A strategic board game played between two players on a checkered board with specially designed pieces. Each player starts with 16 pieces and aims to checkmate the opponent's king.
From Old French esches, plural of eschec meaning 'check,' which came from Arabic شاه (shāh) meaning 'king.' However, the game itself originated in India as chaturanga, from Sanskrit चतुरङ्ग (caturaṅga) meaning 'four divisions' (referring to infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots). The game traveled from India through Persia to the Arab world, then to medieval Europe.
Chess is actually a 1,500-year-old military simulation - the original Indian version had elephants instead of bishops and chariots instead of rooks! The word 'checkmate' comes from Persian شاه مات (shāh māt) meaning 'the king is dead,' showing how this Indian game collected vocabulary from every culture it passed through on its journey to become the world's most popular board game.
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