See the hottest books publishing this Summer

The story of Chess

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Chess Machine by Robert Lohr

The Chess Machine

A Novel

by Robert Lohr
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • First Published:
  • Jul 5, 2007, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2008, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

The story of Chess

This article relates to The Chess Machine

Print Review

Chess is thought to have originated in northern India or Afghanistan. The earliest written references are from around 600 AD but there is some evidence that the game could have existed as early as 100 AD. Interest in chess spread along the trade routes from India, with differentvariations found in different countries, such as Shogi in Japan and Xiangqi in China.

The variation known to Europeans and Americans today (Western Chess or International Chess) traveled through Iran to Italy and Spain with the Moors in the early 11th century, and from there to Scandinavia and Iceland with sea-faring "Vikings". By the early 15th century, chess was well established across Europe.

The six different chess pieces represent a cross section of medieval life:

  • The pawns are the serfs - in the majority but easily sacrificed.
  • The knights represent the professional soldiers, they are more important than pawns but less important than the other pieces.
  • The bishops represent the church, a rich and powerful force in medieval Europe.
  • Originally, the rook symbolized a chariot (the Persian word for chariot is rokh), but in the West the rook has come to represent a fortified castle (perhaps rokh was interpreted as rocca when the game arrived in Italy - rocca meaning fortress)
  • The queen is the most powerful piece on the board representing a medieval queen's powerful but precarious position - capable of playing games of intrigue at court to exert her power but ultimately vulnerable to the king's will.
  • The king is the most important, but not the most powerful. In medieval times, the surrender of the king meant the loss of the kingdom to the invading army; thus it was to everyone's advantage to protect the king.

Filed under Cultural Curiosities

This "beyond the book article" relates to The Chess Machine. It originally ran in August 2007 and has been updated for the September 2008 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Busybody Book Club
    by Freya Sampson
    They can't even agree on what to read, so how are they going to solve a murder?

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Songs of Summer
    by Jane L. Rosen

    A young woman crashes a Fire Island wedding to find her birth mother—and gets more than she bargained for.

  • Book Jacket

    Awake in the Floating City
    by Susanna Kwan

    A debut novel about an artist and a 130-year-old woman bound by love and memory in a future, flooded San Francisco.

  • Book Jacket

    Erased
    by Anna Malaika Tubbs

    In Erased, Anna Malaika Tubbs recovers all that American patriarchy has tried to destroy.

Who Said...

Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

T the V B the S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.