<P> Chess spread throughout the world and many variants of the game soon began taking shape . Buddhist pilgrims, Silk Road traders and others carried it to the Far East where it was transformed and assimilated into a game often played on the intersection of the lines of the board rather than within the squares . Chaturanga reached Europe through Persia, the Byzantine empire and the expanding Arabian empire . Muslims carried chess to North Africa, Sicily, and Iberia by the 10th century . </P> <P> The game was developed extensively in Europe . By the late 15th century, it had survived a series of prohibitions and Christian Church sanctions to almost take the shape of the modern game . Modern history saw reliable reference works, competitive chess tournaments, and exciting new variants . These factors added to the game's popularity, further bolstered by reliable timing mechanisms (first introduced in 1861), effective rules, and charismatic players . </P> <P> The earliest precursor of modern chess is a game called chaturanga, which flourished in India by the 6th century, and is the earliest known game to have two essential features found in all later chess variations--different pieces having different powers (which was not the case with checkers and Go), and victory depending on the fate of one piece, the king of modern chess . The original chess board was mathematically revolutionary, as reported by the infamous Wheat and chessboard problem . A common theory is that India's development of the board, and chess, was likely due to India's mathematical enlightenment involving the creation of the number zero . Other game pieces (speculatively called "chess pieces") uncovered in archaeological findings are considered as coming from other, distantly related board games, which may have had boards of 100 squares or more . Findings in the Mohenjo - daro and Harappa (2600--1500 BCE) sites of the Indus Valley Civilization show the prevalence of a board game that resembles chess . </P> <P> Chess was designed for an ashtāpada (Sanskrit for "having eight feet", i.e. an 8 × 8 squared board), which may have been used earlier for a backgammon - type race game (perhaps related to a dice - driven race game still played in south India where the track starts at the middle of a side and spirals into the center). Ashtāpada, the uncheckered 8 × 8 board served as the main board for playing chaturanga . Other Indian boards included the 10 × 10 Dasapada and the 9 × 9 Saturankam . Traditional Indian chessboards often have X markings on some or all of squares a1 a4 a5 a8 d1 d4 d5 d8 e1 e4 e5 e8 h1 h4 h5 h8: these may have been "safe squares" where capturing was not allowed in a dice - driven backgammon - type race game played on the ashtāpada before chess was invented . </P>

Where did the game of chess originate from