The history of chess goes back 2200 years. It was played in Chinese Warring Sates Period about 200BC, called XiangQi. Modern International Chess game though originated in northern India in the 6th century (which shares quite a few common Characteristics with the Chinese creation) and spread to Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently, through the Moorish conquest of Spain, spread to Southern Europe. But in early Russia, the game came directly from the Khanates (muslim territories) to the south.