It is very tricky to sum up the history of chess in a short article, as there are so many countries with their own tales of chess history and also a great many cultures to cover when trying to summaries world chess history.
Most people can, however, agree that a variation of the game chaturanga was the first known variation of chess. The beginning of the history of chess has been attributed to the Indians, both by the Arabs and by the Persians. However, the origin of the chess game appears to remain lost in antiquity.
The ancient words for chess in both Arabic and Old Persian are shatranj and chatrang respectively — words derived from the Sanskrit word chaturanga, which literally translated means, an army of four divisions.
A variation of chaturanga made its way to Europe through Persia, the Byzantine Empire and the expanding Arabian empire. Chess appeared in the South of Europe during the end of the 1st millennium, often introduced to new countries by armies that conquered them, such as when the Normans conquered England. In chess history, it is noted that the game remained largely unpopular among the North European citizens at the time. Northern European people couldn’t relate to abstract chess shapes and only started to get interested (and started becoming part of world chess history) when the figurative pieces were introduced.
During most of the world history of chess, a social value was attached to the game. One can easily see that the game was seen as a prestigious pastime that was associated with nobility and high culture. This fact is easy to spot when viewing pictures of the exquisitely made and extremely expensive chessboards of the medieval era. The popularity of chess among the Western courtly society reached its peak somewhere between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries.
In the history of world chess, chess was soon incorporated into a knightly lifestyle in Europe. The game also became a subject of art during this period. England’s Queen Margaret had red and green chess sets, which were made of jasper and crystal, and symbolized chess's position as part of royal art treasures. Kings Henry I and II as well as England’s Richard I were all chess patrons. Alfonso X of Spain and Ivan IV of Russia are also examples of monarchs who really enjoyed and supported the history of chess.
During this part of the history of chess, the game became really popular, and the Church became alarmed as the game was now associated with violence and revelry. St Peter Damian publicly denounced the Florence’s bishop in 1061 for enjoying a game of chess even when he was aware of its ‘evil effects on society’. Florence’s bishop defended himself by declaring that chess was unlike other games and involved skill. Other similar arguments followed.
Chess pieces started to depict kings, queens, bishops, knights and men at arms during the mid 12th century. Ivory chess pieces began to appear in North-West Europe, and ornamental chess pieces depicting traditional knight warriors were used as part of the game as early as the mid 13th century. The initial nondescript pawn was now associated with a footman, which symbolized both loyal domestic service and infantry.