The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-10-10
GREAT GAMES OF CHESS.


In the history of the Saracens. it is
said that when Al Amin, the caliph of
Bagdad, was besieged in his city by his
hereditary enemy, AL Murum, he was
engaged in a game of chess with his
freedman and attendant, Kuthan. The
enemy was advancing in tremendous
force upon the city gates. Terror
stricken, the courtiers rushedin to warn
the caliph of his danger. but he would
pay no attention to them. LET ME
alone" he said. Il see checkmate
against Kuthan." This ruler was so
devoted to chess that he had his king
dom searched for all the good PLAYERS,
and had them brought to his palace,
where, whatever their rank. he made
them friends, and heaped gifts upon
them. Among these was the slave
Kuthan, who became the caliph's favor
tie antagonist in the game. The case
of AL Amin furnishes by no means
singular instance of the absorption Of
interest possible in this fascinating
game. King John was at chess
when the deputation at Rouen came
to tell him that Philip Augustus
had besieged the city, but he
refused to give them an audience
until the game was done. Charles 1.
was engaged in playing chess when the
news was brought to him that the Scots
were going to sell him into the hands
of the English, and manifested no in
hot IN, Tho al until
his game was finished. So, too, John
Frederic, Elector of Saxony, when i'm
prisoned in 1547, was beguiling the time
by playing chess with fellow-captive
at the moment when a messenger came
to tell him that the Emperor had sem
fenced him to be beheaded before Whit
tenberg. He betrayed no agitation at
the news, but proceeded with the game,
and expressed the heartiest satisfaction
at the close over the fact that he had
beaten his opponent. The Hindoos say
that chess was the invention of an as
tronomer who flourished several thou
sand years ago. and who was possessed
of supernatural knowledge and acute
ness. The Greeks claim that it was the
invention of Palamedes to beguile the
tedium of the siege of Troy. The Arab
legend is that it was devised for the in
struction of young despot by his tutor,
a learned Brahmin. to teach the youth
how a king was dependent upon his SUBJ
jects for his safety. Oriental chess is
of two kinds, Chinese and Indian chess.
The Chinese game is played generally
in eastern Asia; but in India and the
adjacent islands, and, with some slight
notifications, all over the civilized
world. Indian chess is played. The
bishop is the elephant in India. the cas-
tie the boat, and the queen the min
lister; otherwise the pieces are identi-
cal with those known to us. There is a
chess school in India with its salaried
professors, and success in the game is
held in very high regard. Monesh
Ghutgck, it was said, could play. fab
ulous number of games when lying on
the ground with his eyes closed. The
complications of the game called the
Indian problem are known all over the
Occident as among the most difficult
ever devised. The Chinese chess
board has sixty-four squares and a
broad strip called the River Ho across
the middle. The castle is known to
them as the war-chariot. the bishop as
the elephant. the knight as the horse,
and for the king and queen they have a
general and two officers. They have
but five soldiers or pawns, and two can
non, the latter being able to move over
the heads of the others. The general
cannon and chariot can not pass the
river. The Persians call chess Timour' s
game, because of the favor in which
it was held by Timerlane, the
great Tartar ruler who lived in
the fifteenth century. This king found
the game so easy that he introduced
additional men and moves to compli-
cate it. This was the origin of what is
known as great chess in Persia, in con-
tradistinction from little chess, the
common game. This is played on a
board with no squares and fifty-six
men. A Persian emperor is said to
have called one of his sons SehahrohE
because at the moment he received the
intelligence of the infants birth he was
playing chess, and had just given check
with his rohk (castle) to his adversary
king (sehah.) Kings and potentate:
have usually delighted in chess. Char
lemange delighted in the game. So die
King Canute or (KnuD the Dane. Ivan
the Terrible, of Russia, died in 1884 Of
an apoplectic fit, caused by rage at 1
checkmate received from subject
Queen Elizabeth was very fond of chess
So was Napoleon l. He opened hi
games badly. his biographer assures us
but when warmed up to the game he
made some very brilliant moves. A
st. Helena he played daily. going owe
on the board the battles that he hao
fought, and more than once declared
that he ought to have won at Waterloo
Louis XII. of France was so fond o
chess that he played it in his carriage
Casimir H., King of Poland, in thu
twelfth century, prohibited the playing
| of chess in his dominions. A similar
law was enacted by the Turkish Calipl
Hakim, in the year 1925, punishin.
with the bastinado all who disregardet