Surprisingly the birth of Queen's chess also marked the decline of female participation in the game. Throughout the ages it was the norm for women of all stations to play chess and to play chess against men. Concubines skilled at chess were prized possessions both for their ability to mentally challenge their masters as well as to best visitors to the court. The romantic overtones of chess were prominent throughout literature. Many stories detailed how an amorous game of chess resulted in a prince's conversion to Christianity or Islam depending on the teller of the tale. Chess even became a tool of courtly love. Courtly love was the practice of professing through song, deed, poem, and apparently a nice game of chess, one's unrequited love for a lord's wife. This gives a whole new dimension to the nerdy chess club kid who lusts after the football captain's cheerleader girlfriend. Well at least for those of you who live in an Archie comic.
Queen's chess could be won in a matter of several moves, minutes, or hours. The older version of chess often took all day allowing a man and women plenty of time to steal a touch under the table, take time out for a meal, or break away for a secluded walk. This is of course an overly romanticized version of the decline of female players, but it does pose the question of why women who so easily equaled men in their chess playing abilities in the past are so seldom found in the ranks of championship chess today.
Marilyn Yalom succeeds in the true test of all publishing historians which is to make knowledge entertaining. She allows the evidence to speak for itself and does not belabor her points; a failing of so many history books that read like PhD theses. She provides insight into both the politics of female rule as well as to the role of chess in the culture of the day. She takes a game that is popularly viewed today as stuffy and slow and reminds us why it is such a seductive and dangerous game that it has been banned by both the Taliban and the Catholic Church at various points in history.
Marilyn Yalom succeeds in the true test of all publishing historians which is to make knowledge entertaining. She allows the evidence to speak for itself and does not belabor her points; a failing of so many history books that read like PhD theses. She provides insight into both the politics of female rule as well as to the role of chess in the culture of the day. She takes a game that is popularly viewed today as stuffy and slow and reminds us why it is such a seductive and dangerous game that it has been banned by both the Taliban and the Catholic Church at various points in history.
Marilyn Yalom's Birth of the Chess Queen reveals how earth shattering events often leave their most lasting impacts in the most mundane places. A revelation that will allow you to sit quietly in the corner of a party fingering a chess piece and soon become the most interesting person there.
