The History of Chess, Part I
Lionel Kochan traces the development of chess, from its origins to the end of the fifteenth century.
How is the history of chess to be written? Is it a history of the game itself, its changing rules and moves? Or of the development of styles, of classics and romantics, of eclectics and moderns and hyper-moderns? Or of the spread of the game, geographically speaking? Or of the careers of those masters who have dominated it from time to time? Or of the evolution of the pieces as an art form, in relation to religious restrictions and political and economic developments?
The history of chess is all these things. But above all else, it is the history of a fight. Here the words of Emanuel Lasker (World Champion from 1894-1921) are conclusive: ‘A game of chess is a fight, in which all possible factors must be made use of, and in which a knowledge of the opponent’s good and bad qualities is of the greatest importance.’
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