Category: The Illustrated History of Chess

We reached the Middle Ages, which is also called the Dark Ages, in my discoveries concerning the origin and history of chess.  But was it really dark everywhere? Let’s have a look at it from the aspect of chess.

Arab plays Chess with a Spaniard

I still remember that the first time I played chess with my father, he told me the famous legend about the origins of chess. The tale was about an Indian wise man, who, after showing his new game to the Emperor was granted a single wish. What he wished for, was quite interesting. A single grain of wheat on the first square of the board, two on the second, four on the third, and so on, with each square having two times as many grains of wheat as the previous one. Of course, as those familiar with this Math problem already know, the Emperor could not follow through on his promise. There simply wasn’t that much wheat in the world.