His emphasis on the word “civilized” and “modern progress” in his writings was mostly used when referring to the western world.

While I could not find any references to using the social hierarchy of race as a rationale for the move order, we should notice the language of Steinitz. In all international and public Chess matches and tournaments, however, it is the rule for the first player to have the white men.” “The players draw by lot for move and choice of color. Perhaps the most definitive statement made appeared on page xii in a book titled, The Modern Chess Instructor (1889) where Steinitz (the sitting World Champion) stated, The player must always play with the white men.” Apparently, a consensus was being formed as some tournaments had already made it part of their rules. In the same document, it was written under “Code of Chess Laws” (page 164), “The right of first move must be determined by lot. However, in the Fifth American Congress in 1880, the rules read (page 126), “The one having the move, in every case, is to play the white pieces.” This rule was not immediately adopted and tournament organizers maintained flexibility on the first move. This was a proposal, but there was no accompanying explanation of this rationale and why it would be white as opposed to black moving first. Lowenthal for his valuable communications. Both of these he was requested by their distinguished author to present to the Congress. Lowenthal, of London the first relating to the advisableness of always giving the first move, in published games, to the player of the white pieces, and the second containing an new analysis of the Pawn and Move opening. Perrin, the Secretary of the New York Club, informed the Congress that he had received two communications from Mr. The book commemorating the congress, sets the tone: Proposals & Rule ChangeĪt the First American Chess Congress in 1857, England’s Johann Lowenthal recommended that white have the obligatory first move. When the Spanish drove the Moors out of the Iberian peninsula in 1492, shatranj was “Europeanized,” and the black/white chess dichotomy took on a greater symbolism. Also, a coin was tossed to see who moved first.

In contrast to the current version of chess, shatranj did not originally have colored squares. Moors of Spain playing a casual game of Shatranj Shatranj blindfold exhibitions and tournaments were commonplace. We also remember the Moors taking science, architecture, medicine and cultural pastimes such as shatranj into Spain. If we draw on history, we remember the University of Timbuktu, and the civilization of ancient Egypt. It is well-known that Africans had their own levels of erudition as fair as science, medicine and the arts. It has been cultivated and extolled by the wise and great of all ages, and notably in recent times by such exponents of modern progress as Leibnitz, Voltaire, Franklin, Diderot, Lessing, Boethe, Buckle, etc., as affording an admirable training for the highest faculties of the human mind. This is indicated in the report of the Sixth American Chess Congress in New York in 1889, edited by then-World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz.įor centuries the games of Chess has stood preeminent among the intellectual pastimes of civilized nations. It was a game of the “civilized” and was touted as a pastime of the well-heeled intelligentsia. One can say that during its evolution, chess was considered a game of the elite. Some were more suited for display than for playing. Chess sets were handcrafted from various materials and of different color tones making them complete works of art. Despite European chess being relatively new, chess sets became highly-sought after in the realm of international trade.

King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella (Isabel da Católica) of Castile funded the voyages of the Spanish explorers, such as Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus), to seek treasurers and discover the “New World.”Ĭhess would be one of Spain’s exports and it would touch the distant shores of Asia, Africa, the Americas and the West Indies. The export of modern-day chess goes back to the 15th century. Is chess racist? With the introduction of this convention in the mid-1800s, was there some type of insidious plot to reinforce white’s superiority and black’s inferiority?Most likely it was a mixture of reasons, but whether there a reason to revisit the practice is the question being raised. One of the most intriguing questions of late pertains to the chess rule of white moving first. In the midst of the protests worldwide, many are discussing various questions of how racism is present on many levels of society… police brutality, unequal justice, immigration and religious intolerance. In the late 1800s, the rule changed from which color had the right to move first to which player would get white and the first move. Before the rule of white moving first, each color had an equal chance at the first move.

Miro reverby