Chess History And Reminiscences
wise men consulted together, and Sassa, the son of Dahir,
brought the chess board and men to the Prince, saying, "Here
you have an exact image of war, which is conducted on principles
similar to those which regulate this wonderful game. The same
caution in attack and coolness in defence which you have to
exercise here, you will have to put in practice in the battlefield.
The Prince with eagerness availed himself of Sassa's instructions
until he made himself fully acquainted with the principles of the
game. He then assembled his army and went forth in full
confidence to encounter his enemies, whom he defeated at all
points. He then returned home in triumph, and ever after he
cherished his love for the game of chess to a knowledge of
which he considered himself indebted for the preservation of
his honour, his kingdom and his life."
The third account relates--"After Belugi, reigned Giumhur
who had this royal seat in the City of Sandali, in the province of
Cachemir. When he died, his brother, called May, was chosen
King, who had two sons, Ghav and Talachand. Upon the death of
May, their mother Paritchera, that is, endued with angelic beauty,
reigned. These two young Princes being grown to maturity,
desire to know from their mother who of them was to be her
successor. The mother concealing her mind, gave them both hopes
separately. In the meantime, the brothers quarrel, and raise
armies, and the mother endeavored to reconcile them by her
good advice, but in vain, for soon after they broke out into open
war. After various battles, it fell out that Talachand was slain.
Upon this, the mother goes to her surviving son, and complains to
him of these things.
"Then the wise men of the kingdom set about to compose the
game Shatranji, representing the battle of Ghav and Talachand.
"The sorrowful mother contemplates this game, and by daily
playing it, brings into her mind the battle and death of her son
Talachand. She could not forbear to torment herself with the
remembrance of his death, and every day for a long time, to give
herself up to the meditation thereof."--SHAHNAMA.
------
>From the early ages of the Christian era back to the times of
Homer, Herodotus, Sophocles, Plato, and Aristotle, traditions,
concerning the origin of this wonderful game have come down to
us of a very various and conflicting character; the Arabian and
Persian historians from the commentators on the Koran interdict
against lots and images to the days of the Persian Shahnama of
Firdausi and the Asiatic Society's famous manuscript, have spoken
of the origin and history of chess, Aben Ezra, the famous Rabbi,
contemporary of Maimonides, Jacobus de Cessolus the Monk of
Picardy, Ruy Lopez the Spanish priest, Damiano the Portuguese
Apothecary, Gustavus Selenus (the Duke of Luneburg), Dr. Salvic,
Carrera, and the writers of the Italian school, have all contributed
to the remarkably delusive and often mythical theories propounded
in regard to it. In our own Country we have them from Chaucer,
Lydgate, Caxton, Barbiere and the Encyclopaediasts, and Pope
writing just before knowledge of the Sanskrit became imparted
among the learned, and ere the classical Sir William Jones had
began to enlighten us, thought probably he had set the matter at
rest by declaring that the invention of chess, (which we had and
could enjoy without caring to know from whence it came) and
which was an imperishable monument of the wisdom of its
unknown founder, involved a problem which never would be solved.
------
PROGRESS OF CHESS
It has been a subject of regret with writers that complete games
of chess cannot be found for the earlier ages, and it has been
suggested that a few well annotated games of the great Eastern
players of one thousand years ago, and of the rival champions of
Spain, Italy and Sicily in the Sixteenth century would be of
more interest than all the problems and positions handed down
to us in existence and, it certainly would be pleasing and
instructive to be able to compare the styles Ali Suli, Adali,
Lajlaj, Abbas and Razi, the great players of the Golden Age of
Arabian Literature, and that of Ali Shatranji of Timur's Court
and Ruy Lopez, Leonardo and Paolo Boi with those of Philidor and
the leaders of the Nineteenth century.
The first half of the Nineteenth century witnessed the
commencement of Press notice, and the growth of a literature for
chess, and was distinguished by the number of works devoted to
the play of the game, not half a score of books could be traced in
England before Philidor's, besides which Caxton, 1474, dedicated
to the Duke of Clarence, Rowbotham, 1561, to the Earl of
Leicester, and Saul and Barbiere, 1617 and 1640, to Lucy, Countess
of Bedford, which constitute the most noted works recorded,
conveyed but little knowledge concerning the game, and were
scarcely more than translations of foreign works from that of
Jacobus de Cesso1us, 1290, and others, and were rather moralities
and philosophical treatises than works of practical utility from a
scientific point of view.
During the second half, the advance in the appreciation and
practice of chess has been yet more astonishing as compared with
the single club in St. James' Street, and the meeting place for
chess players in St. Martin's Lane, which existed in Philidor's
time, and the thirty clubs or so which had arisen by 1851, we
© 101ChessTips.com. All Rights Reserved.
