A strange little side quest
Between one round of Royal Defense and the next, this is worth knowing: A major archery competition held at Finsbury in England in 1583 drew about 3,000 participants. The same trail leads to another fact: Modern chess traces back to the Indian game chaturanga, recorded around the sixth century and built around pieces representing parts of an army. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.