Chess became a source of inspiration in the arts in literature soon after the spread of the game to the Arab World and Europe in the Middle Ages. The earliest works of art centered on the game are miniatures in medieval manuscripts, as well as poems, which were often created with the purpose of describing the rules. After chess gained popularity in the 15th and 16th centuries, many works of art related to the game were created. One of the best-known,[1]Marco Girolamo Vida's poem Scacchia ludus, written in 1527, made such an impression on the readers that it singlehandedly inspired other authors to create poems about chess.[1]
Palatine Chapel in the Norman Palace in Palermo you can admire the first painting of a chess game that is known to the world. The work dates from around 1143 and the artists who created the Muslim players were chosen by the Norman king of Sicily Roger II of Hauteville, who erected the church.
The earliest known reference to chess in a European text is a Medieval Latin poem, Versus de scachis. The oldest manuscript containing this poem has been given the estimated date of 997.[2] Other early examples include miniatures accompanying books. Some of them have high artistic value. Perhaps the best known example is the 13th-century Libro de los juegos. The book contains 151 illustrations, and while most of them are centered on the board, showing problems, the players and architectural settings are different in each picture.[3]
Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess (1473)
Another early illustrated text is the Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess (Latin: Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium super ludo scacchorum) which is based on the sermons of Jacopo da Cessole and was first published in 1473.[4]
The pieces illustrating chess problems in Luca Pacioli's manuscript On the Game of Chess (Latin: De ludo scacchorum, c. 1500) are described as "futuristic even by today's standards"[5] and may have been designed in collaboration with Leonardo da Vinci.[6]
After chess became gradually more popular in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, especially in Spain and Italy, many artists began writing poems using chess as a theme.[7]Chess of love (Catalan: Scachs d'amor), written by an unknown artist in the end of the 15th century, describes a game between Mars and Venus, using chess as an allegory of love. The story also serves as a pretence to describe the rules of the game. De ludo scacchorum (unrelated to the manuscript mentioned above) by Francesco Bernardino Caldogno [it], also created at that time, is a collection of gameplay advice, presented in poetic fashion.[8][9]
One of the most influential[1] works of chess-related art is Marco Girolamo Vida's Scaccia ludus (1527), centered on a game played between Apollo and Mercury on Mount Olympus. It is said that, because of its high artistry, the poem made a great impression on anyone who read it, including Desiderius Erasmus.[1] It also directly inspired at least two other works.[10] The first is Jan Kochanowski's poem Chess (c. 1565), which describes the game as a battle between two armies, while the second is William Jones'Caissa, or the game of chess (1772). The latter poem popularised the pseudo-ancient Greek dryadCaïssa to be the "goddess of chess".[10]
Another connection between art and chess is the life of Marcel Duchamp, who almost fully suspended his artistic career to focus on chess in 1923.[14]Salvador Dalí and Man Ray were also chess players and both designed chess sets.[15] The three artists played chess together, and one of the chess sets designed by Dalí is called Echecs (Hommage à Marcel Duchamp).[16][17] Duchamp's 1910 painting The Chess Game depicts his brothers Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Jacques Villon playing chess in the garden of Villon's studio.[18] Another Duchamp painting from the following year again depicts his brothers at the chess table.[19] Duchamp wrote a book titled Opposition and Sister Squares Are Reconciled which was published in 1932.[20] Man Ray and Duchamp are seen playing chess in René Clair's film Entr'acte.[21] A book titled Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess was published in 2009.[22]
Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris were also chess players, and both made many references to the game in their work.[23][24]
The design of Bauhaus professor Josef Hartwig's early 1920s chess set uses the shape of each piece to indicate its permitted movement.
De ludo scachorum (On the Game of Chess) (early 16th century) by Francesco Bernardino Caldogno [it]. A collection of chess gameplay advice in poetic form
Chess (c. 1565) by Jan Kochanowski. An epos parody which portrays a game of chess as a battle between two armies
Caissa, or the game of chess (1772) by William Jones. Inspired by ancient Greek mythology, the poem tells the story of dryadCaissa, with whom Mars falls in love. In an attempt to win her heart, Mars asks the god of sport to create a gift for Caissa. The god creates the game of chess
John and the Chess Men (1952) by Helen Weissenstein, a children's novel introducing the game of chess. The author competed in several US women's championships.
From Russia, with Love (1957) by Ian Fleming, part of the James Bond series. One of the villains, Tov Kronsteen, is a chess grand master who applies chess principles to espionage
Forbidden Planet (1961) by Lionel Fanthorpe using the pseudonym John E. Muller, which describes an interstellar chess game played by superhuman entities using humans as pawns.
Harry Potter series (1997–2007) by J. K. Rowling. The series fictional universe features wizard's chess, a chess variant where the pieces are similar to living beings, to which the players give orders by voice
Dissident Gardens (2013) by Jonathan Lethem. Uncle Lenny, who once played Bobby Fischer to a draw as a participant in a simultaneous exhibition in which Fischer defeated everyone else, destroys the chess confidence and ambitions of the young Cicero.
The Tournament (2013) by Matthew Reilly. A work of historical fiction based around a fictional chess tournament.
Zugzwang (2006) by Ronan Bennett. St Petersburg tournament 1914. Chess, psychoanalysis, murder, intrigue, terrorism.
Der Seekadett (known in English as The Royal Middy and in Italian as Lo Scacchiere della Regina) (1876) by Richard Genée, the name borrows from Seekadettenmatt.[31]
Independence Day (1996), features one of the main characters, David Levinson, playing chess with his father in New York City; later, David realizes that the aliens have set their ships across the world like that in chess and plan to attack
Geri's Game (1997), an animated short film about an old man named Geri who adopts two personalities to play chess with himself
The Luzhin Defence (2000), based on the Nabokov's book The Defense mentioned above
Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011), an HBO original documentary directed by Liz Garbus premiered on June 6, 2011; explores the complex life of Fischer.[36]
Life of a King (2013), an ex-con teaches chess to inner city high school kids
The Dark Horse (2014), about a bipolar man who helps at-risk youth by teaching them chess
Pawn Sacrifice (2014), a dramatised account of Bobby Fischer's 1972 match with Boris Spassky
Wicked Blood (2014), about a teenage girl trying to escape a criminal family, with a chess poem interwoven among the plot shifts – one of her uncle's was once the state champ
Lou (2022), Lou, the title character, mentions that her son once beat her in chess at only 5 years old. Later in the film we see a flashback to the game in question.
Mission: Impossible (1966–1973) one episode "A Game of Chess", season 2, episode 17, features cheating in a chess tournament by using a computer.
The Prisoner (1967–1968) one episode ("Checkmate") features outdoor chess using people as pieces
Land of the Giants (1968–1970). The season two episode "Deadly Pawn" features the castaways as chess pieces in a game for their lives.
Columbo, in the episode "The Most Dangerous Match" (1973),season 2, episode 7, has Lt. Columbo match wits with a murderous chessmaster.[38]
Doctor Who, in the episode The Curse of Fenric (1989), features chess as a theme, both the physical game and as a metaphor for the events of the story.
Twin Peaks (1990–1991) in episode 2017, the characters Pete Martell and Dale Cooper discuss chess moves. A chess board diagram highlighting the Capablanca-Marshall game from 1909 covers a painting of a tree on the background wall.
The Wire (2002–2008), Dee uses the game of chess to explain the drug trade to Bodie and Wallace.
Endgame (TV series), (2011) Canadian television series that follows former World Chess Champion Arkady Balagan who uses his analytical skills to solve crimes
Sister Boniface Mysteries serial, in the 2023 episode St George's Defence, Sister Boniface competes in the British Open Chess Championships, in order to investigate whether or not said competition has been infiltrated by a Russian spy ring.
In painting
As the popularity of the game became widespread during the 15th and 16th centuries, so too did the number of paintings depicting the subject.[40] Continuing into the 20th century, artists created works related to the game often taking inspiration from the life of famous players or well-known games. An unusual connection between art and chess is the life of Marcel Duchamp, who in 1923 almost fully suspended his artistic career to focus on chess.[41][42][43]
I Giocatori di Scacchi (The Chess Players) (c. 1590) by Ludovico Carracci
Arabes jouant aux échecs (Arabs Playing Chess) (1847) by Eugène Delacroix
Les Joueurs d'échecs (The Chess Players) (1863) by Honoré Daumier
Parasite Eve II (2000) features GOLEMs, villainous genetically enhanced cyborgsuper soldiers that are divided into different types named after chess pieces: Pawn GOLEMs, Rook GOLEMs, Knight GOLEMs, and Bishop GOLEMs, plus a unique leader known as No. 9 (King GOLEM).
In 1968, the composer John Cage and artist Marcel Duchamp appeared together at a concert entitled Reunion, playing a game of chess and composing Aleatoric music by triggering a series of photoelectric cells underneath the chessboard.[44]
The game is referenced in Wu-Tang Clan songs such as "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'". "I love the game of chess", explained founder RZA. "The person who taught me chess was the girl who took my virginity. She was pretty good at chess and the pussy was even better. Now I take that shit seriously. I hate losing."[45] In 2005 Wu-Tang Clan member GZA released an album entitled Grandmasters in which every track had a chess theme.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Versus de scachis
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Song of Chess
^ a b c dLitmanowicz (1974), p. 13
^Gamer, Helena M. (1954). "The Earliest Evidence of Chess in Western Literature: The Einsiedeln Verses". Speculum. 29 (4): 734–750. doi:10.2307/2847098. JSTOR 2847098. S2CID 162079385.
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^The Immortal Game: A History of Chess
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^"Imagery of chess exhibition brochure, Duchamp Research Portal". www.duchamparchives.org. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
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^Christie, Ian (2000). A "Matter of Life and Death". London: British Film Institute. p. 77. ISBN 0-8517-0479-4. A chess game as a metaphor for the struggle for life eleven years before Bergman's The Seventh Seal: to Powell and Pressburger the idea may have been suggested by the death of Alekhine in 1946, the very year in which they made this film.
^"The Actual Chess Endgame in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Movie". The-Leaky-Cauldron.org. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
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Litmanowicz, Władysław (1974). Dykteryjki i ciekawostki szachowe [Chess trivia and anecdotes] (in Polish). Warsaw: Sport i Turystyka. pp. 11–27.
Griffin, Jonathan (2014). The Twenty First Century Art Book. Paul Harper, David Trigg, Eliza Williams. London. ISBN 978-0-7148-6739-7. OCLC 889547304.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
External links
Chess In Art (Streatham and Brixton Chess Club)
McClain, Dylan (May 22, 2009). "Chess on Film". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
"Elenco romanzi e racconti sul gioco degli scacchi" [List of novels and short stories on chess]. Terni Scacchi (in Italian). Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
“Chess in Fiction” by Edward Winter
Picasso and the Chess Player: Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and the Battle for the Soul of Modern Art