#escacs

The earliest known reference to the modern rules of how the Queen (♛) and Bishop (♝) move in the game of chess comes from the love poem Scachs d'amor, written in the year 1475 in Catalan-Valencian language by Francesc de Castellví, Bernat Fenollar, and Narcís Vinyoles.

The poem uses a chess match as an allegory for love. The poem's structure is also based on chess: it has 64 stanzas, just like a chessboard has 64 squares, and the stanzas are grouped to represent the movements of the chess pieces.

Did you know?

The oldest document of the existence of chess in an European text is found in the will of the Count Ermengol I of Urgell (Catalonia), written in the year 1008.

In his will, the count specified that he left his chess pieces to the Abbey of Saint Gilles in Provence, which back then was politically Catalan territory.

Some years later, in 1058, chess would be mentioned again in the will of Ermessenda de Carcassona, the Countess of Barcelona.

As a homage to Europe’s oldest witness of chess, the Polish chess Grandmaster Savielly Tartakower opened the chess tournament of the 1929 International Exposition (held in Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital city) with his creation called the Catalan Opening.

(Source)

A game of mine played at Zonal Norte in 1976, where I had a chance to play a small combination to get a decisive advantage…

{1976 (A04) Carlos (AM) 0-1 LGJ (CE)}

[Event “Zonal Norte”]

[Site "?"]

[Date "1976.??.??"]

[Round "4"]

[White "Carlos (AM)"]

[Black "Gentil" (CE]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "A04"]

[Opening "English Opening"]

[EventDate "1976.??.??"]

Blitz Chess was a very interesting chess magazine made by WBCA (World Blitz Chess Association) dedicated exclusively to blitz chess ♟. The director and owner of this magazine was the late Walter Shawn Browne, born Australian 🇦🇺 and later naturalized American 🇺🇸, an extremely strong International Grandmaster from last century! Our BNB chess club was one of the many subscribers of this great magazine!