I was talking to my Mentor about the history of chess. He told me the game originated in ancient Persia which means it is one of the oldest games in the world. This got me thinking about the meaning behind the pieces and what they represent from a philisphical perspective.
2006-11-06 06:02:13 · 21 answers · asked by Vicki C 3 in Games & Recreation ➔ Board Games
Sure. I'll answer this.
Chess originated in India and moved through persia, but the game was a little different from what we have today. The kinght has always been a knight, the rook was a chariot, the bishop was represented by an elephant, and could only go two spaces at a time, and the pawns could only move one square from their start position and there was no promotion. Most notibably there was no queen. Instead there was a king's advisor, which could only move one square diagonally.
As the game moved westward though the crusades and the turks, it was Europeanized. The chariots became rooks, and the elephants were replaced with bishops- afterall, there are more bishops than elephants in Europe, especially in the court of a king...
The first reference to a queen was traced back to around 1000 AD in Switzerland. It still could only move like a king's advisor though.
Chess was a popular pastime among muslim women. And it eventually got the attention of royalty such as Queen Isabella of Spain and later Queen Elizabeth I. In this new age of the Rennisance, where in some areas the woman was the most powerful head of state, chess was revised to illustrate this point.
The game was eventually accelerated by improving the mobility of the pieces, around 1400. The bishops could travel further, and they gave the queen her rightful powers, imitating the current trends of women in powerful positions.
Pawn promotion at the end of the board could then bring a queen back. In its earliest forms, one could not have more than two queens with the pawn promotion- it was considered bigamy.
Hope this answers your question.
2006-11-07 09:39:33 · answer #1 · answered by coffee_addict 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well then, actually, I would argue the pawns are the most powerful piece. Of course the queen is worth the most, because of it's range of movement, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's all that useful in close games. Actually, the queen is usually a big pain in the *** because it can get you into trouble.
That and, because clearly women are inferior to men, and the king makes the queen do all the hard work while he slacks off and watches the battle. lol
2006-11-09 17:00:58 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, the queen is the most powerful, but the king is the most important. Perhaps the queens of old used to do all of the dirty work and day-to-day ruling, while the kings just relaxed and let the queens take care of things. Oddly enough, that sounds a lot like a lot of husbands and wives today.
2006-11-06 14:06:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Chess is built on real life. For example in household, as the king, the male is always the important one, but the woman, the queen, is always powerful over the man. Long story short.....WOMEN RULE~!
2006-11-06 20:05:11 · answer #4 · answered by Lioness 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a legend affixed to teh game that walks squarely into the Da Vinci code trype legend of the Sacred Feminine...check that out on the web and you will get the answer
2006-11-07 07:10:52 · answer #5 · answered by Ichi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Queen can run around all she wants, but the king still makes or breaks the game.
2006-11-06 14:33:17 · answer #6 · answered by rubikscube 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the Queen can move as many spaces as she wants at once and in any direction as she wants.
2006-11-06 23:11:46 · answer #7 · answered by Pooh 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When the King rides off to battle with his knights, it's the Queen that stays home to mind the castle. :)
2006-11-06 14:10:44 · answer #8 · answered by S.A.M. Gunner 7212 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the queen isn't
I think your mentor may be a flake the game of chess ends when their are no more moves available for the king which is called checkmate
not to be rude I think you need to use the spell check
2006-11-06 14:06:41 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
The King is the ruler...But in history and even today, behnd every great man is a Woman calling the shots.......i.e. Bill Clinton=HILLARY
2006-11-06 14:05:04 · answer #10 · answered by ray b 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋