How many people here...

are interested in 19th century chess?

[ty]

I really do enjoy your posts batgirl- and I find 19century chess very interesting. 

Did Colombus bring chess to the Americas or was it the Vikings?

Well, the 18th century centered around Philidor in France and England and the Modenese players in Italy. The 19th century saw the greatest advances in chess since the 15th century as well as the beginnings of the popularization of chess, the spreading of chess to the masses with the inception of chess columns and chess periodicals.  Most of the 19th century dealt with the codefication, the organization of theory, the bewilderment of how to create tournaments, how to use clocks, and how to create a professional sector. Without the benefit of understanding, outside of vague ideas, positional aspects,  games tended to be more tactical,  sometimes even bizarre.  But the first-class players were better than most people credit them even though training, practice, effective manuals were all relatively scarce commodities.

At any rate, I love the 19th century - far more so than this one - a ndfind the chess in that era more appealing even if not as exact. I don't think most folks have this same proclivity. So, I was curious if a forum dedicated to 19th century chess would be worth the effort.

Comments such as "Did Colombus bring chess to the Americas or was it the Vikings?"  make me think not.

I want to know chess in relation to culture (literature, philosophy, etc) !

Thank you !

So do I.

All I know is Voltaire and chess :( from before the century

...and not Rousseau and Diderot? They all hung out at the Procope Café. You can read a little about them and others ↦ HERE.

Me too. You will have a devoted fan here. I am a student of history and find the history of chess just as fascinating as anything else out there.

@batgirl, what do you know about chess originating from India?  I was at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC and they claim to have one of the oldest chess sets on display from India.  The docent couldn't tell me anything further about its origination.

...and not Rousseau and Diderot? They all hung out at the Procope Café. You can read a little about them and others ↦ HERE.

WOW this is amazing, exactly what I've been looking for

ALSO, interiestng is indian chess. too!

pleasee

I'm mistaken. I find the history of chess far more fascinating than most things out there.

It depends on what you want to call chess, I think. Chaturanga was the Indian game. It had some features of chess but Murray called it a "race game."  People believe it could be played with 2 or 4 armies. Persians took that game, modified it and gave it the Persian name Chatrang. This is the game, with the Arabic name Shatranj and more modifications, that Muslims introduced into the West. In the 2nd millenium, Western players also started modifying the game into what we call Medieval Chess and this game, in turn, became Modern chess.

....and yet it it clear the 19th century that you gravitate towards.

is that because chess was becoming more organized and competitive?   but if I understand history correctly.  it was more popular before it was even modernized in spain. 

I don't know if your looking for good ideas for another articles (or for that matter whether you've already studied them)-- but I find the first generation of modern chess masters, interesting.  people like Ruy Lopez de Segura and Pedro Damianco... How did these early masters influence the growth of the modern game?

and what of starts of the great chess cafes in vienna and paris?  was some of the early books on the game influential?  did modern chess overtune the medievel forms from gaming between nobility? or was it more about books becoming popular and inspiring people in other lands to learn the new rules??

- if you've got an article about how "mad queen" chess spread- that would be very interesting. ty

From William Lewis to Angelo Lewis, nineteenth century chess was about far more than the rediscovery of Greco.

thegreat_patzer, I'm not sure pre-modern chess was so popular in Spain compared to modern chess in, say, England. Medieval chess was a rather sedate pasttime in comparison to chess as we know it. It was reserved for royalty, the wealthy and the clergy... educated people with free time.

The time between Lucena and Greco was a time of great chess development.  Zero-to-Sixty, so to speak. Much of the stories from that time, while totally fascinating, are greatly stylized. Few players capture the imagination as much as do Paolo Boi and Leonardo da Cutri.

Some articles on chess cafes:

Berlin Schach-Cafés

The Famous Warsaw Café of Kiev

The Dominican Order

of Cafés, Politics, Arts and Chess

The Greenwich Village Gambit