When did the king's army cease to be human?

Once small statues of people imitating kings, queens or soldiers, chess today is only a piece of wood carved unlike humans. This process is the result of centuries of religious, political and aesthetic conflict.

Chess originated in sixth-century India, with the chaturanga game meaning "four army units" consisting of cars, horses, statues and infantry. At that time, the flags were shaped quite specifically. The horse bears the head of the horse, the chariot has the shape of a long battle, and the statue of a warrior holding a spear.

When this game spread to Persia (present-day Iran), it was called shatranj. The Persians continued to use flags that depicted soldiers and kings, reflecting the contemporary social and military order. At that time, touching people and animals was normal, not controversial.

It was during this period that the king's flag was seen as a battle simulation, where the player took on the role of the king in command of the army.

The great upheaval occurred as Islam expanded its influence after the seventh century. In the Qur'an and Islamic tradition, the idolatry or imitation of human beings and animals is for God alone.

When the wandering flag entered the Arab bloc, it was still loved. However, the carvers had to try to hide the figure to avoid being considered an insult to religion. As a result, the flags are simplified into pillars, blocks, or small towers, differing only in height and pattern. From then on, the chess began to lose its human form.

Abbasid-era (9th and 10th centuries) flags excavated in Nishapur (Iran) or Samarkand (Uzbekistan) show that the troops were sculpted extremely simply, with no human or horse faces, but only statues, towers, or peaks.

The flag spread to Spain and southern Europe through the Arabs. The Europeans were quickly attracted, but initially adopted the shapeless version of this man.

However, by the 12th and 13th centuries, during the Middle Ages, chess was gradually "Christianized". Western artists began to restore the human form, especially among the nobility.

The flags of the time were usually made of ivory or precious wood, depicting the images of kings, queens, knights, priests and soldiers. The most famous is the Lewis Chessmen found in Scotland, around 1150 to 1200.

These flags had clear faces, stately seating, representing feudal society and religion. The king wears the crown, the tail against the chin reflects, the bishop holds the liturgical staff.

Human-shaped chess has been popular in Europe for centuries. But by the 19th century, an aesthetic revolution had taken place.

In 1849, in London, the British Chess Association held a design competition to create a standard set of flags for international competitions. The winner is Nathaniel Cook, an interior designer. He proposed a new flag with elegant, balanced lines, not imitating a real person’s face or figure. Each army carries only a reminder symbol.

The horse has a horse head. The car is a castle tower. The statue is the end with a slot. The queen and the king are distinguished by the crown and the cross.

The flag was launched by manufacturer John Jaques & Son under the name Staunton, according to unofficial world champion Howard Staunton, who promoted and endorsed the design.

Since then, the Staunton flag has become an international standard, recognized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Thus, the official chess army has not been human since the mid-19th century.

The disappearance of the human form is not only religious or aesthetic, but also practical. First of all, the abstract flags are easy to produce, more durable, lighter, convenient for sport and transportation.

Standardization helps reduce confusion when playing. With the human-shaped flag, each set has a different style, easy to disturb international players.

The simple shape embodies the logical and abstract spirit of modern chess, the game of the intellect rather than the symbol of class.

The removal of the human figure also made chess more popular. In a multi-religious and multi-cultural world, the use of human figures can be offensive or prohibited in some places. Staunton’s neutral, non-religious, non-nationalistic design should become a global icon.

As a result, the flag transcends Western or Islamic boundaries, becoming the common language of the intellect. FIDE has 201 members. The world also has hundreds of millions of chess players each year.

However, the human image has not completely disappeared. In art and collections, many artists still paint chess in the style of small statues, as in Napoleon, World War, Star Wars or Harry Potter.

These suits are mostly for exhibition purposes, not used in matches. But they reflect the human need to want to tell stories through the chess board. There, the flags are characters, not just symbols.

Chess is a symbol of intellectual sports, science and mathematics. But few remember that it originated from statues of soldiers. Today’s flag with wooden troops is simply the crystallization of 1,500 years of change in human culture and thinking.