The game that played us

It is told that in Ancient India a queen designated her only son as her heir. When the son was assassinated, the queen‘s council could not find a proper way to bring the tragedy to their ruler. A philosopher was introduced to the court. After listening to their needs, the monk left without a single word. He then sat next to a river and waited… motionless and silent. After three days, he abruptly demanded “Summon a carpenter with wood of two colors; white and black“. With it, he made a board with a square grid. “Bring me tanned leather“ he then demanded. With that, he added strange small figures on one side placed in two rows and then did the same on the opposite side. Raising up “Bring me the queen“. The queen came and the monk presented his contraption: “This is war without bloodshed“.

Has the strange game marched to its conclusion apparently on its own, the queen‘s expression became pensive and then somber. Making the final move, the monk is interrupted by a gasp. Understanding, then sorrow “My son is dead“ she exclaimed. The monk‘s work was done and chaturanga - chess - was born.

Without death looming above it, this warfare was quickly identified as ideal teaching material for princes. From there, chess would have fostered and spilled through Indian courts. Chess would not contempt itself with this. Through the years, it would expand its reach even more, eventually grasping Persia. But then, the Arabs came. For them, chess - or Shatranj as it was called at this point - would promise even more. No longer would these pieces be confined to tutors: they were weapons of the mind - a way to subdue another‘s mind to your own.

The first known chess competitions would appear and, with these, codification of player‘s skill. Five classes existed: players of the fifth or fourth classes were not considered ‘proper‘ adversaries, but players of the first class were treasured by rulers and had the reputation of predicting up to ten moves ahead. These players - the Aliyat - were a rare breed. Al-Adli was such a mind - the only one for more than forty years during his lifetime. Al-Adli would write Kitab ash-shatranj - The Book of Chess - one of the very first analysis books on the game and instrumental to our understanding of it. It would include openings, strategies and, of course, problems. This variant of the Dilaram problem would capture the minds of many after Al-Adli‘s lifetime. White to play and win in six.

Rook on h4 to h8 (check).
King on g8 taking the rook on h8.
Elephant - not yet the bishop and moving two spaces diagonally - on h3 to f5 (check). Rook on b2 to h2.
Rook on h1 taking on h2 (check). King on g8.
Rook on h2 to h8 (check again). Taking the rook with the king.
Pawn on g6 to g7 (check). King going to g8.
Knight on g4 to h6 (check and mate).

Al-Adli‘s time came to pass: he was finally bested by Al-Razi, the next Aliyat. But Al-Razi‘s prestige would also, in turn, fade from the courts. Chess wouldn‘t. Rulers would change, customs too: but chess always finds fresh minds to seize. Oh, some would fear its power: sometimes even banning it for a few years but to no avail.

Ultimately, chess would reach the Christian world where it would blend seamlessly into their culture. Chess metaphors abound. It is said that, when the French king Louis VI was captured fighting in Normandy around 11-10, one French knight said: “The king is taken“. Making the king burst out with: “Ignorant and insolent knight. Not even in chess can a King be taken.“. It is at this point that the perception of chess would morph once more. No longer was chess only an instrument of one will: it was the architect and expression of social hierarchy. The Dominican monk Jacobus de Cessolis wrote in the 13th century the pivotal “Liber de moribus hominum et offiis nobilium ac popularium sive super ludo scacchorum“ (The Book of the Morals of Men and the Duties of Nobles and Commoners - or, On the Game of Chess). In it, chess became an allegory for the Christian social classes - even going as far as to say that such classes should morally act as they could be attributed in the game. For example, Jacobus argued what roles the queen could rule and what morals she should take upon was dictated by what kind of pieces she could reach in a chess game. Some social classes Jacobus describes are self-evident, like the king, queen, bishop and knight. The rook represented a king‘s emissary and pawns incarnated the different peasant professions: tillers of the earth, metal workers, tailors, merchants, physicians, tavern workers, city guards and couriers.

Chess would also adorn a role as a divine messenger. King Alphonso X of Castille and Leon would commission Libro de los juegos - The Book of Games. Within these pages would be collected multiple rulesets for dice games, table games (such as backgammon) and, of course, chess. For this pious king, these games of skill or chance acted on one own‘s fate and were both integral in astrology. But Alphonso went further and added lessons on prudence, skill and intelligence, which were slightly different depending on which type of game and problem the reading considered. As such, the Book of Games was assembled as a didactic manual to human virtue.

Passing through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the Renaissance, chess as a moral tool would develop even further, even joining firsthand the political stage. In 1624, Thomas Middleton‘s play - A Game at Chess - used black and white pieces on a chessboard to criticize catholic Spain and protestant England and circumvent censorship. To modern readers of the play, the game had known a shape which would be quite recognizable. The elephant was, since its arrival in Europe, firmly the bishop and moved more freely. At the same time, the counsellor was reimagined as the queen and later acquired its formidable moveset around 1475. Pawns could now advance 2 spaces on their first move. This made chess a faster and even more irresistible distraction.

At this point, chess's march through history was inevitable and individuals of the Enlightenment would be captured by it in much the same way as those before them. As an apparent symbol of morality and reason, it would beguile minds such as John Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau and even Benjamin Franklin. The latter would write a short essay - The Morals of Chess - in which he would argue chess is key to learning foresight, circumspection, caution and persistence.

“For life is a kind of chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, to some degree, the effects of prudence or the want of it.“ -The Morals of Chess, Benjamin Franklin.

At this time, chess would be more infectious than even, emerging chess clubs around Europe as its emissaries. The most famous of these - Le Café de la Régence, would even be visited by a young lieutenant named Napoleon Bonaparte.

In the nineteen century, chess worship became a study worthy in itself - chess became a science. Wilhelm Steinitz, the winner of the first true World Chess championship in 1886 is often considered the father of scientific chess study. At this point, chess studies were long established - the study of openings goes back as far as the Persian empire. But, these analyses often focused on aggression, tactics and immediate material advantage. Truly, Steinitz innovated by de-emphasizing attacks for the benefit of positioning, board control and solid defences. This slow and methodical style of play would change how game states were seen, leading to a dazzling number of chess analysis books. Steinitz would be beaten at his own game by Lasker in 1894 - literally. Then the same would be done to Lasker in 1921, by the hands of a young Capablanca. This cycle of modern Aliyat continues to this day.

Throughout our story, chess played different roles to fit the whims of humanity: teacher, weapon, fateweaver, moralist and science. In the 1900s, chess would discard even these masks and start to be revered as… art. As such, perhaps no better example exists than… Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp first encountered chess at the age of eleven, but chess would only truly capture him in his thirties. At the height of his artistic career, Duchamp would suddenly confine himself to pour over chess problems. “I play day and night - he said at age 32 - and nothing interests me more than to find the right move.“ “Everything around me takes the shape of the Knight or the Queen and the exterior world has no other interest for me other than its transformation to winning or losing positions.“ In 1927, Duchamp would spend his entire honeymoon with his first wife working on chess problems. They divorced three months later.

"I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art—and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position." -Marcel Duchamp. Time Magazine. 10 March 1952.

Chess would insinuate gradually in his art - he would paint the poster for the Third French Chess Championship (1925). He would paint chess as a subject itself in the cubist painting Portrait of Chess Players. Later, in 1968, he would do with John Cage a concert blending chess playing and music called Reunion. Duchamp would, of course, compose his own chess problems, the most famous of which being Through the Big End of the Opera Glass. This apparently simple problem is the tiny predicament of being known for having no apparent solution. Even so, maybe this too is only another turning point for chess. Albert Einstein is attributed to have said “Chess holds its master in its own bonds“ - maybe chess is just waiting for the right prey, the right person for this challenge.

White to play and win.

See you next week.

References

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/endgames/marcel-duchamps-problem
Thomas Middleton's, A Game at Chess
Reinelli, Fred., The Human Side of Chess
“Becoming Duchamp“, Sylvère Lotringer: http://www.toutfait.com/issues/issue_2/Articles/lotringer.html
The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, David Shenk
Benjamin Franklin, "The Morals of Chess"
https://www.alshindagah.com/marapr2002/chess.html
The Beginnings of Chess, Michael Mark