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Chess

Type Object Region Eurasia Time c. 600

In the 1120s, chess (the shatranj/chaturanga tradition) spread widely across Eurasia via the Islamic world and the Byzantine–Latin European channels;…

Timeline

  1. c. 1121–1130Iberian and Italian courts · ItalyIn the 1120s European courts and monastic schools widely encountered chess, and pieces evolved from abstract geometric forms toward figurative shapes; the Islamic world still followed shatranj rules, forming a parallel tradition with Chinese chess.
  2. c. 1130–1200Scandinavia and Rus' · SwedenTrade and crusader contacts brought chess sets into Northern and Eastern Europe; ivory and bone pieces became noble gifts, and the moves of the queen and bishop were not yet fully standardized.

Sources