Early European chess players changed the game

Early European chess players turned the chess game to reflect their society's political structure.

• Originally, chess was a game of war. Horsemen, elephant-riding fighters, charioteers and infantry protected the "shah" and his counsellor, the "firz."
• But Europeans changed the "shah" to a king, the "vizier" to queen, the "elephants" to bishops, the "horses" to knights, the "chariots" to castles, and the "foot soldiers" to pawns.
• Instead of representing the units in an army, the pieces now stood in for Western social order - those who fought (knights), those who prayed (clergy) and those who worked (the rest).