Ambassador Chess Set
Click on the picture to enlarge.
We added Ambassador Chess to our portfolio because of the unusual and attractive style of the pieces. See the enlarged pictures to gain an appreciation of what we mean.
The boards are made from a stained hardwood as are the pieces. They are folding and hinged with storage trays inside so that, when closed, they form a storage container for the pieces. There are two metal catches to keep the box closed. The game is not a high quality inlaid item but it is a nicely made game with an appealing aesthetism.
Board is 54cm (21 inches) square when open, box is 54 x 27 x 6cm (21 x 10.5 x 2.5 inches) with an 11cm (4.25 inches) high King.
This product is of Eastern European origin. The manufacturer declares that: WE DO NOT use child's labour and materials we use for production are only from plantation and other ecological sources.
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UK pounds (ex.VAT) |
Pounds (incl. VAT) |
Typical ETA in wkg days |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ambassador Chess (pieces and board) |
£33.96 | £39.90 | 1 + transit time | ||
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The Origin of Chess
A great deal has been written about the origins of chess and there is still a lot of debate on the subject. The earliest clear ancestor of chess is shaturanga or chaturanga which was invented by a 6th century Indian philosopher. It was a battle between four armies each under the control of a Rajah (king), two players being loosely allied against the other two and and each containing 4 corps - Infantry, Cavalry, Elephants and Boatmen. The board of 64 squares used for shaturanga, was borrowed from an earlier game called ashtapada, which was a race game played in ancient India.
Under Hindu law, gambling became forbidden early on in the Hindu civilisation and, to avoid the gambling laws, shaturanga players dispensed with the dice. Another early modification was the merging of the allied armies into a single army making the game a two player form and duplicating the pieces, both developments which have survived until today. Other changes also occurred; and the resulting game was called shatranj.
There are three versions of the story of arrival of shatranj in Europe - did it come from the Saracens via Spain, from the Byzantine empire as a present to Charlemagne or was it brought back from the Middle East by Knights returning from the Crusades?. Nonetheless, in Europe, the game developed into modern European chess now played worldwide while in China, Japan, Burma, Thailand and Korea, other variants became just as popular.
You can learn more about the History of Chess from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.