International Chess Day

Haven't posted in a while despite saying I would in my previous posts, but life happens and when your time is as disorganised as mine, it's hard to manage anything. Anyway, today is International Chess Day, so I decided to post a little about chess.


What Is Chess?
Chess is a two-player strategy board game, which consists of a Queen, a King, Rooks, Knights, Bishops and Pawns - with the Queen holding the highest power and the Pawns the lowest.
Each piece has a different move and the game depends on the strategy of the moves as would be in a battle. The winner ends the game with a Checkmate.

The game was said to be derived from a 7th century Indian game called Chaturanga. but there's evidence to suggest that it was of Persian origins - Chatrang - as it was discovered after the Islamic conquest of Persia around the same time. The oldest chess manual found was in the 9th century - in Arabic - which is around the time it was spread in Europe.

In the 11th century, many chess rules were altered by Spain and Italy, making it the game we know today.

Have You Ever Played Chess?
I used to play chess when I was a child, but it was all made up. The rules changed every time I played with my sisters hehehe
I would love to play the real thing though, because it improves memory and uses both sides of the brain, thus making you smarter.


What Is Your Favourite Chessboard?
Since I like to post items I would love to buy or that are on my shopping list, I'll post my favourite chess pieces that I hope I would one day own:

I love the piece I had posted above (which also come in blue), unfortunately though, I couldn't find the maker...



I also found those wonderfully intricate pieces at Golovko , that would go beautifully with Italfama cleancut maple burl chessboards.

There are many beautiful pieces that I would love to add to the list, but then we'll have a never ending post. Plus I decided to limit my choices, because I never know when to stop.

Who Is Your Favourite Classic Chess-Playing Star?
Bogie is the first star that comes to mind when thinking of chess, but my favourites also include Yul Brynner, Jimmy Stewart and Ray Milland. Still, I'll focus more on Bogie since his love for chess was most visible. 

Humphrey Bogart loved playing chess and can be seen playing it in almost all the behind-the-scenes photographs of his films. It was one of his main interests as he was reported to take a chess board with him everywherehe went and played it daily.

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His love for chess wasn't only a hobby though, it was a passion of his that lead him to become the director of the United States Chess Federation Tournament. He also took part in the California State Chess Association and the Hollywood Chess Club. 
Bogie was a confident chess player, that he challenged a chess grandmaster, with one of the games resulting in a tie.

Comments

  1. I had no idea Humphrey Bogart was that good that he played against professionals.
    That explains why he had more pictures playing Chess than any other actor at that time.

    I love both Chess sets you posted and I also love Bogart and Bacall's chess set, mostly because it's huge...hehehe.
    I have so many saved on my Laptop, but there's this Ralph Lauren set that I really like and the only would I found the link to :
    https://www.crystalclassics.com/ralphlauren/682736535001.htm

    One of my goals is to learn how to play Chess, but I postpone it for reasons I don't even know the answer to. We should learn it together since I'm sure it's one of your goals as well.

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    Replies
    1. Yes me too! I think there are a few other stars who played with professionals, but I couldn't find articles on them.
      I love the Ralph Lauren too!
      We must try it together soon!

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