There are a wide array of different mechanisms — engine building, deck building, area control, worker placement, and others, and there are also games which mix different mechanics such as those described.
6 century India
Imagine trying to ban chess of all things. It feels like some people want to ban anything others enjoy.
I'm just learning chess now I'm 60. I love it
Always entertains and very informative.
Knew a guy who had the 3d chess set like they played on ST:NG.
10:12 check out the cod piece on the guy on the right
You never mentioned the Knight once. Huge fail. Checkmate ππ½
I pushed wood the first time as youngster in 1964 and have played ever since. This was a great episode I can relate to. Thens theres those weird sounding chess terms like En Passant, Zwischenzug, Zugzwang, Pigs on the 7th, En Prise, Kibbutzer, Patzer, Stalemate, Check, Smothered Mate, Checkmate, and J'doube. I myself like
tell my opponents they will be "bleeding wood". And when I engineer a winning attack I like to say "This is the part where I become the hammer, and you become the nail!"
I never beat my dad, but my little brother did, once.
My dad once beat a guy in his chess club , who once beat a guy who beat Bobby Fisher. In an exhibition match, where Fisher played some crazy number of simultaneous games. including a half dozen BLIND games, where Fisher doesn't get to see the board. He just gets handed slips of paper with the other guy's moves, and has to IMAGINE (and remember) the board. Imagine how hard, then remember he has Other boards he has to remember at the same time.
That's the guy that "beat" Fisher, in one of several blind games that day.
That's the way my brother beat Bobby Fisher, by the transitive principle.
8 inch by 8 inch board? They used inches?
You should do a video on backgammon!!
Very good interview.
@thehistoryguychannel Why do you say "so called Byzantine Empire"? Have you already done a video for that?
This was a great quick coverage of the vast history of the game. You covered far more than I expected in 14min.
I feel like im starting at an older age 43. Ive been playing researching for 4 days. Im hooked. Wish i could remember everything ive read
90% of the video is about chess in Europe….only 10% is about the history of invention in india and Iran.
The history of Chess is anything but "brief." I was on the high school chess team and I pretty much ……..well, I didn't do well. My best games were fought to a stale mate. In college, I played against people who had actually studied the game. They taught me strategies and moves. I still almost never won. I wonder if winning at chess is mostly a matter of "will to power." Something I never achieved
I've never played the game, but after this episode I just might. Nice episode, thanks
Great video, HG…π
Fun fact: In Russian the bishop is still called an elephant
I learned the rules when I was 12
Chess was invented by gupta empire in 300 bce
Well done as usual sir. Thank you. Love chess. Taught myself and played myself because no one else I knew played when I was a wee lad. I would always win. Funny how that works. Taught my son and daughter. Still play with friends and my daughter. I consider it as any true knight would, a chivalrous obligation. I agree, winning is not the point. If you think so, tune down your ego. There is always someone better and worse. Find friends on your level and enjoy.
Rule of thumb. You need to sacrifice your most precious players in order to win. Nobody really wins at the end. Life has a lot to teach us about that. You always lose
The majority of the world's population does not admit that chess originates from China.πππππ
What I have learned over the years from playing chess is…
1. I hate losing.
2. I really hate losing.
3. I really do honestly hate losing.
Dad taught me to play. Ive played hundreds of games with him and only ever won once. Didnt pick up the board for like five years afterwards
There several ways to view chess, eg; as a game of strategy, this is the most common, as the point of the game is to win the game, but.
when you REALLY TAKE THE TIME to research, study and LOOK at your set with a whole different perspective and purpose— it is absolutely AMAZING what you see:
You are literally GIVEN and opportunity (repeatedly) to play a game of strategy — with ART AND that art has a VERY LONG HISTORY! The overwhelming number of people enjoy ONLY
ONE THING about ART— they get to LOOK AT IT! We DO learn a lot about looking at art, but this is SO MUCH MORE!
You get to constantly TOUCH and handle this ART!
This art has over time LITERALLY BECOME — several OTHER THINGS: 1) its art 2) it is incredible craftsmanship 3) it has DEEP and important —PURPOSE to its design, shape, size, weight, type of wood used, sets come with different designs depending on their country or province of origin 4) there IS purposeful design to religious connection!! 5) there is design for POLITICAL connections and there is MORE!
The design, craftsmanship and beautiful artistic qualities show HISTORY, pragmatic design—ALL SETS have qualities that GO FAR,FAR beyond the simplistic idea of pieces to play "a game"!
The board also has great purpose to its design!
The THOUGHT and DETAILED PURPOSE that goes into making chess sets tells SO MUCH MORE about the set than –"the game"!
People have studied the great painters art, and brought so much clarity to their study, that people NOW have a MUCH DEEPER appreciation when they look at it!
BUT— SO MANY CHESS sets-
-HAS ALL THOSE VERY SAME QUALITIES, but again-ANY person who owns a chess set that they put thought into that purchase, why it means so much to them,they would ALL be able to tell you about EACH PIECE, the significance of its design!
Many,many owners of sets may TELL YOU something else that is so much more significant than "looking at art"!
They may be embarrassed to say; But the AMOUNT of TIME they sit GAZING at their set, is as much as ANY "MONET art", then there is the best part– they WILL sit and take time to HOLD, turn, and
manipulate EVERY SINGLE PIECE( even as some are THE SAME!) — this TACTILE feature, the being able TO FEEL, hold and turn, a beautiful, weighted piece, to look at different
parts of ONE piece– is honestly what multitudes of chess players DO!
The appreciation runs deep and with many aspects, — it STAYS with chess set owners throughout their LIVES, just like
–FINE ART–a chess set WILL do the MOST IMPORTANT THING;It WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME in its appreciation of strategy and great ART!
How could you miss out Staunton and The Lewis Chessmen!
All our HIS-story is a lie
My grandpa taught me how to play chess. In india, we follow the modern international rules of chess but in native tongue still use the old names like queen = advisor; Rook = Elephant; Knight= horse or cavalryman etc
Chess is believed to have originated in India during the Gupta Empire, around the 6th century AD.
After originating in India, chess traveled to Persia (modern-day Iran) around the 6th century AD. In Persia, it underwent significant modifications, including changes to the rules and the names of pieces. From there, it spread to the Islamic world, where further refinements occurred, before reaching Europe and other parts of the world. The game continued to evolve and standardize across different cultures over centuries.
Those blo*dy indians were fuc*ing genius!
I learned chess at the age of 12. It was a hot summer day, and I had nothing but a set of encyclopedias to engage my mind with. I had gotten to the "C" volume and stumbled across chess. The encyclopedia described the board and pieces along with the basic moves. I decided to build a board from wood using my father's woodworking tools. I did not know the exact dimensions but knew it was 64 squares of alternating color. I cut the squares to 2 inches from oak wood. I stained the pieces with light and dark stain. I spent all day making the 32 playing pieces. When I was done I went back to the encyclopedia to read more about chess while the wood glue cured. The next day, I woke with the excitement typically reserved for christmas morning. I rushed out to the garage and pulled the board out of the clamps and worked diligently to clean up any imperfections. I spent the next month playing chess against myself for entertainment. Neither of my parents knew how to play chess, so I had to teach them both. For the entirety of my teenage years after, the three of us would play chess on saturday mornings. A lot of good memories came from that board.
the interesting thing is why the rook, bishop and castle move as they do, why the pawn can move two moves on it's first move, and can't go backwards or take headon. one wonders too, how the knight move came about… – the way the knight moves is very important to the depth of the game, yet one is at a loss to think how it came about and was accepted π
I bet those guys who tried to ban chess were just salty because they sucked at it.
Surprised that the Lewis Chessmen and their Nordic connection did not merit a mention. An extended example of the spread of chess.
very informative video so what about checkers? i like to think that they are basically a lighter version of chess a more easier to learn but also hard to master type of game
6:10 mate in one for white! Are you kidding me!!