chess-The Oxford Companion to Chess - First Edition by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld

220 MYIHS
d4eid4 12Bxd4Qc7 r3Ns3Ns5 14Be2Nlg4 15Rhfl
c5 16 Bxc5 dxe5 17 h3 NI6 13 Bc4 Kh3
wM&
ffir.
r*
ww 7R
wi
tr%
19 Rfel (white dricipales the advane . . . l7-f5, a
mvsrerioN rooh nole r]lal anreda@s Nimmwit$hl
6iih.) t9 ..s6 20NflBc6 2lNe316 224rc6 Qxe6
I Nd5 NgN 24 Or4 RadB 25 Rd2 Nc7 26Nre7Qt7
,7 Renr R,d2 lr Rrd2 RJ3 .29 O.,4 Rtdz l0N\d2
(Bli.l hrs , BAD BAHoP, dd wllt€ . n'ees Jum inak the
lnhr.qures)30.. i6 llQd5Bdri 32N.4 KC7 ll,4
b6 34b3Klll 35Krh5 36s3Kg7 3?Q.6Qc7 33Oe6
Kt3 39 Ne3 Qe7 ,lO Qc3 ,5 11O.6Q.7 42Qxc7 BicT
4l Nd5 Bd3 4-4 Kdl Ka/ 45 ra4l5 46 A Ke6 47 K65
MYTES in chess largely concem the origin of the
eame. one of the musl PoPulcr rale( is of a
Brahmin. Sisa. shom!enred thc eame rureachhis
despotic ruler that the monarch camoi *in withonl
rhe help of his subjc.is. The eiaterul rulcr asks
Snsa what reward he wants ro Nhich the .ePly is .
grain ol corn lor the i6t squarc ol the chess board.
lwo lor 1he se@nd. four for the third, eight for the
fourrh, and so on. Iritated by such a trifli.g
request the ruler lnes to pesuade Sissa to aeept
something morc valuable and wben this ofier is
declined he orders the grain 10 be given. Ttc
answer to this calculation often givcn to school
children is 2s-1, or 18.,116,7,14,073,709,551,615
grains. suficient lo mver Eqland to a depth of 1en
metrcs or lo so* fte lands of thc earth ?6 tines.
(Dante. / Paladiro, xxiii,92 3.mneives oI an
elen greater .umber when he refers 10 thc
Hierarcby of Angeh, They .umbered mydads
more rhan the enlire Progressive dotrbling of the
cbes board squares.') Other mythical invenlos of
fie gamc are lapher. Shem. King Solonon, the
princely brolhets Lydus and Iy h€nus Gu tdl'e
then minds lrom slaruatio.), Hemes, Arislode,
Semiramas, Ze.obia, Alt.tl6, Palamodes (*ho
invenled matry eicellenl rhi.es i.cluding three
mcals a day), xerxes. Shatren*ha (a PeBian
6t onomer, Ulyscs, Dionedes, and Adam.
Redons for lhe game's invenlio. Iall itrto
groups. The military €legory i.cludes te..bing the
art of war (which the sane nimicr, stimulatirs
bored lroops. or reknng overlaxed t.oops-
Another thcme is that chess was i.vented as a
tettul way of breaking the ncB io a queen oI her
$njs de.th in batlle. or his death ar the hands ofa
biother in aeordance with the rules ol warfarc 6
shoM by the laws of chess, or !o soothe the queen
in her bereavenent. Another tale suegesB tnat lhe
Hindus invented chess to up-stage the Pe6iaB
who were excessively prond oi having invented
backgamnon. and there are many a@ounts ltat
chess was devised to denonslrate thc preferred
vntues or as a bloodless substitnte for Nr. Anong
tbe denonslrably Dntrue nyrhs are claims tnat
chess was inlenred by the Greeks, Romans,
Babylonies, scythians. Egypd.ns, Castiliaf,s.
Insh welsh or South Amencan lndians.