| Aims:
1. How did the game of chess originate?
2. What changes took place over the
years to the game of chess?
3. What is the origin of each chess
piece?
Materials:
chess
sets |
computer with Internet
access |
Al Woolum, The
Chess Tactics Workbook,
(North Richland Hills, Tx
2000) |
MacEnulty,
Let's Play Chess!,
A Kid's
Guide To The Royal Game,
Chess-in-the-Schools,
(New York, 2001) |
Vocabulary:
Teachers may introduce vocabulary words as they
come up in context or students may use Enchanted
Learning or Dictionary.com to define the following vocabulary words: Click here to see a glossary of words related to this chess unit.
Motivation:
Log onto http://misc.traveller.com/chess/history/ and examine the chess history timeline to answer these
document based questions.
Click here for a blank chart.
| When is the earliest mention of chess
being played? |
0531 - Chess was introduced into Persia. |
| Where did Chess originate? |
India. |
| What was the earliest precursor of chess? |
-
- Chaturanga was the earliest chess
precursor. It was created in the Punjab.
Decimal chess used a 10 x 10 board.
-
|
| When were the earliest chess pieces
identified? |
0610 |
| What were some other versions of chess
pieces used? |
Chess was played with dice in China. |
| When was the first mention of women
playing chess? |
0770 |
| When was chess first played in
Egypt? Spain? China? Italy? France? Russia?
Greece? England? Poland |
Egypt - 0620, Spain - 0780, China -
0795, Italy - 0800, France - 0801, Russia - 0820,
Greece - 0895, England - 1013, Poland -
1100 |
Development:
Read Al Woolum, The Chess Tactics
Workbook, page A, History
of Chess, Modern
Chess History, and Chess
Hall of Fame Inductees. Students may work in
groups with each student answering one question on the
chart.
Note to teachers: If The
Chess Tactics Workbook and Let's Play Chess!, A Kid's Guide To The Royal Game, are not
available, the online resources listed in this lesson are
sufficient resource material to carry out this unit with your class.
| 1. What is the origin of
the game of chess? |
Chess is a game of war that
was created in India in the 700's. It may have
been used to train warriors or as a civilized way
for kingdoms to settle their differences since
chess is a battle between two armies. Chess was
brought to Europe by crusaders and the Moorish
and Persian traders who dealt in silk, spices,
from the east. |
| 2. Why does the white
player move first? |
In medieval times black was
thought to be a lucky color. The white player was
allowed to go first since the black player
already had the advantage of the lucky color. |
| 3. Who are some famous
chess masters? |
Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer,
Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Paul Morphy |
| 4. What changes were made
to moves by the queen and bishop? |
In medieval chess the queen moved only one
square diagonally. The medieval chess bishop could leap over
pieces like a knight, and like the knight moved exactly two
steps; but unlike the knight, it moved its two steps diagonally.
In the late 15th century, the queen and bishop were given the
powers they now have. This probably happened in Italy, France,
or Spain, around 1475-1485. Modern chess was created in the same
historical period that produced the printing press and the
discovery of America. |
| 5. How does a chess game
represent life in medieval times? |
The chess pieces represent
people and places of medieval times.
Ceremonies and wars are represented by the chess
game. Medieval Europeans modernized the chess
game of the Persians to reflect their lives. They
used the pieces to describe the lives of the
ordinary and wealthy people. |
Summary:
Each group creates a timeline using Tom Snyder's Timeliner,
a software application that places dates and events entered by a user
onto a timeline. (Tom Snyder Productions may be found at Tom Snyder Productions, 80 Coolidge Hill
Road, Watertown, MA 02472) Included in the timeline will be 10 main
events in chess history.
Evaluation:
Students will be evaluated on their ability to
interpret and create a timeline. They will also be
evaluated upon their ability to read and understand
documents related to the history of chess. See rubric.
Follow Up:
In Lesson
3 students will research the roles of the
people and objects that each chess piece represents. |
