The Birth of the Chess Queen was by far one of my favorite pieces we have read so far. The history behind not only the queen but the game itself was fascinating.People gave their chess sets to churches to be preserved. They left them to their families or the church whether rich or poor. This shows the importance of the game in society. It points to the idea from last weeks articles that games today revolve around capitalism, as games reflect what is important to a society during the time of popularity. Money is what we believe to be of most importance in today’s world. Capitalism rules, and it shows in games like Monopoly.  An exquisate chess board might be an extension of this, but it might not be. It sybmbolizes what People, not only of upper nobility, of 1000 Spain found most important that they must leave it behind to their families or the church.

Another point of interest was how when the church did accept the game, in Italy at least, it was used in sermons to represent and reinforce the heirarchical order. In this way it was also used to reinforce the virtue of chastity in women, in the queen, to keep the values of modesty important in women. The pieces reflected virtues that should be found in members of society, such as knights were to be brave and rooks were to serve their king and be humble.

As chess made its way around the world, the pieces gained new names, looks and even genders. This book points out a lot of the different language used to describe the pieces. Language plays an important part of games and play because words hold different and separate meanings in different languages, and meanings that we have in english might not exist in another language. As names change, gender might change like the game pieces in Russia that were changed from male to female with the term baba (old woman).

As chess went from culture to culture it transformed in appearance from Sunni Islam practicing countries in which the pieces could not resemble human form, to European countries where the pieces were made in likeness to kings and queens. These boards made their way around the world and Islamic boards of non-human likeness were found in European countries as products of the crusades and other war ventures. People found it important to take the boards they found in other places because they were of importance to them as well. It is fascinating to see how chess was and is still such a worldly game that has enjoyed immense popularity and even a  high status with boards made of immaculate materials and expenses.