History
The most basic piece in the game, the pawn has its origins in the oldest version of chess, Chaturanga. It is present in all other significant versions of the game, around the world. This piece only moved directly forward, capturing to the sides(one square forward diagonal to the left or right). These pieces were used as a metaphor for common men directly in the game, rather than the piece being applied to life's perspective the other way around.
In medieval chess, an attempt was made to make the pieces more interesting, each file's pawn being given the name of a commoner's occupation, from left to right:
- Gambler and other "lowlifes", also messengers (in the left-most file, that direction being literally sinister)
- City guard or policeman (in front of a knight, as they trained city guards in real life)
- Innkeeper (bishop)
- Merchant/Moneychanger (always before the king, whether or not he is to the left or right of the Queen, which depends on the colour of the pieces)
- Doctor (always the queen's pawn)
- Weaver/Clerk (in front of the bishop, for whom they wove or clericked)
- Blacksmith (in front of a knight, as they care for the horses)
- Worker/Farmer (in front of a castle, for which they worked)
The most famous example of this is the second book ever printed in English, The Game and Playe of the Chesse, which indeed was seen as much as a political commentary on society as a chess book, and was printed second by William Caxton because it was, like the Bible, among the most popular books of its day.
The ability to move two spaces, and the resulting ability to have an en passant capture, were only introduced in 15th century Europe (see En passant#Historical context). The rule for promotion has changed through history, see promotion (chess)#History of the rule.
Read more about this topic: Pawn (chess)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In history the great moment is, when the savage is just ceasing to be a savage, with all his hairy Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of beauty;—and you have Pericles and Phidias,—and not yet passed over into the Corinthian civility. Everything good in nature and in the world is in that moment of transition, when the swarthy juices still flow plentifully from nature, but their astrigency or acridity is got out by ethics and humanity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.”
—Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)
“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)