KAI HAYES STONE

Chess. Did the game just fall out of the sky with a full rulebook and everything? 

No.

Chess as we know it today has been around for over half a century now, and with games like ‘Fifa 18’ that instantly become outdated and irrelevant in a year to give way to the very creatively named ‘Fifa 19’, it says a lot about chess that it has managed to remain relevant across multiple continents, cultures and time periods. Even into the modern age where crystal meth exists, it seems some people would still just rather play chess (or do both at the same time)

Chess was originally based on the Indian War Game known as ‘Chaturang’ which was invented over 1500 years ago. Persian traders discovered this game and popularised it in Europe on their travels. The entire game that became popular in Europe was kept pretty much exactly the same, apart from the queen, which used to be a male military advisor to the king. But the people who popularised the game around Europe apparently upon discovering this went “nah, i need a woman piece in my board game who can move anywhere.”  Who knew 15th century persian traders were such feminists.

The first ‘master’ of chess was a Spanish Priest by the name of Ruy Lopez.

Now you might be thinking “ah, this must be the guy who developed the ruy lopez opening.”

But no, Ruy Lopez did not invent the Ruy Lopez opening, someone else did. Ruy Lopez’s most notable chess strategy he advocated for was (what I am about to tell you is ironically true) TO PLAY CHESS AGAINST YOUR OPPONENT IN AN ORIENTATION THAT MAKES THE SUN GO IN THEIR EYES.

Honestly sounds like a pretty good strategy, maybe that’s what has been holding me back from becoming a grandmaster.

In the 1800s, chess was a very attacking game (I have been informed of this (I was not there in the 1800s)). The most famous of these players was Paul Morphy, who toured Europe destroying every chess player in his path. The most notable of these games played by Morphy took Place against 2 people in an opera house (for the sake of the player’s ears I hope there wasn’t an opera going on at the time.) In this game Morphy delivered a delicious checkmate in 17 moves that involved a wonderful “oh no my queen “ moment (maybe Paul Mophy had just been watching Eric Rosen streams. 

Wilhelm Steinitz became the first official chess world champion in 1886 and held this title until Emanuel Lasker came along and decided that he wanted to hold it for 27 years, the longest reign of any chess world champion.

It truly is an amazing game. Unless I lose a match, and then it is a terrible game that is all luck based.