Searching for Bobby Fischer (aka Innocent Moves, 1993)

Region2 DVD

Searching for Bobby Fischer, released in the United Kingdom as Innocent Moves, is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian.






Based on: Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess; by Fred Waitzkin.







Inspired by the life of chess prodigy. Josh is a normal kid and loves to play football. But, his father notices signs of him being a genius at chess and encourages him.

Xiangqi

Xiangqi (Chinese: 象棋; pinyin: xiàngqí; English: /ˈʃɑːŋtʃi/), also called Chinese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in China, and is in the same family as Western (or international) chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi.

Playing Xiangqi

Schwarz und weiß wie Tage und Nächte - 1978

Schwarz und weiß wie Tage und Nächte (Black and White Like Day and Night) is a West German film from 1978 Originally made for German television and directed by Wolfgang Petersen.

As a child, Thomas (Bruno Ganz) is forbidden from playing chess because losing a game sends him into a fit of anger. Years later, as a mathematician, he designs a program that will beat most opponents at chess. He is eager to try it out, and a televised game is organised in which, using the computer, he plays against a world champion, who humiliates him by winning. Thomas swears revenge, becoming obsessed with beating his nemesis, and eventually spiralling into paranoia.

Black and White Like Day and Night

Automated Chess Machine

Not a computer as we know today, this was more of a "playing machine" that drew huge crowds at exhibitions across Europe and the United States, and fooled the world.

The dream of creating a chess playing machine stems long before the invention of personal computers. In 1770 Wolfgang Von Kempelen constructed “The Turk”, an automaton chess player which defeated many human opponents. It was eventually discovered that the Turk’s mechanisms were handled by a strong chess master hidden inside. In the ‘60s the sixth world champion Mikhail Botvinnik started working on developing a chess playing program, but due to the level of technology couldn't reach notable results.

The Turk had first appeared in 1769 in the court of Maria Theresa, the empress of Austria-Hungary. In a bid to impress the empress, an inventor and royal advisor named Wolfgang von Kempelen had vowed to build an automaton whose illusion and spectacle would surpass anything she had seen before. Intrigued, Maria Theresa granted him a leave of absence to work on his mystery project.

The Chess Players (Sir John Lavery 1929)

170gsm A3 Size Colour White Satin Print

Original- The Chess Players 1929'. Canvas, 48 1/2×75 1/2 (123×192)

Sir John Lavery (20 March 1856 – 10 January 1941) was an Irish painter best known for his portraits and wartime depictions.

Shatranj

Shatranj (Arabic: شطرنج‎, from Middle Persian chatrang) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire around 600AD. 

Shatranj was played on an 8x8 board and featured 16 pieces on each side, similar to today's chess: the soldier (pawn), the horse (knight), the elephant (a weaker bishop), the chariot (rook), the counselor (a much weaker queen), and the shah (king).

The game ended with checkmate, or if all the pieces of one army (except the king) were captured.

Its origins are in the Indian game of chaturaṅga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as it was introduced to the western world via contacts in Muslim Andalusia (modern Spain) and in Sicily in the 10th century.

Two shatranj players in a detail from a Persian miniature painting of Bayasanghori Shahname made in 1430

Rules

The initial setup in shatranj was essentially the same as in modern chess; however, the position of the white shah (king), on the right or left side was not fixed. Either the arrangement as in modern chess or as shown in the diagram were possible. In either case, the white and black shāh would be on the same file (but not always in modern India). The game was played with these pieces:

• Shāh ("king") moves like the king in chess.
• Fers ("counselor"; also spelled ferz; Arabic firz, from Persian فرزين farzīn; also called Wazir) moves exactly one square diagonally, which makes it a rather weak piece. renamed Queen in Europe
• Rukh ("chariot"; from Persian رخ rokh) moves like the rook in chess.
• Pīl, alfil, aufin, and similar ("elephant"; from Persian پيل pīl; al- is the Arabic for "the") moves exactly two squares diagonally, jumping over the square between. Each pīl could reach only one-eighth of the squares on the board, and because their circuits were disjoint, they could never capture one another.
• Asb (current meaning of "horse" in Persian, from old Persian Asp (اسپ)), moves like the knight in chess.
• Sarbaz ("soldier"; also called piyādeh (پیاده "infantryman") in Persian and adopted later to Baidaq (بيدق) in Arabic (a new singular extracted by treating the Persian form as an Arabic broken plural), moves and captures like the pawns in chess, but not moving two squares on the first move. When they reach the eighth rank, they are promoted, but only to Fers.

There were also other differences compared to modern chess: Castling was not allowed (it was invented much later). Stalemating the opposing king resulted in a win for the player delivering stalemate. Capturing all one's opponent's pieces apart from the king (baring the king) was a win, unless the opponent could capture the last piece on his next move, which was considered a draw in most places in the Islamic world (except for Medina, where it was a win).

We notice that the possible movements of the main shatranj pieces, excluding that of the king and pawn, are complementary to one another, occupying, without any omission or redundancy, all available squares with regards to a central position inside a 5x5 grid.

A great demonstration of how to play Shatranj can be viewed on Ancient Chess

Edwin Lord Weeks - A Game of Chess c1880-90's

170gsm A3 Size Colour White Satin Print

Oil on canvas, 140.3 x 186.1 cm

After years of travel through Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and India, the American artist Edwin Lord Weeks remained captivated by the sights he encountered abroad. Toward the end of his career he began an ambitious series of paintings based on A Thousand and One Nights. Having documented his travels through sketches, paintings and photographs, Weeks was well equipped with the source material for the present scene, and was careful to render the architecture, complete with its delicately carved stone latticework, as well as the costumes of the two figures. The lounging woman is swathed in elaborately embroidered silks, reminiscent of the Nautch dancing girls whom Weeks had painted in India. Additionally, architectural elements reminiscent of his Indian paintings of the 1880s and 1890s now reappear as background and decorative elements. 

History of Chess in England

Chess came to Europe around a thousand years ago from the Arab countries. Then the moves of the pieces changed around the 15th century, this is the start of the modern game we play now. In the second half of the 19th century tournament play began.

The famous Isle of Lewis chessmen which were discovered in 1831 were 78 chess pieces made in the 12th century. hey are owned and exhibited by the British Museum in London, which has 67 of the original pieces, and the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, which has the remaining 11 pieces.

Two kings and two queens from the Uig, or Lewis chessmen 
at the British Museum.

Chess clocks were first used in 1883, and the first world chess championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw advances in chess theory, and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Chess engines (programs that play chess), and chess data bases became important.

In the early 1800s there was no organised chess, as we know it today. Serious play was confined to match games between the few masters for a purse, such matches being played usually at one of the well-known chess meeting rooms in London.

England along with Paris became the cornerstone of international chess and in 1851, the first international chess tournament was held in London, organised by the legendary Howard Staunton. It was held alongside the Great Exhibition, held in Crystal Palace. The tournament was a 16 player knock-out event, with a similar format to the British tournament taking place in Olympiad right now. The line-up was quite star-studded for that time, but players had to turn down a place for unfortunate reasons. For example, Vincent Grimm of Hungary was exiled in Aleppo!

Adolf Anderssen, a school teacher of Germany was eventually victorious in this event and Staunton came a disappointing 4th place. Adolf Anderssen, in full Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen, (born July 6, 1818, Breslau, Prussia [now Wrocław, Poland]—died March 13, 1879, Breslau), chess master considered the world's strongest player from his victory in the first modern international tournament (London, 1851) until his defeat (1858)




It’s evident that chess politics dates way back, as even for this revolutionary event in 1851, there was a big rivalry with the London Chess Club that led them to try and boycott the event. Obviously, the reasons for this rivalry will be hearsay now, but there are some old scriptures seen in George Walker’s old column, A Bell’s Life, which was trying to sabotage the event. Despite all of this, Staunton was able to raise a prize fund of £500, which probably equates to around £400,000 now! 

The Chess Game (Ludwig Deutsch 1896)

170gsm A3 Size Colour White Satin Print

Ludwig Deutsch (1855–1935) was an Austrian painter who settled in Paris and became a noted Orientalist artist.

World Champions since 1886

The concept of a world chess champion started to emerge in the first half of the 19th century, and the phrase "world champion" first appeared in 1845.

From 1948 to 1993, the championship was administered by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), but in 1993, the reigning champion Garry Kasparov broke away from FIDE, which led to the creation of the rival PCA championship. The titles were unified at the World Chess Championship 2006.

Current world champion Magnus Carlsen won the World Chess Championship 2013 against Viswanathan Anand and successfully defended his title against Anand in the World Chess Championship 2014 and against Sergey Karjakin in 2016; Carlsen is set to defend his title again in the World Chess Championship in November of 2018.

Classical World Chess Champions (Official List)

• Magnus Carlsen (2013-current)
• Viswanathan Anand (2007-2013)
• Vladimir Kramnik (2000-2007)
• Garry Kasparov (1985-2000)
• Anatoly Karpov (1975-1985)
• Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (1972-1975)
• Boris Spassky (1969-1972)
• Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969)
• Mikhail Tal (1960-1961)
• Vasily Smyslov (1957-1958)
• Mikhail Botvinnik (1948-1957, 1958-1960, 1961-1963)
• Max Euwe (1935-1937)
• Alexander Alekhine (1927-1935, 1937-1946)
• Jose Raul Capablanca (1921-1927)
• Emanuel Lasker (1894-1921)
• Wilhelm Steinitz (1886-1894)

FIDE World Chess Champions

When Garry Kasparov split with the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and organized his 1993 World Championship match with Nigel Short, FIDE declared that they still controlled the World Championship title and staged their own championships. While the FIDE title did not carry the prestige of the classical World Championship, these players are still worth noting for their historical impact on the game.

• Veselin Topalov (2005-2006)
• Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2004-2005)
• Ruslan Ponomariov (2002-2004)
• Viswanathan Anand (2000-2002)
• Alexander Khalifman (1999-2000)
• Anatoly Karpov (1993-1999)

In 2006, the two titles were united when Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik defeated FIDE Champion Veselin Topalov in a reunification match.

IBM Deep Blue beat G. Kasparov in 1997

The first match was played in February 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kasparov won the match 4–2, losing one game, drawing in two and winning three.

A rematch was played in 1997 – this time Deep Blue won 3.5–2.5

The video is a short documentary about computer chess history up to the third millennium and especially about the 1997 chess match between Garry Kasparov World Chess Champion and IBM's computer Deep Blue. The computer won the match 3.5 - 2.5 and Kasparov lost a chess match for the first time in his life.

Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine is a 2003 documentary film by Vikram Jayanti about the match between Garry Kasparov, the highest rated chess player in history (at the time) and the World Champion for 15 years (1985–2000), and Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer created by IBM. It was co-produced by Alliance Atlantis and the National Film Board of Canada.

Master Pieces Hardcover – 16 Oct 2000

Synopsis:
This text explores the long history of chess with a mix of historical fact and colourful anecdote. The book features 30 of the most influential chess sets, because the chess pieces themselves tell a story of war, revolution, peace and religion, technology, art and sport.

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Apple Press; First Edition edition (16 Oct. 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840921536
• ISBN-13: 978-1840921533
• Package Dimensions: 20 x 15.4 x 2 cm
• Available on Amazon

A great book and a must for anyone who is interested in chess history, this book provides a history of chess and its origins.

The Chess Players (Thomas Eakins-1876)

170gsm A3 Size Colour White Satin Print

Oil on wood panel 29.8 cm × 42.6 cm (​11 3⁄4 in × ​16 3⁄4 in)

The original is a small oil on wood panel depicting Eakins' father Benjamin observing a chess match. The two players are Bertrand Gardel (at left), an elderly French teacher, and the somewhat younger George Holmes, a painter. The men are in a dark, wood-panelled Victorian parlour with a quality of light suggesting late afternoon. The game is well in progress, as many pieces have been removed from the board. Holmes, the younger player, seems to be winning the match, as he has taken the queen of his opponent (the top of which pokes out of the table's drawer), and his own black queen is well-positioned in the centre of the board. 

More details about the painting on wikipedia here

My First Chess Computer (c1994) Model 5T-932

5T-932

Not only my fist chess computer but I still use it, almost 25 years old and still used for games.
With a 4 Kbyte 8 Bit program running at 4 MHz  – 72 Levels, Opening Book 250 Half Moves.

• 72 Level chess computer
• Special teaching function
• Sensory chess board
• Position set up, verify & take back moves
• Audible tone to indicate moves

I will get a video of the computer in action soon.....