Hey, Camp Fans!
It was well over a year ago that I covered one of the greatest Chess players of all time here on the Blog: Bobby Fischer. Named the ‘grandmaster’ of Chess, he was a clear pick for the Pioneers and Record Setters post when it comes to the world of Chess. Today, we’re not talking about any Chess player in particular, but simply the game of Chess itself!
Chess is an old game. History shows us that it’s been around for the last 1500 years. Of course there are much older games that preceded Chess. One of Chess’ origins is an Indian game from the 6th Century called Chaturanga. Even older than Chaturanga is the still-popular Checkers. Checkers has been around for a whopping 5000 years!
While pieces in Checkers all move the same way, Chaturanga developed different pieces that moved in different ways. Chaturanga also moved a step closer to Chess with the objective of the game resting entirely on the fate of one piece. You can learn about some other older games when you check out this previous Blog post I wrote.
Along the way, Chaturanga eventually evolved into the game of Chess that we all know today. The different Chess pieces are comprised of Pawns, Rooks, Knights, Bishops, the Queen, and the King. Each different piece has different powers of movement and attack.
See if your summer camp offers Chess as part of their activity program and you can pick it up in the following summer. Or you can bring your own set if you own one along for your next camp session and see if anyone else knows how to play. My dad taught me when I was very young so I always had family members to play with. Maybe you do too!
Enjoy learning this very old and very strategic board game if you decide you want to pick it up! You can find a travel set to go on top of your camp trunk at Everything Summer Camp. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!
- John