Ludwig Deutsch: The Chess Game

Ludwig Deutsch, The Chess Game
oil on panel, 1896
private collection
(http://www.paintingsclassic.com/chess_game_paintings.html)
no copyright infringement intended

चतुरङ्ग (chaturanga), the ancestor of all chess-like games, is thought to have been developed around 1,600 years ago by an Indian philosopher. Since then it has spread across the globe, and evolved into several distinct forms, with China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Europe all playing similar but distinct games throughout the middle ages. European chess underwent its most important development around 1475 when the capabilities of several of the pieces were changed. The fers became the most powerful piece on the board, combining the moves of the bishop and the rook, and was renamed the queen. Some of today's most familiar rules were also introduced then, such as castling, the two-square pawn advance, and en passant.

(http://plus.maths.org/content/practice-makes-perfect)

(Ludwig Deutsch)