Birth Of Chess

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The Birth of the Queen “The history of chess is filled with examples of how the game has morphed itself to fit the cultural and political needs of the societies in which it is played” (Houle).Chess has went through many changes for thousands of years. But the queen has changed the most out of all six of the pieces. The Indian culture represented the Queen as a vizier (or general) and they desired the king’s protection overall. The European culture changes the name to fit their romantic stance in society, but kept her weak because of the power Queen’s lacked in that time. The Spanish culture, however, changed the idea around the chess queen and increased her power to represent the Queens of their culture. The exact origin of chess has been…show more content…
The reason for that is because even though queens exist in their culture it didn’t make them powerful. The name was changed to fit a more romantic stance that their culture had. At this point in history existence of the queen was unremarkable, but many researchers say that the queen was modeled after a queen of that time. In the book “Birth of the Chess Queen” Yalom traces the Queen’s birth to the ruling periods of Empress Adelaide and Empress Theophano of the Holy Roman Empire. “A combative mother and daughter-in-law who wielded independent power during the times of their husbands' rule and after their husbands' deaths” (Yalom). The fact that the European culture changed the name from vizier to queen signifies they favored romance over war in their culture. Likewise, they didn’t change the pieces move set so the piece was still weak which implies that in their culture the queen wasn’t very powerful. She was more of a figure of…show more content…
The real queen that changed the world’s perspective of the piece was Queen Isabella I. Isabella of Castile ruled in the 15th century. She had a joint rule with her husband, Ferdinand in Spain. “Isabella is known for her achievements in uniting Spain and transforming it into an international power. However, she is also remembered for instituting the Spanish inquisition and the oppression of Jews and Muslims in Spain. This combination of strategic genius and cold hearted destruction led to the dominating power of the chess queen in modern chess which was first known as "Queen's" chess” (Houle). In the Spanish culture, Isabella I signified power and they expressed her power into the chess Queen. So the chess Queen’s move change represented the Queen’s power increase in the Spanish

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