CHESMAYNE
Mythical Inventors of Chess
These would include: Shem, Japhet,
KI Solomon, Lydus and Tyrrhenus,
Hermes, Aristotle, Semiramis, Zenobia, Attalus, Palamedes, Xerxes, Shatenscha,
Ulysses, Diomedes, Adam, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians,
Scythians, Egyptians, Castilions, Irish (Chesmayne), Welsh, South
American Indians, Icelanders, Aborigines, Chinese, Pygmies, Bataks, Meetaks, Jason and the KTs
of KI Arthur’s Round Table.
The History of Chess
According to the most
authoritative literature concerning the history of chess, this simple game was invented some time ago by
either the Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, Scythians, Egyptians, Jews, Persians,
Chinese, Hindus, Arabians, Araucanians, Castilians,
the Irish, or a Welshman or two.
One thing
appears rather obvious. Nobody knows
where Chess originated, but we do have some seemingly reliable accounts of the
game itself since the 6th century.
One of the first accounts of the game, as I was told, was something like this:
A rich, gambling,
avid game-playing caravan owner, bored with the games of his time, experimented
with ways of making checkers
more exciting. To him, the game was a war. Instead of silly little pieces “jumping over
each other,” he envisioned two Pharaohs
(Kings) and their armies at
war on the battlefield.
One day he found a rock that looked remarkably like a horse with a mounted man
holding a sword. During those days the main warriors in a
kingdom were known as Knights. An idea began to formulate in his mind.
He envisioned an army with people of various talents and skills. He had a King, some Knights, and the
mainstay of all armies, the foot
soldiers, but he needed something special.
In those days they also had their own versions of special weaponry, such
as, armored soldiers, rock throwers, chariots, etc. That was the birth of the Rook, originally the most
powerful piece on the board, the only piece that could move more than two
squares at a time. It didn’t represent
anything specific; it was simply the ultimate battlefield weapon of the
time.
That is why the Rook is sometimes depicted as an elephant with a
watchtower mounted on its back. The
elephant was layered with leather and armor and the
man or men were in an arrow
and spear-proof enclosure from which they
could fight with a fairly good degree of protection. Sort of a predecessor of
our tanks.
There is very little known about the creation of the Bishop. It probably represented the Pharaoh’s
spiritual counselor and adviser, a necessity in
those days.
With foot soldiers, a Knight, a Rook, and a Bishop, he had the basic
forces necessary to wage war. For the
battlefield, either giving very little thought to creating a playing field, or
being unable to come up with a better idea, he used his checkerboard.
After years of experimenting,
he finally came up with a “perfected” game.
Each army consisted of a Pharaoh, a Bishop, A Knight,
a Rook, and four foot soldiers. They were placed on opposite corners of the
board in the present day “white”
king-side
configuration. Some stories have the
kings placed in the corners instead of on the fourth and fifth files.
It was during the 8th
century in India, considered the birthplace of Chess that the game evolved to sixteen
pieces on a side. The Pharaoh’s name
was changed to King. Since there could
only be one King on a side, and to keep the pieces symmetrical, another piece had to be created.
The new piece was called a
Viceroy, (the second-in-command). Being
more of an advisor rather than a warrior, he could only move diagonally one square at a time. Except for
the Pawns, the Viceroy was the weakest piece on the board.
Since then
there have been many major changes in the rules of the game.
About the
middle of the 15th century, the French made the single most
profound change in the
evolvement of the game of Chess. They
changed the Viceroy from a him to a her, called her
the Queen, and gave her
unlimited moves in any direction, suddenly making an almost useless piece into
the strongest warrior on the battlefield.
Before the 15th
century the Bishop [see ‘Minister’]
could only move two squares diagonally in any direction, and it could jump over
any piece on the first square of its move.
In the early 16th
century, pawn promotion - allowing a pawn, upon reaching the eighth rank, to be promoted to any other piece of
higher powers - came into effect.
Originally, the pawns could only move one square at a time, even on
their first move. Their main function was to
form the “front lines” as in more modern warfare, a place the enemy wasn’t to
be allowed past.
A pawn became relatively useless if it advanced too far into enemy
territory.
But with the introduction of pawn promotion, an increase in the pawn’s mobility became desirable.
This brought about the two-move
rule used at present.
Seeing that a
pawn could sometimes use its two moves to pass an adjacent, opposing pawn,
avoiding the necessary opposition of the foot soldiers, the “en passant” rule was
introduced.
The King seems
to have always moved the same as at the present, except that the game used to
be played until he was actually captured. Because of the King’s vulnerability due to the
Queen’s enormous scope and power, several methods of “castling” were tried before
the 16th century.
One method was to allow the
King to move two or three squares on its initial move. Another method was to allow the King to move
directly to King’s Knight two.
The present method of castling was introduced in the mid 16th
century by a priest named Ruy Lopez.
The squares on the chess
board were all the same color until the 13th century. It’s hard to imagine that they spent over
five hundred years of having to remember, or figure out, which squares could or
could not be attacked by, or guarded by a particular Bishop.
Playing Chess blindfolded was
exhibited by Arabian and Persian experts in the 11th Century. On
many occasions, prior to his death in 1795, Philidor
played three simultaneous
games blindfolded. It was an absolutely
unbelievable feat for the times.
Years later,
Paulsen, Blackburne, and Zukertort
often played 10 to 12 games blindfolded.
Then, using improved visualizing techniques and meditation, outstanding
feats became more commonplace. Alekhine
played 28 and Reti 29 in 1925. Then Alekhine
played 32 and Koltanowski played 34 in 1937. The record continues upward.
In 1943, Miguel
Najdorf exceed all previous
performances by winning forty out of forty blindfolded, and with time
restrictions, in
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