Chess originated in India?

CHESS originated from the Indian game Chaturanga, about 1400 years ago. From India it migrated to Persia, and spread throughout the Islamic world after the Muslim conquest of Persia. It was introduced into Spain by the Moors in the 10th century. Chess reached England in the 11th century. The fact is supported by the Cox-Forbes theory by Captain Hiram Cox and Professor Duncan Forbes based on evidence in the Indian text Purana and the Shahnama theory occurring in the epic Shahnama

• The title "Grandmaster" was created by Russian Tsar Nicholas II who first awarded it in 1914 to five players after a tournament he had funded in Saint Petersburg.

• The World Chess Federation was founded in 1924.

• Once considered a curiosity, computer chess programs have risen in ability to the point where they can seriously challenge human grandmasters. Kasparov, ranked number one in the world, played a six-game match against IBM's chess computer Deep Blue in 1996. Deep Blue shocked the world by winning the first game in Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1, but Kasparov convincingly won the match by winning 3 games and drawing 2. The six-game rematch in 1997 was won by the machine which was subsequently retired by IBM. In October, 2002, Vladimir Kramnik drew in an eight-game match with the computer program Deep Fritz.

— Compiled by Gaurav Sood