| I come from a family of golfers. Golf is the favorite | | | | horse, camel and elephant, in its cavalry, which |
| recreation of everyone in my family, including my | | | | represent knight, bishop and rook in chess. Also, |
| grandparents, my mom and dad, myself and my four | | | | there are a lot of similarities between the way chess |
| siblings. Every year, we have a family reunion of | | | | is played today and the way Chaturanga was played |
| sorts featuring all my relatives from my father's side. | | | | in India during the 6th century. Historians believe the |
| At those gathering, the entire clan always has a | | | | Persians later created a more popular version of the |
| sportsfest wherein each of the different families | | | | game and called it Shatranj. But there is yet another |
| take on one another in four key sports. We always | | | | theory that claims that chess started from a game |
| win the golf competition. The others are volleyball, | | | | called Xiangqi that traces its roots to China during the |
| ping pong and chess.My dad told me to study chess | | | | 2nd century. there are a number of well-known |
| for next year's family sportsfest. I complained a lot | | | | scholars and historians who support the latter |
| at the beginning but have grown quite fond of the | | | | theory.Eventually, the popularity of chess caught on |
| game. I often like to recite the history of the game | | | | in the west particularly in Europe as well as to the |
| to my friends and, actually, to anyone willing to | | | | east particularly in Japan. Chess also started to |
| listen.Like the game of golf, chess also has a number | | | | spread throughout the world of Islam following the |
| of fathers as many countries claim to have originated | | | | Muslim's conquest of Persia. After some time, chess |
| the game. This has some basis especially if you note | | | | found its way to Russia (via Mongolia) where people |
| that the Arabic, Persian, Greek, Portuguese and | | | | started playing it in the 7th century. In the 10th |
| Spanish words for chess are all derived from the | | | | century, the Moors introduced chess into the Iberian |
| Sanskrit game Chaturanga. You might also want to | | | | Peninsula as mentioned in a popular 13th century |
| consider the fact that among all countries, only India | | | | manuscript that also covered backgammon and dice, |
| had three animals in its cavalry -- the horse, camel | | | | which was referred to as the Libro de los juegos. |
| and elephant. In chess, these are believed to be | | | | Historians say that the entry of chess into Europe is |
| represented by the knight, bishop and rook.In | | | | characterized by the enhancement of the queen's |
| addition, in the past only India had all three animals, | | | | powers. |