The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-08-15
GREAT GAMES OF CHESS.
A CalIph who Played While His Enemy
Assaulted His Cify-A Civil War which
Owed Its Origin to Game Of Chess


A CalIph who Played While His Enemy
Assaulted His Cify-A Civil War Which
Owed Its Origin to a Game 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 rushed In to warn
the caliph of his danger, but he would
pay no attention to them Let ME
alone" he said, II see q checkmate
against Kuthan." This ruler was 80
devoted 10 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. Ring John was at chess
when the deputatioi 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 l.
was engaged in playing chess when the
,v,n q t,-rx,,rht ~ him "a tho Scots
were going to sell him into the hands
of the English. and manifested no in
terest whatever in the intelligence 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 Hindo6s say
| that chess was the invention of an as
tronomer who hourished 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,
learned Rrahmin, to teach the youth
how a king was dependent upon his sub
| jects for his safety. Oriental chess is
of two kinds, Chinese and Indian chess.
l rhr hi lie nj
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
Ghutuck, 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 8
broad strip called the River HO across
the middle. The castle is known tC
them as the war-chariot, the bishop aS
the elephant. the knight as the horse
and for the king and queen they have o
general and two officers. They have
but five soldiers or pawns, and two can
non, the latter being able to move ovel
the heads of the others. The general
cannon and chariot can not pass the
river. The Persians call chess Timour'i
game, because of the favor in which
It was held by Timerlane. tn,
the fifteenth century. This king fount
the game so easy that he introduced
additional men and moves to compli
cate it. This was the origin of what i
known as great chess in Persia, in con
tradistinction from little chess, tn
: common game. This is played on
board with ITO squares and fifty-si,
: men. A Persian emperor is said t
have called one Of his sons Sehahrohl
because at the moment he received tn,
intelligence of the infants birth he wa
playing chess, and had just given chez
] with his rohk (castle) to his adversary
! king (sehah.) Kings and potentate
have usually delighted in chess Char
5 lemange delighted in the game. So di
King Canute or (Knut) the Dane. 1val
the Terrible, of Russia. died in 1884 q
, an apoplectic fit, caused by rage at
g checkmate received from subject
5 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 h
4 made some very brilliant moves. A
St. Helena he played daily, going owe
on the board the battles that he ha
0 fought, and more than once declare
that he ought to have won at Waterloo
I Louis XII. of France was so fond {
, chess that he played it in his carriag'
Casimir H., King of Poland. in tn
S twelfth century, prohibited the playin
e law was enacted by the Turkish Calip
$ Hakim, in the year 1925, punishin
!, with the bastinado all who disregarde
q it. Louis TX. of France (St. Louis
i forbade the playing of chess at couI
/ under the penalty of fine, and E,
n ward w. of England had a law enacte
!, strictly prohibiting chess througho1
:, the kingdom. James 1. detested Il
/ game. The Knights Templar abhorre
e chess, and so did St. Bernard, and vel
e many other church dignitaries, but tn
u was probably for the same reason th
i Montague gave. that he hated che
+ because it fascinated him so.
d A civil war in France owed its orig
e to game of chess. Regnault.
II nephew of Charlemagne, and Berth
o lot, knight of the court, had QUAR-
IS while at the game. Berthelot strut
It his opponent in his anger, whereupt
e Regnault lifted the chess-board, whic
y as the story goes, was of solid gold, al
, struck him dead A factional war
y several years followed. which involve
z, half the kingdom.-M. 7. Mail az
n Erpress.
A New Kind Of Bank Note.
% An entirely new kind of bank not
l. printed in colors instead of the blat