Chessmen

The pieces and pieces commonly used in tournaments and chess matches are the Staunton pieces. They were designed by Nathaniel Cook and named after Howard Staunton, the premier chess player of the mid-1849 century, who signed and numbered the first five hundred sets made in XNUMX by the family company Jaques of London. These pieces soon became the standard for tournament pieces and pieces used throughout the world.

For the cradle of chess, originally named Chaturangaconsidered to be India. In the XNUMXth century AD, Chaturanga was brought to Persia and transformed into chatrang. After the conquest of Persia by the Arabs in the XNUMXth century, chatrang underwent further changes and became known as chatranj. In the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, chess reached Europe. Only a few sets have survived to this day. medieval chess pieces. The most famous are Sandomierz chess and Lewis chess..

Sandomierz chess

The Sandomierz chess set consists of 29 tiny pieces (only three are missing) from the XNUMXth century, once buried under the floor of a modest hut on St. James Street. chips they do not exceed 2 cm in height, suggesting that they were used for travel. They are made of deer antler in Arabic style (1). They were found in 1962 in Sandomierz during archaeological research led by Jerzy and Eliga Gonsowski. They are the most valuable monument in the archaeological collection of the Regional Museum in Sandomierz.

Chess came to Poland in 1154, during the reign of Bolesław Wrymouth. According to one hypothesis, they could have been brought to Poland from the Middle East by Prince Henryk of Sandomierz. In XNUMX, he participated in a crusade to the Holy Land to defend Jerusalem from the Saracens.

Chess with Lewis

2. Chess pieces from the Isle of Lewis

In 1831, on the Scottish Isle of Lewis in Uig Bay, 93 pieces were found carved from walrus tusks and whale teeth (2). All figures are sculptures in the form of a man, and the risers resemble tombstones. It was probably all made in Norway in the XNUMXth century (at that time the Scottish Isles belonged to Norway). They were hidden or lost while being transported from Norway to wealthy settlements on the east coast of Ireland.

Currently, 82 exhibits are in the British Museum in London, and the remaining 11 are in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. In the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry and Ron play wizard chess with pieces made exactly like the pieces and pieces from the Isle of Lewis.

Chess pieces of the XNUMXth century.

The increased interest in chess at the turn of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries necessitated the creation of a universal model of pieces. In earlier periods, different forms were used. English fonts that are most commonly used barley grain (3) - by the name of the ears of barley adorning the figures of the king and the hetman, or St. George (4) - from the famous chess club in London.

In Germany, products of this type were widely used. Selenium (5) - named after Gustav Selen. It was the pseudonym of Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick, author of Chess, or the King's Game ("), published in 1616. This elegant classic model is also sometimes referred to as a garden or tulip figure. In France, in turn, pieces and pawns were very popular, which were played in the famous Cafe Regency in Paris (6 and 7).

6. French Régence chess pieces.

7. A set of works by the French Regent.

Cafe Regency

It was a legendary chess café near the Louvre in Paris, founded in 1718, frequented by the regent, Prince Philippe d'Orléans. He played in it among others Legal de Kermeer (the author of one of the most famous chess miniatures called "Legal checkmate"), was considered the strongest player in France until he was defeated in 1755 by his chess student. François Philidora. In 1798 he played chess here. Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1858, Paul Morphy played a famous game at the Café de la Régence, without looking at the board, against eight strong players, winning six games and drawing two. In addition to chess players, writers, journalists and politicians were also frequent visitors to the café. – this chess capital of the world in the second half of the 12th and the first half of the 2015th century – was the subject of an article in No. XNUMX/XNUMX of the Young Technician magazine.

In the 30s, the British began to compete with the best chess players in the world around the Café de la Régence. In 1834, an absentee match began between the cafe representation and the Westminster Chess Club, founded three years earlier. In 1843, a match was played in the cafe, which ended the long-term dominance of French chess players. Pierre Saint-Aman he lost to the Englishman Howard Staunton (+6-11=4).

The French painter Jean-Henri Marlet, a close friend of Saint-Amand, painted The Game of Chess in 1843, in which Staunton plays chess with Saint-Amand in the Café Régence (8).

8. Chess game played in 1843 in the Café de la Régence - Howard Staunton (left) and Pierre Charles Fourrier Saint-Aman.

Staunton chess pieces

The existence of many types of chess sets and the random similarity of different pieces in separate sets could make it difficult for an opponent unfamiliar with their forms to play and affect the outcome of the game. Therefore, it became necessary to create a chess set with pieces that are easily recognizable by chess players of different levels of play.

Howard Staunton

(1810-1874) - English chess player, considered the best in the world from 1843 to 1851. He designed the "Staunton pieces", which became the standard for tournaments and chess matches. He organized the first international chess tournament in London in 1851 and was the first to attempt to create an international chess organization. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, chess games sometimes lasted a long time, even several days, because the opponents had unlimited time to think. In 1852, Staunton proposed the use of an hourglass (hourglass) to measure the time used by competitors. They were first officially used in 1861 in a match between Adolf Andersen and Ignak von Kolisch. Staunton was the organizer of chess life, a recognized theorist of chess game, editor of chess magazines, author of textbooks, creator of the rules of the game itself and the procedure for holding tournaments and matches. He dealt with the theory of openings and introduced, in particular, the gambit 1.d4 f5 2.e4, named after him the Staunton Gambit.

In 1849, the family company Jaques of London, which still manufactures play and sports equipment, made the first sets of items designed by Nathaniela Cook (10) - Editor of the weekly London magazine The Illustrated London News, where Howard Staunton published articles about chess. Some chess historians believe that Cook's son-in-law, John Jacques, then the owner of the company, played a big role in their development. Howard Staunton recommended the pieces in his chess paper.

10. The original 1949 Staunton chess pieces: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen and king.

The sets of these figures were made of ebony and boxwood, balanced with lead for stability, and covered with felt underneath. Some of them were made from African ivory. On March 1, 1849, Cook registered a new model with the London Patent Office. All sets produced by Jacques were signed by Staunton.

The relatively low cost of Staunton pieces contributed to their mass purchase and contributed to the popularization of the game of chess. Over time, their uniforms became the most popular pattern used to this day in most tournaments around the world.

The pieces are currently used in tournaments.

Zestav blessed Staunton was approved by the International Chess Federation FIDE in 1924 and was chosen for use in all official international tournaments. Among the contemporary designs of Staunton products (11), there are some differences, in particular with regard to the color, material and shape of the jumpers. According to FIDE rules, black pieces must be brown, black or other dark shades of these colors. White parts can be white, cream or other light color. You can use the colors of natural wood (walnut, maple, etc.).

11. A set of currently used Staunton wooden figures.

Parts should be pleasing to the eye, not shiny, and made of wood, plastic or other similar material. The recommended height of the pieces: king - 9,5 cm, queen - 8,5 cm, bishop - 7 cm, knight - 6 cm, rook - 5,5 cm and pawn - 5 cm. The diameter of the base of the pieces should be 40-50% of their heights. Sizes may vary up to 10% from these guidelines, but order must be respected (e.g. king is taller than queen, etc.).

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