Chess is thus described in it:
"An ingenious game, played or performed with little round
pieces of wood, on a board divided into 64 squares, where art and
address are so indispensably requisite, that chance seems to have
no place, and a person never loses but by his own fault. On
each side are eight noblemen and as many pawns, which are to be
moved and shifted, according to certain rules and laws of the
game."
The same work specifies the various ancient opinions upon the
origin of the game, inclining to those of Nicod and Bochart,
supported by Scriverius, who state that Schach is originally
Persian, and Schachmat in that language signifies the king dead.
Another opinion is that of all the theories enunciated, the most
probable is that of Fabricius, who avers that a celebrated Persian
astronomer, one Schatrinscha, invented the game, and gave it his
own name, which it still bears in that country. It adds, Donatus
observes, that Pyrrhus the most knowing and expert prince of his
age, ranging a battle, made use of the men at chess, to form his
designs, and to shew the secrets thereof to other. The common
opinion was that it was invented by Palamedes at the siege of
Troy, others attributed it to Diomedes, who lived in the time of
Alexander, but the text concludes by remarking, "The truth
appears to be that the game is so very ancient, there is no tracing
its author.
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