Corneliu Baba

Corneliu Baba (Craiova, 1906 - Bucharest, 1997) 

170gsm A3 Size Colour White Satin Print

Oil on canvas 100,8 cm x 93 cm

In the corner of the artist’s studio a man in his 50's sits bent over a chess board, his hands resting on his knees. From his attitude and posture we can tell he is deeply engrossed in the move underway, most likely a black knight’s attack over a white pawn. These are two of the seven pieces we can see on the board. The close-range, steep angle view is particularly intriguing: the painter (Baba was a tall, well-built man) is also the invisible partner in this chess game. He alone can run the narrow line between inside and outside, between an active player and an attentive observer.

The National Museum of Romania

SITTTUYIN Chess of Burma (Myanmar)

Sittuyin (Burmese: စစ်တုရင်), also known as Burmese chess, is a variant of chess that is a direct offspring of the Indian game of chaturanga which arrived in 8th century AD. Sit is the modern Burmese word for army or war ; the word sittuyin can be translated as representation of the four characteristics of army—chariot, elephant, cavalry and infantry.

In its native land the game has been largely overshadowed by Western (international) chess, although it remains popular in the northwest regions.

Sittuyin is a form of chess otherwise known as Burmese chess. It is of unknown antiquity, but chess is thought to have been brought from India by the seventh century, with the migration of Buddhism. The Burmese game has some similarities with older Indian and Persian forms of chess. But where western chess speeds up the game by giving some of the pieces more powerful moves, Burmese chess keeps the older moves of the pieces but brings them closer into contact at the start of the game. This gives the feeling of a close melee.

Rules for Sittuyin

Sittuyin is played on an unchequered board of eight rows of eight squares. A line joins the each of the extreme diagonals together from corner to corner. Pieces are red and black, and for each side consist of eight soldiers, two chariots, two horsemen, two elephants, a commander and the king.

1. The game begins with the soldiers only set on the board, in the layout shown in the diagram.

2. The red player begins the game by placing his major pieces anywhere behind his soldiers.

3. It is permissible to place a major piece on a square already occupied by a soldier, in which case the soldier is moved to another empty square behind the soldiers line.

4. When the red pieces are all placed, the black player deploys his pieces in the same manner.

5. Once all the pieces have been placed, the movement phase of the game begins, with red making the first move.

6. In his turn a player moves one piece, each piece having its own special mode of movement:

(i). the king may move a single step in one of eight directions to an adjacent square;

(ii). the commander moves one step diagonally, to an adjacent square;

(iii). an elephant may move one step diagonally or one step directly forward, to an adjacent square;

(iv). the horseman moves one step diagonally and then one step horizontally or vertically away from his current position, jumping over any piece in his way;

(v). the chariot moves horizontally or vertically as far as the player wishes, though it cannot jump over other pieces;

(vi). the soldier moves one step forward to the next square, unless capturing, when he moves one step diagonally forward.

7. No piece may land on a square already occupied, unless it is making a capture.

8. If a soldier sits on the diagonal line on the far side of the board, and if the player has no commander in play, then the player may promote the soldier to a commander instead of making a move.

9. A soldier cannot be promoted once he has passed the diagonal line at the far side of the board.

10. A player may capture an enemy piece by moving one of his own pieces onto the enemy's square, at which point the captured piece is removed from play. This is the only time a piece may land on a square that is not currently empty.

11. All pieces can capture pieces within the range of their ordinary move, except the soldier, which must instead move diagonally forward to capture. A soldier cannot move straight forward to capture.

12. The king may not be captured. But if a player's king is threatened with capture, a situation called check, it must be moved or protected on the player's own turn.

13. The game is ended if a player's king is threatened with capture, and he cannot move it to safety or otherwise protect it on his own turn. This is checkmate, and he loses the game.

14. Stalemate is not allowed in sittuyin. A player must leave his opponent with some legal move.

Sources: http://www.cyningstan.com/game/234/sittuyin
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the Libro de los juegos

One of the oldest books written about board games is a book called Libro de los Juegos, or Libro de Axedrez, Dados e Tablas, The Book of Games, or The Book of Chess, Dice and Tables, commissioned by King Alfonso X of Castile, Galicia and León in Toledo, Spain, in 1283.

The original manuscript of the book from 1283 is kept in the Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Escorial Monastery Library) in Madrid, Spain. It is an illuminated manuscript with beautiful paintings of games and players. Another manuscript copy, made in 1334, is kept at the Real Academia de la Historia (Royal Academy of History Library) in Madrid, Spain.
The book consists of ninety-seven leaves of parchment, many with colour illustrations, and contains 150 miniatures. The text is a treatise that addresses the playing of three games: a game of skill, or chess; a game of chance, or dice; and a third game, backgammon, which combines elements of both skill and chance. The book contains the earliest known description of these games.

The Libro de juegos contains an extensive collection of writings on chess, with over 100 chess problems and variants. Among its more notable entries is a depiction of what Alfonso calls the ajedrex de los quatro tiempos ("chess of the four seasons"). This game is a chess variant for four players, described as representing a conflict between the four elements and the four humours. The chessmen are marked correspondingly in green, red, black, and white, and pieces are moved according to the roll of dice.

More information here > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libro_de_los_juegos

Start Trek 3D Chess

Three-dimensional chess (or 3D chess) is any chess variant that uses multiple boards representing different levels, allowing the chess pieces to move in three physical dimensions. In practical play, this is usually achieved by boards representing different layers being laid out next to each other.

Three-dimensional variants have existed since at least the late 19th century, one of the oldest being Raumschach (German for "Space chess"), invented in 1907 by Ferdinand Maack and considered the classic 3D game. Maack founded a Raumschach club in Hamburg in 1919, which remained active until World War II.

Probably the most familiar 3D chess variant to the general public is the game of Tri-Dimensional Chess (or Tri-D Chess), which can be seen in many Star Trek TV episodes and movies, starting with the original series (TOS) and proceeding in updated forms throughout the subsequent movies and spinoff series.

Sources - Wikipedia 3D Chess

The Chess Players (Honoré Daumier 1863)

170gsm A3 Size Colour White Satin Print

Even though Daumier created over 4,000 lithographs throughout his lifetime, he also was a talented painter, as exemplified by The Chess Players. His style was much more impressionistic, including elements of traditional painting, including perspective and shading. Most of Daumier’s work contained elements of satire and a commentary on a social or political situation, and this painting seems to have little to say, other than to present a beautifully painted rendering of two men sitting at a chess game, thoughtfully engaged in their play. Rather than portraying the folly of the bourgeois class, this painting seems to simply illustrate the past time of a friendly game of chess.

"JUPITER DELUXE" Chess Computer, model 969. By Krypton Systema c1995

Another nostalgic chess computer in my collection Jupiter Deluxe (969)

An upgrade on my earlier Jupiter chess computer.

• LCD Screen
• 72 levels (432 level settings)
• Player rating system
• Special teaching system