Publicando mi poesía en substack diegorasskingutman.substack.com/about

Game pieces from Mohenjo-daro, one of the cities of the Indus Valley civilization (circa 3300-5300 ya), on a modern wooden board. Materials include faience, pottery, shell, marble, agate, slate, and steatite. Along with the Başur Höyük pieces, these are the oldest game pieces ever found.

Learn your Knight moves, Italian style, 18th century

Most unusual pawn, made of Ivory or walrus tusk, dated late 11th – early 12th century. Found in Volkovysk, Belarus. National Art Museum of Republic of Belarus. Photos by N. P. Melnikov.

Cornelis de Man (1621-1706), The Chess Players

Mother and daughter playing chess; Alfonso X, Libro de juegos. 1200s. F58r

The chess players, John Lavery 1929

And Magnus prevails in a dramatic last round in Norway. Well fitted ending. World keeps turning.

June 5 being World Environment Day, here's a look at the outdoor activities the chess masters got up to at the 1926 Late Hopatcong (New Jersey) Tournament. From American Chess Bulletin, July 1926.

There's a little town in Northern Spain with a great chess name!

GM MagnusCarlsen (10 years ago): "I very much like the game of ideas between the two players. It's captivating, it's fun, and it keeps me going."

Bobby Fischer describing chess moves: aggressive amazing careless contrived crushing cunning dearly desperate devastating doomed effortlessly fluid free hoping ideal impatient melodramatic mysterious natural panicking powerful sharper simple surprise tempting unappetizing unfortunate unpleasant

More gaming treasures from my visit to the MET

Visiting the MET, having the Nishapur chess set in front of me was an incredible experience!!

In "The Morals of Chess", 1750, Benjamin Franklin wrote that by playing Chess , we may learn: "1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity... 2d, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action... 3d, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily..."

Anthony Quinn, born April 21, 1915, used chess to inform his acting. Here's a famous image from the set of The Guns of Navarone (1961), together with Quinn's comments about his costars' playing styles.

Magic Circles, Cardinal Points and Game Boards

William Roberts, The Chess Players, 1930 Power chess

The word "Rook" means "charriot" in old Persian (before conquered by Arabs). It also refers to a mighty mythological giant bird, (simurgh, sometimes phoenix) which would later appear, for example, in Sinbad's adventures... Chess is intertwined with all aspects of human culture...

The Sandomierz ches set, c. 1100s, was found in Sandomierz, Poland. Made of antler; this set of obvious Arabic geometric design, made its way to Northern Europe at a very early time. A magnificent set! District Museum in Sandomierz

Chess during the French revolution: it was suggested to change the name of the pieces to erase its royal connotations; Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau proposed these changes: King: flag bearer Queen: officer Bishop: dragons Knights: cavalry Rooks: cannons Pawns: infantry

These chessmen were found at La motte de Loisy, France. From circa 10-11th century, made of deer antler. It's a sort of hybrid set. The Rook is incredibly similar to the Afrasiab set. The Queen looks European and the pawns and King, Arabic. Mâcon, musée des Ursulines

Gorgeous three views of this circa late 9th-early 10th century chess King, made of rock crystal from the Middle East. As it happened with many of this crystal pieces, it was perforated on the top to be re-used as a reliquary (to keep holy relics) Victoria and Albert Museum

This picture, taken en Algiers ca. 1899 is timeless. Games, the fabric of humanity Detroit Photographic Company, Detroit, Míchigan

The Giant (Le Géant) (Paul Nouge at the Belgian Coast, 1937) Photo by René Magritte

V Kandinsky, 1937 Thirty Pure Bauhaus. Chess, organic abstraction, biological reminiscence, musicality, prehistoric gestures... Simply fantastic!

Les quatre fils Aymon, 1400s, a chess-induced battle... playing chess can be dangereux!

Scott, Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove.. chess

Savielly Tartakower (1887 – 1956) "Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders" A most precise definition!

E. Reginald, Ferdinand and Miranda, c. 1900 A Shakespearean chess game after the tempest..

Chess players, four instances. Daumier, Duchamp, Roberts & Oppenheimer

All the King's renders.. 3D model of the Lewis King chess piece, 12th century

as seen in The New Yorker

This chess piece is a Knight, dated 10th-11th century, made of whalebone, Dorset, England. The abstraction is spectacular, of great modernity. The texture of the bone makes it organic, and the shape almost resembles early cycladic Greek sculptures. Amazing. The British Museum

This senet box from Egypt, end of the 18th dynasty-19th dynasty (1327 - -1186 AEC) is a meta-senet, featuring a playing senet scene within a senet... Louvre Museum

One of my favorites chess Knights, dated 8th–10th century, made of jet stone, attributed to Western Islamic Lands A spectacular piece abstract piece, so modern in concept, as in an art deco geometric motif. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A very handsome 10th century mancala board, from Medina Azahara, a once flourishing city in Al Andalus, beautifully carved in ivory. Museo de Burgos

Footage of narwhals playing! I’m obsessed

Women's Day Queen, dated circa 12th century, made of walrus ivory and bone. The close-fitting hood with headband is typical of Spanish royal garments. Sitting in her throne/castle, still with circular decorative motifs of old abstract arabic chess pieces. The Walters Art Museum

Shout out to all women game players on International Women’s Day! The earliest person in the world who can be identified as someone who played games was the woman buried at el-Mahasna, Egypt around 3800 BCE with this, the oldest surviving game set!

Two chess pawns, dated 1206-1300, from Persia, made of agate and carnelian Greenish pieces versus redish pieces. Wonderful. The Philadelphia Museum of Art

This chess, circa 14-15th century is made of chalcedony. A surprisingly modern look for a set that still preserves some of the medieval shapes. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

This chess piece, a King or a Queen is made of ivory. Fatimid dynasty, c. 10th-11th century. Made in Egypt?, found in Sicily. An oustanding Arabic abstract piece, with marvelous concentric rings and circle motifs around the base and top. The British Museum

Math is a playful thing! Left, icosahedron die. Faces with Greek letters, from the Ptolemaic Period–Roman Period, 2nd century B.C.–4th century A.D., found in Egypt (MET collection). Right, Leonardo da Vinci illustration for Luca Pacioli's book, Divina Proportione, 1509.

This was one of the chess sets used for the 1972 world championship between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. It was sold in auction in 2011 for $67,500. RIP Boris & Bobby Photo: Weiss Auctions

"Ssangryuk (or Ssanguk) is a game using dice, most commonly played in winter... It has...30 horses and 2 dice. The board... is on average 80x40cm. A die is about 1 cm³ and is made from ivory or bone. Tiger bone is preferred." this is just poetry, from Wikipedia

Manuscript O.2.45 from Trinity College, Cambridge has these two pages depicting board games, alquerque, 9 men's Morris and Chess. It belongs to Cerne Abbey (Dorset, England) and is dated 13th-15th century Such a modern look!

Different cultures, different games, same circular motifs.. Two dice, one from Gandhara (elongated), c. 1st–3rd century (MET), one Roman 79 AD (British M) Two chess pieces, a Bishop from Islamic Lands c. 8th–10th century (MET) and a Knight from Tønsberg c. 1200 Norway (NIKU).

Cover of Pedro Damiano chess book, published in Italy in 1512. He (and probably Al-Suli before him) wrote the famous quote (often attributed to Lasker): "When you find a good move, look for a better one!"