Chess History And Reminiscences
the bright sun of understanding, and has been preferred by the
philosopher its inventor, to all other means by which we arrive
at wisdom.
The Second Advantage is in Religion, illustrating the Muhammedan
doctrines of predestination (Sabr and Cadar) by the free
will of man in playing chess, moving when he will, or where he
will, and which piece he thinks best, but restricted in some
degree by compulsion, as he may not play against certain laws,
nor give to one piece the move of another, whereas, on the
contrary, Nerd (Eastern Backgammon) is mere free will, while in
Dice again all is compulsion. This argument is pursued at some
length in the text. Passing from this singular application of
theology to chess play, we find the Third Advantage relates to
Government, the principles of which the author declares to be
best learned from chess. The board is compared to the world,
and the adverse sets of men to two monarchs with their subjects,
each possessing one half of the world, and with true eastern
ambition desiring the other, but unable to accomplish his design
without the utmost caution and policy. Perwiz and Ardeshir are
quoted as having attributed all their wisdom of government to
the study and knowledge of chess.
The Fourth Advantage relates to war, the resemblance to which
of the mimic armies of chess, is too obvious to detain the
philosopher long.
The Fifth Advantage of chess is in its resemblance to the
Heavens. He says, the board represents the Heavens, in which
squares are the Celestial houses and the pieces Stars. The
superior pieces are assimilated to the Moving Stars, and the Pawns
which have only one movement to the Fixed Stars. The King is
as the Sun, and the Wazir in place of the Moon, and the Elephants
and Taliah in the place of Saturn; and the Rukhs and Dabbabah
in that of Mars, and the Horses and Camel in that of Jupiter,
and the Ferzin and Zarafah in that of Venus, and all these pieces
have their accidents, corresponding with the Trines and Quadrates,
and Conjunction and Opposition, and Ascendancy and Decline,
such as the heavenly bodies have, and the Eclipse of the Sun is
figured by Shah Caim or Stale Mate. This parallel is completed
by indicating the functions of the different pieces in connection
with the influence of their respective planets, and chess players
are even invited to consult Astrology in adapting their moves to
the various aspects.
The Sixth Advantage is derived from the preceding, and assigns
to each piece, according to the planet it represents, certain
physical temperaments, as the Warm, the Cold, the Wet, the Dry,
answering to the four principal movements of chess, (viz, the
Straight, Oblique, Mixed or Knights, and the Pawns move). This
system is extended to the beneficial influence of chess on the
body, prescribing it as a cure for various ailings of a lighter
kind, as pains in the head and toothache, which are dissipated by
the amusement of play; and no illness is more grievous than
hunger and thirst, yet both these, when the mind is engaged in
chess, are no longer thought of.
Advantage Seven, "In obtaining repose for the soul." The
Philosopher says, the soul hath illnesses, like as the body hath,
and the cure of these last is known, but of the soul's illness there
be also many kinds, and of these I will mention a few. The first is
Ignorance, and another is Disobedience, the third Haste, the
Fourth Cunning, the fifth Avarice, sixth Tyranny, seventh Lying,
the eighth Pride, the ninth Deceit, and Deceit is of two kinds,
that which deceiveth others, and that by which we deceive
ourselves; and the tenth is Envy, and of this also there be many
kinds, and there is no one disorder of the soul greater than
Ignorance for it is the soul's death, as learning is its life; and
for this disease is chess an especial cure, since there is no way by
which men arrive more speedily at knowledge and wisdom, and in
like manner, by its practice all the faults which form the diseases
of the soul, are converted into their corresponding virtues. Thus,
Ignorance is exchanged for learning, obstinacy for docility, and
precipitation for patience, rashness for prudence, lying for truth,
cowardice for bravery, and avarice for generosity, tyranny for
justice, irreligion for piety, deceitfulness for sincerity, hatred
for affection, emnity for friendship.
The Eighth may be called a social advantage of chess, bringing
men nearer to Kings and nobles, and as a cause of intimacy and
friendship, and also as a preventive to disputes and idleness and
vain pursuits.
The Tenth and last advantage is in combining war with sport,
the utile with the dulce, in like manner as other philosophers
have put moral in the mouths of beasts, and birds, and reptiles,
and encouraged the love of virtue and inculcated its doctrines by
allegorical writings such as the Marzaban, Namah, and Kalila wa
Dimnah, under the attractive illusion of fable.
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VIDA
There is scarcely any writer who has gone through so many
editions and translations as Marcus Hieronymus Vida, Bishop of
Alba. The Scacchia Ludus was published at Rome in 1527, and
since then no fewer than twenty-four editions have been published
in the original Latin, the last at London in 1813. Of translation
there have been eleven in Italian, four in French, and eight in
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