World Book Day: Chess Perspective
A few days ago, on the occasion of World Book Day on April 23, we devoted a series of social media posts to chess books and their history, that we have decided to compile here. It has often been said that there have been more books published on chess than all other sports combined. While this statement should be taken with a grain of salt, a fair estimation is that more than 100,000 chess books have been published since the invention of the print.A few days ago, on the occasion of World Book Day on April 23, we devoted a series of social media posts to chess books and their history, that we have decided to compile here. It has often been said that there have been more books published on chess than all other sports combined. While this statement should be taken with a grain of salt, a fair estimation is that more than 100,000 chess books have been published since the invention of the print. Some of the problems contained in the Kitab ash-shatranj The first comprehensive book dealing with chess was the Kitab ash-shatranj (Book of the chess), written in Arabic by Al-Adli ar Rumi around the year 850. The original is long lost, but we know of it through later works that preserved some of its texts and chess problems.The first comprehensive book dealing with chess was the Kitab ash-shatranj (Book of the chess), written in Arabic by Al-Adli ar Rumi around the year 850. The original is long lost, but we know of it through later works that preserved some of its texts and chess problems. “Book of the Games”, dated 1283″Book of the Games”, dated 1283 The “Book of Games” commissioned by Spanish King Alfonso X, contains the earliest European treatise on chess as well as being the oldest document on European table games. It was finished in 1283, and it is kept in El Escorial, a few kilometres north of Madrid.The “Book of Games” commissioned by Spanish King Alfonso X, contains the earliest European treatise on chess as well as being the oldest document on European table games. It was finished in 1283, and it is kept in El Escorial, a few kilometres north of Madrid. “Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess with 150 Games”, by Luis Ramírez de Lucena Not far from El Escorial, in the bustling university city of Salamanca, a copy of Lucena’s book is kept at the Historical Library of the University. Published in 1497, this is the oldest surviving document on “modern chess”, with the game being played with the current rules, exactly as we know it today. There is little doubt that this book is basically a copy of a previous one, published in Valencia some years before by a certain Francesch Vicent, but this original went lost long ago, never to be found again, despite the efforts of many historians – and wealthy collectors. With the invention of the mechanical print in Europe, multiple copies of a book would be produced. With that, the chances of a work simply vanishing like Vincent’s incunable were greatly reduced. A curious fact is that it was often the case that whenever a new printer was built, chess books were often among the first ones to come out, along with the bible. In fact, the second book ever printed in English language was a chess book!Not far from El Escorial, in the bustling university city of Salamanca, a copy of Lucena’s book is kept at the Historical Library of the University. Published in 1497, this is the oldest surviving document on “modern chess”, with the game being played with the current rules, exactly as we know it today. There is little doubt that this book is basically a copy of a previous one, published in Valencia some years before by a certain Francesch Vicent, but this original went lost long ago, never to be found again, despite the efforts of many historians – and wealthy collectors. With the invention of the mechanical print in Europe, multiple copies of a book would be produced. With that, the chances of a work simply vanishing like Vincent’s incunable were greatly reduced. A curious fact is that it was often the case that whenever a new printer was built, chess books were often among the first ones to come out, along with the bible. In fact, the second book ever printed in English language was a chess book! “The Game of Chess”, circa 1483 “The Game of Chess” was the second* book ever printed in the English language, in 1483, by William Caxton (1422 – 1491), an English merchant, diplomat, and writer. Caxton is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476. That made him the first English retailer of printed books. “The Game of Chess” was Caxton’s own translation of “De Ludo Scachorum”, originally written in Italian around 1280, that spread all over Europe through a French translation made in 1347. Extremely popular, two early English versions were of poor quality and hadn’t succeeded. But Caxton’s translation, which he created from several French sources, became the authoritative English version. This work is not exactly a chess book, but a series of sermons metaphorically using chess to depict the relationships between a King and the various estates of his Kingdom. However, the author decided to include the complete rules of chess to make the metaphor accessible to all readers. *[For those wondering, the first book in English ever printed, was “The Recuyell of the Historyes” of Troye, also printed by Claxton from a French translation, and also in 1474. Caxton printed almost 100 books, and of these 20 were translations from French or Dutch into English.]
American Cup: Day 3 Recap
Four players were knocked out of the American Cup as the first day of Elimination matches took place, with Robson – Shankland and Nemcova – Yan lasting all the way until Armageddon. In the Champions Bracket, GM Leinier Dominguez dealt a lethal blow to GM Levon Aronian, while FM Alice Lee won a fine technical game to also take the lead against WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. The time control for the event is 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment for all games in the Champions Bracket, with a rapid time control of 25+10 for the Elimination Bracket and a 10+5 time control for all playoff matches. CHAMPIONS BRACKET ARONIAN – DOMINGUEZ Excellent preparation in the Petroff Defense gave Dominguez a very comfortable position out of the opening, as things quickly turned sour for Aronian, whose king found itself under heavy fire on the queenside. Dominguez was ruthless in the onslaught, and after a further blunder by Aronian Black’s attack was simply irresistible. 26…Bb2! was the clincher, setting up all kinds of mating threats such as Qxa2+ and Ra6 | 0-1, 28 moves GM Leinier Dominguez | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes CARUANA – SEVIAN An interesting treatment of the 4.e3 Nimzo allowed Caruana to seize the initiative out of the opening, but Sevian defended well, creating just enough counterplay on the queenside to stave off White’s attack. After some further complications, the players soon simplified into a drawn endgame, ending in a three-time repetition. GM Fabiano Caruana | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes KRUSH – TOKHIRJONOVA A dynamic battle saw Tokhirjonova accept an isolated queen pawn in exchange for active piece play. As the players approached time trouble, the position opened up and a complex material imbalance was reached with a rook and knight for Krush versus two bishops and two pawns for Tokhirjonova. A nervy time-scramble saw Tokhirjonova missing some chances, including a forced win, as the game eventually simplified into a draw. WGM Begim Tokhirjonova | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes LEE – ABRAHAMYAN Despite reaching a slightly more comfortable position out of the opening, Abrahamyan started to burn a lot of time and put all her hopes on a speculative kingside attack. Keeping her cool, Lee was able to neutralize Black’s play, and calmly refuted a flawed bishop sacrifice by Abrahamyan, taking a 1-0 lead in the match. FM Alice Lee | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams ELIMINATION BRACKET Elimination Bracket – Open Field Elimination Bracket – Women’s Field SO – XIONG After an early opening blunder by Xiong, So won two minor pieces for a rook and obtained a decisive advantage. Showing good technique, Wesley managed to convert his advantage with relative ease. In the second game Xiong seemed to have good chances to bounce back, even having two extra pawns in an endgame with rooks and opposite colored bishops, but tricky defense allowed So to miraculously escape into a drawn ending, clinching the match. GM Wesley So | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams SHANKLAND – ROBSON A very even match saw the first two games drawn without much room for fireworks, leading to a hotly contested playoff match. Robson was able to strike first, winning the initial playoff game thanks to a flurry of nice endgame tactics, but Shankland managed to level the score with a clean win in the very next game, taking the match to Armageddon. In Armageddon, Robson won the coin toss and chose the White pieces, once again playing into Shankland’s ultra-solid Berlin Defense. Neither side was able to get a significant edge until the game came down to a sharp time-scramble with both players having under a minute on the clock. But it was Robson who would get the upper hand, finding a clutch fork in the end to win the exchange and the match. GM Ray Robson | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes NEMCOVA – YAN An incredibly dramatic match saw Nemcova needing to win on demand twice in order to stay in contention, first with Black in the 25+10 elimination games, then with White in the 10+5 rapid playoff, forcing an Armageddon. In the final game Yan built up a nice advantage with White out of the opening, but would end up overextending and losing control over the game in the endging. Nemcova pounced on the chance and ended up winning as Black in the Armageddon, knocking Yan out of the tournament. WGM Katerina Nemcova | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams ZATONSKIH – TSOLAKIDOU Another topsy-turvy match started with the players exchanging wins as Black in the initial rapid games, taking the encounter to another playoff. Playing for the initiative right out of the opening, Tsolakidou managed to win a sharp struggle after Zatonskih overstepped the time limit in the first playoff game. Needing to win the next game, Zatonskih did gain an advantage with White, but soon lost her edge as Tsolakidou created sufficient counterplay and eventually went on to hold the game, winning the match. IM Stavroula Tsolakidou | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Day 4 of The 2022 American Cup will take place Saturday, April 23rd starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and Alejandro Ramirez on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Watch all the action LIVE at USChessChamps.com Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo credit: Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes and Bryan Adams Dates & Location:April 20 – 29, 2022, Saint Louis Chess Club Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClub Instagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClub YouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Press Contact:Rebecca Buffington rbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)