THE ORIGINS OF CHESS
The oldest written references of chess to date originated in what is now northern India or Afghanistan sometime before 6OO AD, but there are also unverified claims that chess existed as early as 100 AD. From the medieval period chess was referenced in courtly tales, but the two earliest surviving printed books on chess belong to the 15th century: "The Game and Player of the Chesse" printed by William Caxton in 1474 (and incidentally only the second book ever printed in English), and a "Repeticion" (or discourse) by a Spaniard named Lucena in 1497. Certain rule-changes were later introduced in the 16th century to make chess play a more dynamic, and in 1561 bishop Ruy Lopez (1530-80) published a treatise marking the beginnings of what is termed modern chess.