Transcript Chess Merit Badge Chess History: An Ancient & Popular Strategy Game by Joseph L.

Chess Merit Badge
Chess History:
An Ancient & Popular Strategy Game
by Joseph L. Bell
with a lot of material from Dr. John McCrary
© 2011
History of Chess
• Origin in India as “Chaturanga”
• Spread to Persia, Middle East, & Europe
• Changes to piece moves in Europe
• Ben Franklin and “The Morals of Chess”
• Development of tournaments
• Chess organizations: FIDE and USCF
• World Championships
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Chaturanga
• Chess originated in India around A.D
600 as “Chaturanga”
• Chaturanga meant “four-limbed”, which
referred to the four parts of the army:
Chariots, Horses, Elephants, and Foot
soldiers, as well as pieces representing
the ruler and his minister
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Chaturanga
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Chaturanga
• Chaturanga Pieces:
– The Chariot moved swiftly horizontally and
vertically. The chariot became the Rook.
– The Horse could leap obstacles and turn
quickly. The horse became the Knight.
– The Elephant was limited to moving two
squares diagonally. It became the Bishop.
– The Foot Soldier became the Pawn, which
cannot move backward to retreat.
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Chaturanga
• Chaturanga pieces (Cont’d):
– The Minister could move only one square
diagonally. This became the Queen.
– The Ruler became the King.
• The initial board setup in Chaturanga
did not have Kings on the same file
(It had the White Queen & Black King
on d-file, and reversed on the e-file.)
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Chaturanga
• Checkmate was a win (in Persia, called
“Shah mat” or “the King is helpless”)
• Stalemate, or a “bare king” (no pieces
left), were also considered a win
• Pawns could promote, but only to a
Minister (a weak piece)
• Chaturanga spread to Europe, and to
China and Japan in different forms
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Chess in the Middle East
• Chess spread with Moslem conquests in
the Middle Ages
• By the 9th century, chess had complex
literature, champions and professionals
• Moslem players were ranked, not
mathematically, but by titles ranging
from “Grandee” to “beneath contempt”
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Medieval Chess Game
A game of chess between a Spanish
crusader and Saracen (1221-1284),
1252, Alfonso X “the Wise” of Castile,
Chess (circa 13th century)
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Chess Spreads to Europe
• Chess reached Europe by A.D. 1000
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from contacts with the Moslem world
It was very popular with the knights
and nobility
English changed to elephant to Bishop
The horse became the Knight
Other Christian countries adopted other
names (Germans use “Springer” for Knight)
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Lewis Chess Set (12th century)
Woodcut from an 1841 article,
shortly after discovery of the
Lewis set
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Chess in Europe
• The Minister changed to Queen and
kept its weak moves until about 1475
• The game with stronger Queen moves
was called “Mad Queen” Chess by some
• Around the 13th century, players were
allowing the King to move two squares
(or like a Knight) in its first move.
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Chess in Europe (cont’d)
• The Minister changed to Queen and kept
its weak moves until about 1475
• In the 13th century pawns were allowed
to move 2 squares on the first move.
• En passant capture was not allowed in
some areas into the 19th century
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Chess in Europe (cont’d)
• In the 13th century, players were
allowed to move the King 2 squares in
any direction (and like a Knight) on the
King’s first move
• By the 17th century, modern castling in
a single move was established, but this
was not universally standardized until
the late 1800’s.
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Chess in Europe
• Moves of the Queen and Bishop changed to
modern form around 1475 in either Spain,
France or Italy
• The game with stronger Queen moves was
called “Chess of the Mad Queen” by some
• The new game was so superior, the medieval
chess was extinct in a few decades
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Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez,
by Luis Ramirez de Lucena (1497)
As of today, this is the oldest
known book about Chess.
The title translated into English is:
“Repeat Loves and Art of Chess”
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Chess in Europe (cont’d)
• Some played that Pawn promotion was
only to an already captured piece, until
the pawn promotion rule standardized
in modern form in early 19th century
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Chess in Europe (cont’d)
• Medieval chess treated stalemate as a win,
but an English book in 1614 said “a stale is
very dishonorable to him that giveth it” and
declared a stalemate a loss for the player
giving it
• The loss by stalemate rule was used in
England and America until the early 19th
century, when the stalemate draw rule
became universal
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Spanish Chess
• Opening theory had to be totally revised for
the new Queen and Bishop moves.
• One of the early opening analysts was a
Spanish priest named Ruy Lopez
• The Spanish were the most active chess
players at this time
• Chess was brought to the New World as early
as 1533, when Inca Chief Atahualpa was
taught the moves
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Chess in the 18th Century
• Paris and London were major centers of
chess activity. Play was largely limited to
nobility early in the 1700’s.
• Philidor of France was considered the best
chess player in the world
• Phildor wrote out moves in his books, without
using notation
• Phillip Stamma introduced Algebraic Notation
in 1737, which is now standard
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Chess in the (future) United States
• Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was playing
Chess by the 1730’s, among the first Chess
players in the American colonies known by
name
• Franklin used Chess in his diplomatic efforts
in England
• In 1786, Franklin published a famous essay
“The Morals of Chess” about important
educational benefits of Chess
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Benjamin Franklin Playing Chess in England
Lady Howe
Checkmates
Benjamin Franklin,
Painting by Edward
Harrison May
(circa 1865)
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US Chess in the 1800’s
• By mid-century, railroad and telegraph
brought chess players together on a
scale never seen before
• National gatherings began in the 1840’s
in the US (Kentucky) & England
(Yorkshire)
• Formal championship titles began to
emerge
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Staunton Design
Chess sets of unusual design gave an
advantage to the player who was used to it.
The Staunton design introduced in 1849 by
Jacques of London became the standard
required for competitive Chess games.
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Early Champions
• First US Championship match in 1845
won by Charles Stanley (1819-1901)
• Paul Morphy (1837-84) of New Orleans
won the American Chess Congress in
1857, and soundly defeated champions
of the Old World in matches
• The first international chess tournament
was held in London in 1851
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World Champions & 20th Century
• A match in 1886 between Wilhelm
Steinitz & Johann Zukertort established
the world championship as a title to be
won by regular formal matches
• Steinitz became a US citizen in 1888
• Chess interest exploded in the 20th
century to almost every nation in the
world.
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Chess Organizations
• Federation Internationale des Esches (FIDE)
was formed in 1924
• US Chess Federation (USCF) was formed in
1939.
• USCF popularized the “Swiss system”
tournament, which allows a large number of
players to complete over a few days
• USCF played a major role in developing the
chess rating system, which FIDE adopted
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Soviet Chess Champions
• The USSR rose to prominence as the leading
chess-playing nation, as a result of major
government support
• Soviet or Russian players were the World
Champions from 1948 to 1972, and 1975 to
2000
– Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal,
Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov,
Garry Kasparov
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Bobby Fischer (1943-2008)
• Born in Chicago, learned Chess after moving
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to Brooklyn as a small child
US Chess Champion at age 14, and won all 8
US championships he played in
Perfect 11-0 score at 1964 US Championship
Won two qualifying matches with perfect 6-0
Overwhelmingly defeated two past world
champions to become World Champion in
1972
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Photos – Bobby Fischer
Fischer vs. Michael Tal, 1965 (age 17)
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Fischer in Iceland, 1972
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Requirements
1. Discuss with your merit badge
counselor the history of the game of
chess. Explain why it is considered a
game of planning and strategy.
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