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How
the game was revived: An old book, some cardboard, and a bit
of serendipity
Serendipity
- a lucky accident - certainly describes the circumstances
by which amateur historian David Reynolds (right) breathed
life back into the redundant game.
He is the first to admit that he was an unlikely candidate
for the post of Circular Chess Revivalist.
"I wasn't really interested in chess, either at school
or afterwards," he said. "It happened because
I enjoyed looking around bookshops, particularly the history
sections." |
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In 1982 he bought a 19th Century book, "A History of England",
in a secondhand store in Lincoln's High Street. He took the
volume home, and it sat on a bookshelf for almost a year.
One evening in early 1983, he found himself browsing through
the book. By chance, he opened the page on a chapter about medieval
pastimes.
There was a passing reference to the long-forgotten version
of circular chess. It was a brief description, but it was enough
to fire his imagination.
"I started to wonder how it would work, and why it had
died out," he said. "I had nothing to go on apart
from what was written in the book. I tried out a few designs
on pieces of cardboard, and it really evolved from there."
He took one of the makeshift cardboard versions along to his
local pub, the Burton Arms, West Parade, to show to drinking
pal Rob Stevens, who was a keen chess player. They challenged
each other to a game, and the novelty quickly caught on.
It wasn't long before Mr Reynolds, a professional painter and
decorator, made the first of the now-familiar wooden boards.
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"It
needed something in the centre to make the board attractive,
and to mark the starting positions for black and white.
The City of Lincoln crest was the obvious choice, and
that is when it became known as the Lincoln board,"
he said.
But does this Lincoln version bear any resemblance to
the circular boards that were known to be in use in Byzantine
and medieval times?
"No one really knows the answer to that question,"
he said. "According to the history books, chess has
evolved with new rules, such as castling and en-passent.
We have simply adapted the circular game."
There is one clue. A pamphlet printed for London publisher
G.G.J.& J. Robinson in AD1789, "Chess Vol II"
(signed "Sloan") includes a sketch with a numbered
guide. It was shown to Mr Reynolds some years after he
came up with his design. It is remarkably similar to the
Lincoln board.
Now how's that for a bit of serendipity? |
NEXT: THE
CIRCULAR CHESS SOCIETY
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