Chess game

Alok Kumar kumar at OSWEGO.EDU
Thu Dec 16 19:57:06 UTC 1999


I am looking for the source of a story that is closely linked with the
game of chess.  I would appreciate any help.

Accoding to the story, a pundit who worked in a court taught the game of
chess to his king.  The king was so pleased that he offered to repay the
pundit.  The pundit asked for a single grain of wheat on the first
square of the chessboard, two grains on the second square, four on the
third square, and so on, doubling the number of grains on each
succeeding square until all squares had been used. The king considered
the request as modest and asked his subordinates to fulfil the request.
In his attempt to fulfil the request, it did not take long for the king
to realize that he could not fulfil the "modest" request.  The needed
amount of wheat was larger than the total stock of wheat in his kingdom.

Alok Kumar





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