In its symbolism chess is the most significant of all games. It has been called "the royal
game"--the pastime of kings. Like the Tarot cards, the chessmen represent the elements
of life and philosophy. The game was played in India and China long before its
introduction into Europe. East Indian princes were wont to sit on the balconies of their
palaces and play chess with living men standing upon a checkerboard pavement of black
and white marble in the courtyard below. It is popularly believed that the Egyptian
Pharaohs played chess, but an examination of their sculpture and illuminations has led to
the conclusion that the Egyptian game was a form of draughts. In China, chessmen are
often carved to represent warring dynasties, as the Manchu and the Ming. The chessboard
consists of 64 squares alternately black and white and symbolizes the floor of the House
of the Mysteries. Upon this field of existence or thought move a number of strangely
carved figures, each according to fixed law. The white king is Ormuzd; the black king,
Ahriman; and upon the plains of Cosmos the great war between Light and Darkness is
fought through all the ages. Of the philosophical constitution of man, the kings represent
the spirit; the queens the mind; the bishops the emotions; the knights the vitality; the
castles, or rooks, the physical body. The pieces upon the kings' side are positive; those