Nobody, in the sense of one person. The earliest ancestor is chaturanga, played in northern India by about the 6th century AD, and every later version - Persian shatranj, then European chess - is a modification of what came before. The game we play was not designed; it accumulated.

When was chess invented?

Chaturanga is attested by the 6th century AD, which makes chess roughly 1,500 years old. The version with the modern queen and bishop is much younger: those rules appear in Spain and Italy in the late 15th century, so modern chess is a little over 500 years old.

Where did chess originate?

Northern India, then Persia - where the words check and checkmate come from, via shah (king) and shah mat (the king is helpless) - then the Arab world, and into Europe through Spain and Italy by about the 10th century.

Why is the queen the strongest piece?

Because European players in the 15th century made her that way. Her ancestor, the Persian ferz, moved one square diagonally and was one of the weakest pieces on the board. Around 1475 she was given the rook's move and the bishop's move together, and the game got so much faster that the new version was nicknamed "mad queen chess".

Younger than the queen's promotion. The idea of moving the king to safety in one go developed over the 16th and 17th centuries out of a two-move king's leap, and only settled into the exact rule we use - king two squares, rook jumps over - in the 19th.

When did chess become organised?

In the 19th century: London 1851 was the first international tournament, Steinitz was recognised as the first world champion in 1886, and FIDE was founded in 1924. The clock, the modern rules and the rating system are all part of that same century and a half.

History of Chess

Chess is roughly fifteen hundred years old, and for the first thousand of them the queen could move one square. The rule change that fixed that is the reason the game feels the way it does - so play both versions and feel it.

By Nethanel Bar, Co-founder & CEO

Last updated August 27, 2026

Chess is about fifteen hundred years old, and it has not been the same game the whole time. The pieces you know are the result of two big rewrites - and one of them you can feel in about thirty seconds.

The queen used to be the weakest piece

In Persian shatranj, the piece standing where the queen stands today was the ferz, the king's counsellor. It moved exactly one square diagonally. Not one square in any direction - one square, diagonally, and that was all.

Interactive board

0 / 4

Imagine this is not a queen but a ferz, her thousand-year-old ancestor. Tap the four squares she could reach.

Now play the other version. The same piece, on the same square, with the rules Europe gave her in the 15th century.

Interactive board

This is the modern queen, on b1, and the black king is in the corner. Finish the game in one move.

That rewrite happened in Spain and Italy around 1475, and the bishop got its long diagonal at the same time. The game became so much faster than the old one that it was nicknamed scacchi alla rabiosa - mad queen chess.

The same square, two eras. The four marked squares are everything the Persian ferz could do; the arrows are four of the twenty-seven squares the modern queen reaches from d4. One rule change, and the most decorative piece on the board became the most dangerous.

Where the game came from

roughly when	where	what it was called, and what changed
by 600 AD	northern India	chaturanga - four arms of an army: infantry, cavalry, elephants, chariots
7th century	Persia	shatranj - the words check and checkmate come from shah and shah mat
8th-10th century	the Arab world, then Spain and Italy	pieces keep their moves; the game spreads along trade and conquest routes
~1475	Spain and Italy	the queen and bishop get their modern moves - "mad queen chess"
16th-19th century	Europe	castling settles into its modern form; en passant arrives with the two-square pawn move
1851	London	the first international tournament
1886	-	Steinitz recognised as the first world champion
1924	Paris	FIDE founded; the rules become international
1997	-	Deep Blue beats Kasparov in a match

The names carry the history. Checkmate is Persian for the king is helpless. The rook is the Persian rukh, a chariot, which is why it does not look like a castle anywhere except in English. And the bishop is a bishop only in English: it is a fou (jester) in French, a Läufer (runner) in German, an alfil (elephant) in Spanish - straight from the Arabic al-fil, which is what the piece originally was.

What arrived when

The two-square pawn move and, with it, en passant, which exists only to answer it.
Castling grew out of a two-move king's leap and settled into its exact modern shape in the 19th century.
Stalemate as a draw is a European decision: in shatranj, stalemating your opponent was a win, and in some places it was a loss.
The clock arrived in the 1860s as sandglasses, with the mechanical chess clock following in 1883 - before then, players could and did think for hours over a single move.

Try it

The ferz moved one square diagonally. Tap a square she could reach from d4.

Common questions

Who invented chess?: Nobody, in the sense of one person. The earliest ancestor is chaturanga, played in northern India by about the 6th century AD, and every later version - Persian shatranj, then European chess - is a modification of what came before. The game we play was not designed; it accumulated.
When was chess invented?: Chaturanga is attested by the 6th century AD, which makes chess roughly 1,500 years old. The version with the modern queen and bishop is much younger: those rules appear in Spain and Italy in the late 15th century, so modern chess is a little over 500 years old.
Where did chess originate?: Northern India, then Persia - where the words check and checkmate come from, via shah (king) and shah mat (the king is helpless) - then the Arab world, and into Europe through Spain and Italy by about the 10th century.
Why is the queen the strongest piece?: Because European players in the 15th century made her that way. Her ancestor, the Persian ferz, moved one square diagonally and was one of the weakest pieces on the board. Around 1475 she was given the rook's move and the bishop's move together, and the game got so much faster that the new version was nicknamed "mad queen chess".
How old is castling?: Younger than the queen's promotion. The idea of moving the king to safety in one go developed over the 16th and 17th centuries out of a two-move king's leap, and only settled into the exact rule we use - king two squares, rook jumps over - in the 19th.
When did chess become organised?: In the 19th century: London 1851 was the first international tournament, Steinitz was recognised as the first world champion in 1886, and FIDE was founded in 1924. The clock, the modern rules and the rating system are all part of that same century and a half.