History
In early Sanskrit chess (ca. 500-700) the king could be captured and this ended the game. The Persians (ca. 700-800) introduced the idea of warning that the king was under attack (announcing check in modern terminology). This was done to avoid the early and accidental end of a game. Later the Persians added the additional rule that a king could not be moved into check or left in check. As a result, the king could not be captured (Davidson 1949:22). Checkmate was thus the logical and only decisive way of ending a game (since if it was checkmate, any move would be illegal) (Davidson 1949:63–64).
Before about 1600 the game could also be won by capturing all of the opponent's pieces other than the king (annihilation or robado) (see bare king). In Medieval times players began to consider it nobler to win by checkmate, so annihilation became a half-win for a while, until it was abandoned (Davidson 1949:63–64).
Read more about this topic: Checkmate
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“As History stands, it is a sort of Chinese Play, without end and without lesson.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (18381918)
“What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history in German intellectual life.”
—Thomas Mann (18751955)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)