Rules of Chess - History

History

The rules of chess have evolved quite a bit over the centuries. The modern rules first took form in Italy during the 13th century, giving more mobility to pieces that previously had more restricted movement (such as the queen and bishop). Such modified rules entered into an accepted form during the late 15th century (Hooper & Whyld 1992:41,328) or early 16th century (Ruch 2004). The basic moves of the king, rook, and knight are unchanged. Pawns originally did not have the option of moving two squares on their first move and did not promote to another piece if they reached their eighth rank. The queen was originally the fers or farzin, which could move one square diagonally in any direction or leap two squares diagonally, forwards, or to the left or right on its first move. In the Persian game the bishop was a fil or alfil, which could move one or two squares diagonally. In the Arab version, the bishop could leap two squares along any diagonal (Davidson 1981:13). In the Middle Ages the pawn could only be promoted to the equivalent of a queen (which at that time was the weakest piece) if it reached its eighth rank (Davidson 1981:59–61). During the 12th century the squares on the board sometimes alternated colors and this became the standard in the 13th century (Davidson 1981:146).

Between 1200 and 1600 several laws emerged that drastically altered the game. Checkmate became a requirement to win; a player could not win by capturing all of the opponent's pieces. Stalemate was added, although the outcome has changed several times (see Stalemate#History of the stalemate rule). Pawns gained the option of moving two squares on their first move, and the en passant rule was a natural consequence of that new option. The king and rook acquired the right to castle (see Castling#Variations throughout history for different versions of the rule).

Between 1475 and 1500 the queen and the bishop also acquired their current moves, which made them much stronger pieces (Davidson 1981:14–17). When all of these changes were accepted the game was in essentially its modern form (Davidson 1981:14–17).

The rules for pawn promotion have changed several times. As stated above, originally the pawn could only be promoted to the queen, which at that time was a weak piece. When the queen acquired its current move and became the most powerful piece, the pawn could then be promoted to a queen or a rook, bishop, or knight. In the 18th century rules allowed only the promotion to a piece already captured, e.g. the rules published in 1749 by François-André Danican Philidor. In the 19th century this restriction was lifted, which allowed for a player to have more than one queen, e.g. the 1828 rules by Jacob Sarratt (Davidson 1981:59–61).

Two new rules concerning draws were introduced, each of which have changed through the years:

• The threefold repetition rule was added, although at some times up to six repetitions have been required, and the exact conditions have been specified more clearly (see Threefold repetition#History).
• The fifty-move rule was also added. At various times, the number of moves required was different, such as 24, 60, 70, or 75. For several years in the 20th century, the standard fifty moves was extended to one hundred moves for a few specific endgames (see fifty-move rule#History).

Another group of new laws included (1) the touch-move rule and the accompanying "j'adoube/adjust" rule; (2) that White moves first (in 1889); (3) the orientation of the board; (4) the procedure if an illegal move was made; (5) the procedure if the king had been left in check for some moves; and (6) issues regarding the behavior of players and spectators. The Staunton chess set was introduced in 1849 and it became the standard style of pieces. The size of pieces and squares of the board was standardized (Hooper & Whyld 1992:220–21,laws, history of).

Until the middle of the 19th century, chess games were played without any time limit. In an 1834 match between Alexander McDonnell and Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, McDonnell took an inordinate amount of time to move, sometimes up to 1½ hours. In 1836 Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant suggested a time limit, but no action was taken. In the 1851 London tournament, Staunton resigned a game to Elijah Williams because Williams was taking so long to move. The next year a match between Daniel Harrwitz and Johann Löwenthal used a limit of 20 minutes per move. The first use of a modern-style time limit was in a 1861 match between Adolph Anderssen and Ignác Kolisch (Sunnucks 1970:459).