CHESS IS OLD ENOUGH for its origins to be less than entirely clear. Most histories place the origins of the chess precursor game chaturanga in India sometime before the sixth century. From there chess moved to Persia and into the Arab and Muslim world, where it followed the well-trod path into southern Europe via Moorish Spain. By the time of the late Middle Ages, it was a standard presence in the courts of Europe and appears regularly in manuscripts from the period.

CHESS IS OLD ENOUGH for its origins to be less than entirely clear. Most histories place the origins of the chess precursor game chaturanga in India sometime before the sixth century. From there chess moved to Persia and into the Arab and Muslim world, where it followed the well-trod path into southern Europe via Moorish Spain. By the time of the late Middle Ages, it was a standard presence in the courts of Europe and appears regularly in manuscripts from the period.