Wanna play a game of chess?

[Bruce MacCulloch]

In it there are references to a game called fidchell, fidchell is the Gaeilic word for chess. As well as this boards have been unearthed which are marked out in a style very similar to chess.

Actually, the boards found are marked out more similiarly to the boards used in hneftafl, or tafl, a game played by the old Norse. The board set-up (seven by seven squares) and the markings of the corner squares, rather than alternating light and dark squares as in chess, seem to bear out the relation of the the medieval and pre-medieval fitchneal. The modern Irish Gaelic term is taken from the Ulster cycle and other works, but was only first used to refer to chessmen during the late Middle Ages.

On a side note, there is also a modern chess variant called fidchell that was invented in the late 60's or early 70's by Gary Gygax. (ten points if you know who that is - and fifteen if you can tell me where he first published the rules for the game) [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[ December 15, 2002: Message edited by: Bruce MacCulloch ]