Part 3 of 4 in an excellent History of Chess by Jason Rintz.

The 19th and early 20th centuries saw relatively rapid change in the game of chess. It was still a game for an educated minority, but there was a higher European population than ever before, and more people were educated that at any previous time in history. Additionally, chess play moved from the club scene to broader tournaments, resulting in professionalization and famous players. Coinciding with and contributing to the rise of tournament play was the proliferation of chess media, as well as a need for standardization of rules. By the time war broke out in 1914, chess had become an international game much resembling today’s sport.

Part II in a series by Jason Rintz.

The period between 1500 and 1800 A.D. saw significant developments in the game of chess as well as a new phenomenon—the rise of chess celebrities. Beginning in lower Europe and gradually moving north toward England, chess gained popularity while undergoing alterations to its rules, meaning a new chess was born after the end of the Middle Ages. The 1700s saw chess shift from aristocratic pastime to intellectual preoccupation, meaning its former fan base was lost while a new, wider one was found. By the time 1800 arrived, chess had become a new game with its stars, heated competition, and canonical technical literature, and was far more difficult and moderately different that its medieval manifestation.

More good work from Jason Rintz. Be sure to check it out.

Some nice research by Jason Rintz resulted in the following article describing the early days of chess. If you’ve played the game for a while but haven’t looked into the history you’ll find this article interesting.

Hindus in India playing an early version of chess

The history of chess is as complex as the game’s rules and strategy themselves. While there are no definitive origins of chess - for example who, where, which particular year, as they all relate to invention - there is adequate historical evidence available to narrow down to a general time frame of its first appearances. Originating in the east and gradually spreading westward, following the historical arc of military and monarchical domination, chess began as a game reflecting the art of war but eventually evolved into one symbolic of European class structures by the end of the medieval age.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3.

Everyone now and then I head over to Hardcore Pawnography. Always funny and amusing. Earlier this month he gave his take on Cool Chess Products That Don’t Exist But Should. I just warn you …. his blog isn’t always rated GP.

Alekhine’s Reserve brand vodka! You just had a bad day at a tournament, you go back to your room and drown your sorrows in Alekhine’s Reserve brand Vodka! (made with potatoes, like vodka should be made, not that grain vodka crap that is all over) . You had a great tournament, you want to celebrate? What better way than with a bottle of Alekhine’s vodka. And of course, the bottle would have a picture of Alekhine on it.

At least according to this article in The Columbus Dispatch by Shelby Lyman. I happen to agree with it.

In chess, it’s the player who can calculate far ahead, play without seeing the board or take on dozens of opponents at once.

It’s an acquired skill for any professional to instantly grasp the essence of objects of his expertise.

Playing 20 or 30 chess games simultaneously might also seem like an extraordinary feat, but we’re all capable of focusing our attention serially over a large group of objects.

Even blindfold chess is essentially a common phenomenon. We all habitually see and contemplate the world’s many complexities.

Yes, we can potentially and impressively do many things that we might consider outside our expertise — such as acquiring seemingly unattainable skills in the game of chess.

And like anything else it just takes a plan and some hard work.

Smoke Signals: Where have all the chess men gone?

In this article, Tim Troglen, laments the fact that he receives a chess set as a gift and can’t find himself an opponent.

It began when a good friend of mine, originally from Glascow, Scotland, gave me a hand-crafted chess set as a gift. He molded the pieces out of lead and painted them himself.

They depict medieval pawns standing in protective service of the royal house of king, queen, bishop, knight and rook. Each piece is on a round-wooden base — 16 dark and 16 light.

As friends admired the pieces being spread out on a small table, I would ask, “Do you play?”

The answer was routinely, “no.”

I had a new chess set and no one to play with.

I was a bit down. Chess is a very special game to me. My favorite opponent and the person who taught me to both play and love the game, my dad, died about five years ago. And each time I see a chess piece, play a game or set up a board, I feel a bit closer to him.

I’m somewhat sympathetic to the author. I don’t have a lot friends who play chess. I spend most of my chess playing time with a computer.

I came across an interview with the highest rated chess player in Alaska Artem Ruppert. When asked about what draws him to chess he responded with:

You are on your own here choosing the course of action in a battle of minds and seeing ramifications of your choices right away. It’s a sense of responsibility and joy of following through with the strategic plans, seeing your opponent making a mistake and spotting a nice tactical opportunity or refutation of an idea, or having a kick when your opponent misses his opportunity.

Chess evokes strong emotions at every stage of the game and brings joy of intellectual productiveness. It makes you appreciate logic, precision and geometry patterns. It provides chances in finding an optimum path in a seemingly chaotic situation through creative ideas. It teaches you how to accept defeat graciously and learn from your mistakes. Chess presents numerous opportunities to demonstrate logic and application of rules as well as exceptions from the rules that often lead to unexpected beautiful combinations.

Rather nicely said.

Over at Gamasutra.com there’s a rather cool article about building AI into your game programs. The challenge is making the computer program seem human enough such that even an average player feels like the computer is trying.

In pool and snooker games, the computer can be programmed to never miss a shot. However, people want to play against an opponent that is well matched to their skills, and so there are generally levels of AI in the game that the player can choose from.

The simplest way to introduce stupidity into AI is to reduce the amount of computation that it’s allowed to perform. Chess AI generally performs billions of calculations when deciding what move to make.

The more calculations that are made (and the more time taken), then (generally) the better the computer will play. If you reduce the amount of calculations performed, the computer will be a worse player.

The problem with this approach is that it decreases the realism of the AI player. When you reduce the amount of computation, the AI will begin to make incredibly stupid mistakes — mistakes that are so stupid, no human would ever make them. The artificial nature of the game will then become apparent, which destroys the illusion of playing against a real opponent.

If you enjoy playing chess against a computer or are just a techie it’s a great read. You’ll see that it’s easier to right a really powerful chess program than it is to write a program that can be calibrated to the level of the human opponent.