The third chapter of the first treatise treats why

the game was invented and made, Chapter 3

A woodcut illustration depicting a king and a philosopher playing chess. On the left, a king wearing a crown and royal robes is seated on an ornate high-backed wooden chair. On the right, a philosopher in simpler robes and a cap sits on a bench. They are positioned on opposite sides of a square table with a checkered chessboard and several game pieces. The background suggests an interior room with a leaded glass window and wooden wall panels.

The reasons why this game was invented are three:

The first was to correct and reprove the king. For when this King Evilmerodach The son of Nebuchadnezzar II; in this text, he is depicted as a prototypical tyrant saw this game, and the barons, knights, and gentlemen of his court playing with the philosopher, he marveled greatly at the beauty and novelty of the game. He desired to play against the philosopher.

The philosopher answered and said to him that it could not be done unless he first learned the game. The king said it was reasonable and that he would take the trouble original: "put hym to the payn" to learn it. Then the philosopher began to...