Subject: Chess History on the Web (2001 no.11) Date: 1 Jun 2001 08:00:02 -0000 From: "World Chess Championship" Site review - Culture et curiosités Much of the chess-related email that I receive from total strangers is for fairly routine questions -- Can the pawns really make two steps on the first move? How do you run a chess tournament? Are you interested in the world championship plans of the Global Intergalactic Chess Foundation? -- but once in a while I get a message like, 'Sorry for my bad english... May be you will be interested in adding my website in your page... http://www.mjae.com/reyes/culture.html ...Thanks you, Gérard Demuydt'. I really appreciate getting messages about websites that I haven't seen before and I always look at them once or twice. Unfortunately for me, very few of them are related to chess history, so I usually just send a polite response thanking the correspondent for taking the time to write. In the case of Demuydt's 'Culture et Curiosités' site, I was pleased to find a small French language site with chess history content unlike any other that I'd seen. Fortunately for me, French is one of the few languages with which I'm comfortable. In case you're not as comfortable, the BabelFish translation service at address... http://jump.altavista.com/trans.go?urltext=http://www.mjae.com/reyes/culture.html&language=en ...will guide you through this site. The main page says, 'Le jeu d'échecs ce n'est pas que de la technique, c'est aussi de l'histoire, de belles légendes, de la philosophie, de la peinture, de la littérature...', which I translate as 'The game of chess is not only technical, it is also history, myths, philosophy, painting, literature...'. The page has links to 23 essays. I hope Demuydt will forgive me for taking the liberty of translating the titles of the essays from French into English. This will give you a good idea of the site's content and will make it easier for me to refer to specific essays in this review:- [01] 'Origins of the game of chess' by Pierre Constantin [02] 'Chess and feudalism' by Jean-Pierre Cuvillier [03] 'Chess during the French Revolution' by Michel Soyez [04] 'Philidor discussed by a descendent' by Dany Sénéchaud [05] 'The currency of Strobeck' by Michel Soyez [06] 'Chess and literature (1)' by Emmanuel Sys [07] 'The game of chess looked at by a philosopher' by Dany Sénéchaud [08] 'The Max Euwe Center' by Léo Diepstraten et Dany Sénéchaud [09] 'Chess themes in painting' by Léo Diepstraten [10] 'Chess ex-libris' by Dany Sénéchaud [11] 'The idea of struggle in chess' by Marc Gehenne [12] 'Chess and literature (2) : Raymond Queneau' by Dany Sénéchaud [13] 'Chess and the virtues' by Klaus Bolding [14] 'Efim Bogoljubov discussed by Emil Diemer' by Dany Sénéchaud [15] 'Chess and literature (3) : Lucie Delarue-Mardrus' by Bernard Guérin [16] 'Chess and literature (4) : readings related to chess' by Philippe Thomas [17] 'Chess and feudalism (2) : Gauthier de Coincy' by Bernard Lucas [18] 'Faces of Stefan Zweig's chess players' by Michel Desmedt [19] 'Chess and feudalism (3) : Raoul de Cambrai' by Bernard Lucas [20] 'Napoléon the chess player' by Bernard Lucas [21] 'Alfred de Musset the chess player' by Bernard Lucas [22] 'Le Chevalier de Barneville, an 18th century player' by Bernard Lucas [23] 'Voltaire and the game of chess' by Bernard Lucas It turns out that 'Culture et Curiosités' ('C&C' hereafter) is one of the Palamede (www.palamede.com - 'Major world chess sites working together') sites. I mentioned this family of sites when I reviewed 'Chess Graphics' by Alan Cowderoy in 'Chess History on the Web (2000 no.11)' exactly one year ago. What is the origin of the name Palamède? Two C&C essays give us a clue. The author of '[01] Origins of the game of chess' tells us that 50 years ago his research in a Bordeaux library revealed that Palamede was most often cited as the inventor of chess. '[22] Le Chevalier de Barneville, an 18th century player' mentions that Labourdonnais was cofounder of Palamède, without specifying whether Palamède was a circle of friends, a club, or something else. I decided to check further. The 'Oxford Companion to Chess' by Hooper & Whyld (1996) does not have an entry on the topic, although the entry for Labourdonnais says, '[In 1836] Bourdonnais became editor of the world's first chess magazine, La Palamède'. 'A Short History of Chess' by Davidson (1949) lists 13 legends which recount the invention of chess. The 4th is, 'During the long siege of Troy, the Greek chieftains became bored and to while away their time, a philosopher named Palamedes invented the game'. His reference for this legend is Charles Crawley's 'Chess Theory and Practice' (1860). 'Chess - The History of a Game' by Eales (1985) makes a strong French connection when he says that Philidor in his 'Analyze des Echecs' (1749), 'blamed some of his contemporaries for tampering with the original Greek rules "attributed to Palamedes"'. The theories for a classical origin of chess were replaced by theories for an Indian origin toward the end of the 19th century. A Google search (www.google.com) on 'palamede' found 'about 4020' pages. The first was www.palamede.com, the second a reference to the Palamede microsatellite, and the third an entry from the Chesmayne encyclopedia 'Palamede Le; Magazine. 1836-47. This was the first chess magazine. Founded by La Bourdonnais in 1836. The periodical is named after Palamedes, a Greek who is believed to have made many inventions, including chess.' This link between the two meanings was confirmed at... http://www.notzai.com/notzai/enteng.shtml ...'An interview with Alan Cowderoy, creator of the Palamede network of chess sites' (March 2000). In reply to the question, 'Why chose the name Palamede.com rather than Chaglagla.com or 0-0-0.com for example?', Cowderoy says, 'Palamede was the Greek hero who saw through Ulysses tricks when Ulysses wished to avoid going to war with Troy. In the 19th century he was regarded as the inventor of chess and the first chess magazine in the world "Le Palamede Francais" was named after him. So an august heritage and what is more a name that sounds well in several languages. Chaglagla.com I love but the reference seemed rather obscure to me. 0-0-0.com I also liked a lot but unfortunately it's already taken. Apart from that it's unpronounceable.' The Encyclopedia Britannica entry for Palamedes at... http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=59504&tocid=0 ...gives a three paragraph summary ending with 'Palamedes had a reputation for sagacity, and the ancients attributed a number of inventions to him, including the alphabet, numbers, weights and measures, coinage, and the practice of eating at regular intervals. He is now generally considered to be a personification of Phoenician culture, the source of many of these developments'. --- What other chess related information is on the C&C site? The main navigational headings are [News], [Diemer], [Parties] (games), [Livres] (books), [Liens] (links), and [Culture]. [Diemer] is dedicated to Emil Joseph Diemer (1908-1990) 'missionary of chess acrobatics' and a principal theorist behind the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit; [Parties] has annotated games, 20 on technique & strategy, 31 on the openings, and 1 on Rudolf Spielmann; [Livres] recommends titles for further study; and [Culture], the page under review, is a table of contents for our 23 essays. Since there are too many essays to cover in this brief review, I'll look at the two multi-part essays, 'Chess and feudalism' and 'Chess and literature'. '[02] Chess and feudalism' is about the famous 'Libros de Ajedrez' (13th cent.) by King Alphonse X (the Wise) of Castille. The author summarizes a paper by Prof. Hans Scherer of Cologne at a colloquium on medieval vocabulary where special treatment was given to the various works of Alphonse. Scherer believes that 'Libros de Ajedrez' is an early example of a chess manual. '[17] Chess and feudalism (2) : Gauthier de Coincy' tells us that de Coincy (1178-1236) completed monastic training at Paris, was ordained a priest, and was named a prior at Vic-sur-Aisne. In 1218 he started to write 'Miracles de notre Dame' which evolved into a work of 30.000 verses and in which several passages dealt with chess. In his treatment of chess and morality, he preceded Jean de Galles, Jacques de Cessoles (aka Jacob de Cessolis), Thérèse d'Avila, and François de Sales. '[19] Chess and feudalism (3) : Raoul de Cambrai' is drawn from a poem of 8276 verses by Bertolai, a 10th cent. poet of Laon. The poem, about a war of succession in Northern France, references chess twice. In the second reference chess is used as an excuse by the daughter of the new overlord Guerri to woo the hero Bernier to her chambers. Her chamberlain, assigned the task of arranging the meeting, says to Bernier, 'My young lord, you can be proud of yourself, since the daughter of Guerri, the most noble woman from here to the south of France, asks that you join her in her apartments, to play chess and tric-trac. You should comply, but don't play chess...' Does this means that Bernier was expected to play tric-trac?! '[06] Chess and literature (1)' is about Edgar Allan Poe. The short essay mentions 'Maelzel's Chess Player' by Poe, which can be found at... http://www.rampling.net/kempelen/Poe.htm ...It deals primarily with the less known (in the essayist's opinion) passage from 'The Murders In The Rue Morgue', comparing chess and checkers:- 'I will, therefore, take occasion to assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by all the elaborate frivolity of chess. In this latter, where the pieces have different and bizarre motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex, is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound. The attention is here called powerfully into play. If it flag for an instant, an oversight is committed, resulting in injury or defeat. The possible moves being not only manifold, but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten, it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers. In draughts, on the contrary, where the moves are unique and have but little variation, the probabilities of inadvertence are diminished, and the mere attention being left comparatively unemployed, what advantages are obtained by either party are obtained by superior acumen.' The full text of the Rue Morgue story can be found at... http://www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/gsr/ruemorg.htm ...where there is also an unfavorable comparison of chess with whist. The C&C essay argues that complexity should not prevent profundity and offers two examples -- (1) King & pawn endgames and (2) the game Diemer - Trommsdorff, Bagneux, 1975. Poe is discussed again in '[07] The game of chess looked at by a philosopher'. The essay, about Amédée Ponceau (1884-1948), is a long Ponceau excerpt taking exception with Poe's ideas from 'Maelzel's Chess Player' (1836). After a brief introduction of Ponceau and a very short history of the Turk, the excerpt starts, 'We see Poe preoccupied with explaining why a chess player can't be an automaton. [...] His argument, moreover, is not complete'. Once we know that Poe was wrong here, perhaps we can safely ignore his comparison of chess and checkers! '[12] Chess and literature (2) : Raymond Queneau' is a difficult essay which I can't pretend to understand. It presents a story building technique developed by Raymond Queneau, 'encyclopedist and explorer of words'. The result is a nonsensical story full of chess terms -- occupation of the center, simplification by pseudo-sacrifice, triangulation, etc. etc. I was reminded of the sometimes apt saying, 'The French follow no one and no one follows the French'. '[15] Chess and literature (3) : Lucie Delarue-Mardrus' makes the point that although many famous writers, 'from Voltaire to Arrabal', have been interested in chess, women writers are far from numerous. Two poems by Delarue-Mardrus -- 'Sonnet of chess' & 'Ballad of chess' (both 1926) -- are presented in full. '[16] Chess and literature (4) : readings related to chess' suggests a handful of chess books for beach reading; these are not treatises on the game itself, but works of literature. It mentions 'The Royal Game' by Stefan Zweig, 'The Black Bishop' by Arrigo Boito, 'The Chessboard in front of the Mirror' by Massimo Bontempelli, 'Albert Einstein' by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and 'Tales of the Chessboard' by Jean-Benoit Thirion; giving a short synopsis of all but the first. Zweig is discussed again in '[18] Faces of Stefan Zweig's chess players', with a long synopsis of the plot of this famous story. A biography of Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), 'Austrian biographer, essayist, and playwright', can be found at... http://www.xrefer.com/entry/172047 ...I've mentioned less than half of the essays available on the site. I hope that the BabelFish automatic translation service can do justice to the full text of these and of the rest. It would be especially interesting to see how BabelFish handles the essay on Raymond Queneau, 'encyclopedist and explorer of words'. Bye for now, Mark Weeks P.S. The answer to 'Are you interested in the world championship plans of the Global Intergalactic Chess Foundation?' is always 'No, I'm not, but thanks for asking!'