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A PICTUE HISTORY OF
CHES S
by
FredWilson
The Sanskrit word chaturaga means "four-limbed," and when applied to a board game
in northwest India around the seventh century
AD,
it referred to the four components of
the army-infantry, cavalry, chariots, clephants. Chaturanga, or chess, has always
been a metaphor for war, and the graphic spectacle inherent in the precise images of
the chess pieces and checkered board, as well as the familiar sight of competitors
concentrating fiercely
,
has been portrayed by artists, printers, photographers and
craftsmen throughout the game's first millennium
.
Indeed chess graphic symbols are
inseparable from chess history-but while there ha ve been several prose histories of
chess, until now there have been no pictorial ones.
The 295 illustrations in this
Picture-Histoy of Chess
present a panorama of the game's
most important moments and players. From chess knights carved only 200 years after
the game's invention, to a manuscript portrait of one of the earliest chess authors
(Dominican friar Jacobus de Cessolis, circa 1275), to photographs (many heretofore
unpublished) of almost every principal master of the last two centuries, the chess drama
is conveyed through its scenes.
Chess has been a frequent focus of drama, on and off stage: the title page from Thomas
Middleton's allegory
A Cane at Chesse
(1624) shows the Kings, Queens, Knights and
Bishops who played "nine days together" at the Globe theatre; a shot of a 1925
tournament at Moscow is really a still from the Russian comedy Chess eur which used
actual tournament footage; a painting entitled The Death of luan the Terribe shows the
Czar
collapsing at the chessboard. Of special note are the portraits and photographs of
great and prominent names from PhiJidor to Karpov, of matches and tournaments
from Staunton vs. Saint-Amant 1843 to Milan 1975. The unusual shots of Morphy,
Steinitz, Lasker, Nimzowitsch, Reshevsky, Capablanca, AJekhine, Fischer (plus
unexpected spectators, e.g. Che Guevara and Castro) collected by chess historian Fred
Wilson provide a unique documentary-gallery of who's who and who-was-Yho in chess.
Wilson's immense knowledge of the game's past enriches the captions, in which he
situates each player within a broad chess perspective. Picture History of Chess, the only
book of its kind, brings to both chess aficionados and the casual observer, in the finest
reproduction, the pleasures and beauties of pictoriaJ chess, past and present.
Original Dover (1981) publication. Text and picture selection by Fred Wilson. 295
illustrations
.
vii + 182pp
.
8% x 11
.
.
Paperbound.
A DOVER EDITION DESIGNED FOR YEARS OF USE!
We have made every effort to make this the best book possible. Our paper is
opaque, with mini mal show-through; it will not discolor or beco me brittle with age.
Pages are bound in signatures, in the method traditionally used for the best books,
and
will not drop out. Books open flat for easy reference. The binding will not crack
or
split. This is a permanent book.
ISBN 0-486-23856-3
Free Complete Dover Chess Catalog available upon request.
90000
$12
·
95 IN USA
(Reprocessed with Scan Tailor by jparra, 2012-06-23)
A
PICTUE
HISTORY OF
CHESS
by
Fred Wilson
Dover ublications, Inc.
New York
TO
MY WIFE MARCIA
whose love, encouragement, patience, and understanding
made this book possible.
"Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy."
-Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch
1981 by Dover Publications, Inc.
All rights rserved under Pan American and International
Copyright Conventions.
Copyright
D
Published in Canada by General Publishing Company,
Ltd., 30 Lsmill Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario.
Published in the United Kingdom by Constable and Com­
pany, Ltd., 10 Orange Stret, London WC2H 7EG.
A
Picture History of Chss
is a new work, first published by
Dover Publications, Inc., in 1981.
International Standard Book Number:
0-486-23856-3
Library of Congrss Catalog Card Number:
80-71004
Manufactured in the United Stats of America
Dover Publications, Inc.
180 Varick Stret
New York, N.Y. 1014
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