I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE THIS

[David Robertson]

Sorry for shouting. But really, how could they...how could she...

Just look at the board

[Geoff Chandler]

It happens all the time (maybe the picture was mirror'd)

Today one of my 2nd hand bookshop contacts called and reeled off a few chess books.
These conversations usually go something like this.

'Got it','Got it','Got it','Got it','Got it','Got it',....say that again...'Got it',
'Got it','Got it','Got it'....'Hold that one....'Got it','Got it','Got it'....

Today the 'hold' was:



A comic strip story with a chess theme. The art work is excellent but I'm afraid a few times...





In other drawings the comic got it right. (I won't blame the artist, the publishers could have mirror'd the image).

[John McKenna]

The chequered chessboard is a medieval European invention and its orientation a convention.

No need for non-chess players at a museum to follow the convention for a decorative set. May be better not to - in order to indicate the set is a work of art instead of an art at work.

As for the comic strip - a subtle point might be being made, i.e. white is not necessarily always right.

[Michael Farthing]

The essential feature is correct: the queen is on her own colour.

[John McKenna]

Is that by accident or design?

[Joshua Gibbs]

Sorry for shouting. But really, how could they...how could she...

Just look at the board

i have tweeted judit. if i wasn't drunk i would bang my head against a brick wall. How could they indeed.

[Brian Towers]

Victor, is that you?

[Adam Raoof]

The chequered chessboard is a medieval European invention and its orientation a convention.

Is this true? So many arabic manuscripts feature the chequered board, and conventionally orientated - occasionally you get a board with no colours at all, just grid lines.

[John McKenna]

Hi Adam,

I've read in several learned books on the history of chess that the chequered board was a European improvement that took place in the 11th-12th century.

It seems to be the case that the Europeans were already using chequered boards to play draughts prior to the arrival of chess in Europe.

(Could be that after the 11th-12 c. the chequered chessboard was then also taken up by the Arabs?)

Chinese and Japanese chessboards are not chequered. And, the game of shatranj was also played on a monochrome board, or so the books on the history of chess would have us believe.

Perhaps it is a matter of when and where the chessboard is depicted that determines whether it is plain or chequered?

E.g. a medieval chessboard in an Arabic-speaking country close to Europe (such as Egypt) may be shown chequered, see below.

Whereas a medieval Persian chessboard remained true to the original plain form of board, as depicted further below.