Ancient chess set found at archaeological site in China

Liu Bo players. Eastern Han dynasty, 1st-2nd century AD

Hello Everyone,

It's fascinating to know how far back chess has been known in history. Every time, fresh evidence in the form of an old chess set makes you feel thrilled.

You look at the chess set and wonder how someone would have sat at it thousands of years and possibly thought the same moves that you think now. Chess moves - a thread through Time - past and and present. Wow.

Recently, an archaeology team from the Hebei Cultural Relics Research Institute chanced upon an ancient chess set used for Liu Bo Chess (considered the original version of Chinese chess and modern chess) in an ancient tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Pingshan County in China.

You can read the full story here.

The name Liu Bo comes from Chinese (liu = six, bo = sticks). This game was played in ancient China, at least since the Zhanguo (The Warring States) era (4th c. BC) and maybe much earlier (7th c. BC) as it is evoked in Confucius' Analects (Book XVII, 22).

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com