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IRELAND
The word, chess, whatever it may have signified, was common in Ireland long before it is ever found in English annals. The quotation from the Saxon Chronicle, of the Earl of Devonshire and his daughter playing chess together, refers to the reign of Edgar, about half a century before Canute played chess; but in Ireland the numerous references and legacies of chess-boards are of eight hundred years' earlier date.
Several scholars in Ireland have discussed the question of probable early knowledge of chess there.
Fitchell, a very ancient game in that country, was uniformly translated, chess.
O'Flanagan, Professor of the Irish language in the University of
Dublin, writing to Twiss about the end of last century in
Reference to Dr. Hyde's quotations, thought Fitchell meant chess.
J. C. Walker wrote:—"Chess is not now (1790) a common game in Ireland; it is played at and understood by very few; yet it was a favourite game among the early Irish, and the amusement of the chiefs in their camps.
"It is called Fill, and sometimes Fitchell, to distinguish it from Fall, another game on the Tables, which are called Taibhle Fill.
"The origin of Fill in Ireland eludes the grasp of history."
The Chess King preserved by Dr. Petrie, L.L.D., bears no small resemblance to those found in the Isle of Lewis, now in the British Museum, and which have been graphically reported upon by Sir F. Madden.