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Origins
of the game: Aladdin and beyond
This
may come as a surprise to players who consider the square
board to be the game's authentic archetype, but the circular
version is not the modern day "gimmick" that
people might be tempted to take it for.
There is reliable historical material which suggests that
circular chess goes back a very long way. And it is even
thought that the great Ala'addin would have been familiar
with the game in early 15th century India. |
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According to one contemporary scholar, round chess underwent
a brief revival in London and in Calcutta, India, in the late
18th century.
There is evidence to support the claim that circular boards
were in use during the Byzantine period. The earlier roots of
round chess are unclear but the principles are believed to have
been known to great theoreticians and tactical geniuses of the
12th century.
Surviving references to circular chess include the Cotton Library
manuscript "Cleopatra B ix" which is held in the British
Library. This may be the document that is referred to in a pamphlet
printed for London publisher G.G.J.& J. Robinson from AD1789,
the year of the French Revolution (extracts pictured above,
left and below).
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"Chess
Vol II" (signed "Sloan") not only describes
Circular Chess but includes a speculative sketch of a
board, with a numbered guide.
The author wrote: "It will be found in playing that
the power of the Castle is the double of that of the common
game, and that of the Bishop only the half; the first
having sixteen squares to range in, and the last only
four.
"Other peculiarities may possibly be discovered by
such as are curious to try it, and thus much may suffice
as a clew."
The author wrote: "This Circular chess-board had
probably lain dormant till 1789, when I found it in a
French manuscript of four hundred years old, in the British
Musuem. It is not mentioned in any other book. |
"Several of these boards have latterly been made in London,
and a great number in Calcutta, although I have not learnt that
the game has been much played."
The story goes that the game was played using the same moves
as square chess of the time. Bishops were elephants moving two
squares diagonally. Pawns moved one square forward and the Queen
(or General) was restricted to one diagonal move at a time.
Circular Chess Society president David Reynolds was inspired
to re-introduce circular chess in Lincoln after stumbling across
a sentence in a 19th Century book, "A History of England",
in a second-hand bookshop. There is also a reference in Joseph
Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes of the People of England",
published in AD1801.
An informative summary of the development of chess comes
from historian Bill Wall, who writes:
"In AD 947 Muraj adh-dhahab (Fields of Gold) by the
Arabic historian Abu al-Hassan Ali ibn al-Husain ibn Ali
ibn Ali ibn Abdullah al-Masudi (AD 888-956) was written
in Arabic. It was a history of chess in India and Persia.
"al-Masudi is known as the Herodotus of the Arabs.
He was the first to combine history and scientific geography
in a large-scale work. He wrote a 30-volume history of
the world.
"He described 6 different variants of chess, including
Astrological Chess, Byzantine round chess, Circular Chess
and Cylinder Chess.
"He wrote about chess wagers in India, with the loser
losing money or a finger or hand or more. He described
the use of ivory in India to make chess pieces." |
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Read the full article "Earliest Chess Book and References"
at the following site: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/oldtexts.htm
Championship regular challenger George Jelliss writes that Byzantine
Round Chess was known to the great Ala'addin (who is celebrated
in Christmas pantomimes). In real-life, he was the lawyer and
chess adviser to the Tartar leader Timur (aka Tamerlane), who
conquered Samarkand, in around AD1400.
Read the article online at the following site: http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/circ.htm
NEXT: HOW
THE GAME WAS REVIVED
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