The earliest chess sets from India and Persia didn't have pieces called queens.
. Albania. Made of ivory and dates from 475 A.D.
Instead, the piece that stands beside the king at the start of a game was known as the counselor or farzin (the spelling varies).
. Scotland. Made from walrus tusk and dating from 1150 A.D.
There were knights on horseback and pawn foot-soldiers similar to what we find in standard chess sets today, but there were no bishops. In some early variants of the game, the pieces in the bishop's position were elephants dressed for battle.
. Uzbekistan. Made from ivory, dating from 760 A.D.
In early 1849 Nathaniel Cook, Howard Staunton's editor at the Illustrated London Times, designed the Staunton chess set at a time when players were refusing to play with each other's pieces because of the difficulty in distinguishing the various chess pieces.
The main patterns prior to the Staunton pattern were the Lund, Merrifield, Calvert, Barleycorn, Selenius and St George patterns. Cook used symbols in their plainest form.
The King had a crown, the Queen had a coronet, the Bishop had a miter, the Knight was a horse's head, the Rook was a castle, and the pawn was a ball. The horses' heads were based on the Elgin Marbles.
These were designs found in the Parthenon frieze and taken to England by Thoms Bruce, 7th Lord of Elgin, in 1806. The pawns were developed from the freemason's square and compass. Every symbol was supported on a plain stem rising from a heavy, wide base which gave stability.
The design so impressed John Jaques, leading wood carver, that he immediately suggested making the pieces on a commercial basis.
. Albania. Made of ivory and dates from 475 A.D.
Instead, the piece that stands beside the king at the start of a game was known as the counselor or farzin (the spelling varies).
. Scotland. Made from walrus tusk and dating from 1150 A.D.
There were knights on horseback and pawn foot-soldiers similar to what we find in standard chess sets today, but there were no bishops. In some early variants of the game, the pieces in the bishop's position were elephants dressed for battle.
. Uzbekistan. Made from ivory, dating from 760 A.D.
In early 1849 Nathaniel Cook, Howard Staunton's editor at the Illustrated London Times, designed the Staunton chess set at a time when players were refusing to play with each other's pieces because of the difficulty in distinguishing the various chess pieces.
The main patterns prior to the Staunton pattern were the Lund, Merrifield, Calvert, Barleycorn, Selenius and St George patterns. Cook used symbols in their plainest form.
The King had a crown, the Queen had a coronet, the Bishop had a miter, the Knight was a horse's head, the Rook was a castle, and the pawn was a ball. The horses' heads were based on the Elgin Marbles.
These were designs found in the Parthenon frieze and taken to England by Thoms Bruce, 7th Lord of Elgin, in 1806. The pawns were developed from the freemason's square and compass. Every symbol was supported on a plain stem rising from a heavy, wide base which gave stability.
The design so impressed John Jaques, leading wood carver, that he immediately suggested making the pieces on a commercial basis.
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