Site review - Chesmayne

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Most information on the Internet seems to be free. In case you're
tempted to say, 'It's all worth what you pay for it', please consider
that it's not really free; subscription, access, and communication
fees add up fast. Even the free information comes with a price, and
it's not always easy to distinguish the most valuable sources of
information from the least valuable.

In my previous review, I looked at a chess encyclopedia. The next
site...

Chesmayne by Raymond Reid
http://www.chess-poster.com/english/chesmayne/chesmayne.htm

...is related to a chess dictionary, which I first looked at a few
years ago...

Site review - Chess Dictionary (1999/08/26)
http://mark_weeks.tripod.com/Sit-rvws/1999-07.txt

...After concluding that the site ('5,000+ Keywords in an A to Z
format') was about a chess variant called Chesmayne, I removed it
from my list of recommended sites about the history of chess in its
most popular Western variant. This topic is already big enough. When
I found the Chesmayne history pages at Chess-poster.com, I hesitated
to add the link to my list, but a quick glance convinced me that
there was interesting material on chess itself.

The site I looked at almost three years ago
('homepage.tinet.ie/~rayreid/') has disappeared into a 'not found on
this server' error message, so I set off to find its replacement. I
keep a guestbook on my World Championship site to allow other site
owners to flag links to their own sites. Earlier this year, Reid did
exactly that and wrote...

Wednesday 03/20/2002 7:13:02am
Name: Raymond Reid
Homepage Title: Chess Dictionary Chesmayne
Homepage URL: http://www.geocities.com/chess_dictionary
Comments: Hello, The 2002 Edition of the Chesmayne Chess Dictionary
is now available at http://www.geocities.com/chess_dictionary - it is
now being updated and has 100,000+ chess related keywords, melodies
[midi's and MP3's], pictures, graphics, tables, AZ indexes etc. [...]
Please contact me if you are interested in the CD Rom version [750
Megabytes]. Please give me a link if you wish. Yours sincerely,
Raymond Reid.

...I'm almost certain that I looked at the site when I first saw this
entry in March, but when I recently clicked on the address, all I
received was another error message 'Whoops! We can't find your page!'
A search of GeoCities for 'chess_dictionary' returned a different
guestbook entry pointing to another free domain...

Welcome to my Guestbook!
Raymond Reid - 08/26/00 23:12:17
My URL: http://www.fortunecity.com/underworld/soundcard/1161/
Comments: 12,000+ keyword chess dictionary.

...but this also returned an error message 'We couldn't find the site
or page you are looking for'. I don't give up too easily, so I tried
a Google search on 'chesmayne reid', which returned 'about 111'
matches. Of the 10 links on the first page of results, 6 were for
guestbooks. One that wasn't a guestbook...

Link to Chesmayne
http://www.chessvariants.com/link2.dir/chessmayne.html

...pointed to the well known Chessvariants.com site. The info had
been added only a few days before I found it, mentioned '100,000+
chess related keywords', and gave an address...

Chesmayne
http://chesmayn.valuehost.co.uk

...This was an updated version of the chess dictionary site that I
looked at in 1999. Since I had documented the section about Alekhine
in that previous review, I looked at 'Alekhine' again. After some
trouble finding it -- the keyword is misplaced between 'Acentric'
and 'Achilles' -- I discovered the same article with the addition of
a long biography attributed to the 'Chess Poster web page' and which
is indeed also found on Chess-poster.com. Neither Chesmayne nor Chess-
poster mentions that the Alekhine bio was originally written by Terry
Crandall for his 'Game is Afoot' pages.

---

The Chess-poster.com domain is registered to Jose Badillo of El Paso,
Texas. As the domain name implies, its purpose is to sell an
attractive poster explaining the basics of the game of chess. The
homepage link 'History of Chess' leads to the Chesmayne material,
which is introduced by 'We like to express our gratitude to Mr.
Raymond Reid (Chesmayne) for allowing us to publish on our website
what to us, is the best and most complete History of Chess available
on the Internet'.

The Chesmayne main index page has links for each of the six pieces --
King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, & Pawn -- plus 61 articles
from '01: History of Chess' through '61: Brief notes on the History
of Chess'. Among the many intriguing titles are '13: Caissa', '30:
Russia', and '49: The Lewis Chessmen'. I downloaded all 61 articles
into a single file for easier reading and analysis. While doing this
I discovered that the last two articles are copied from elsewhere...

'60: The Turk' by Tom Standage
'61: Brief notes on the history of Chess' by Bill Wall

...with appropriate credit given to the original authors. The Bill
Wall material is the familiar timeline, found elsewhere on the Web,
that starts '0531 India; Chess introduced into Persia from India
during reign of Khusrau Nushirwan. (531-578)'. For some reason, the
Chesmayne version ends prematurely with '1918 12/27 Schlechter,
Viennese master, died of pneumonia and starvation in Budapest'; the
years 1919 through 1998 (where Wall's material ends) are missing.

Eliminating the last two articles from the consolidated material
leaves an 18.000 word essay. I repeated the download process for the
6 articles about the pieces, which produced a second file slightly
larger than the first. The article on the King starts, 'Your function
as King (KI) in a game of Chess is to snatch lighting from the sky
and the scepter from the opposing King'. The rest is an essay on what
the word 'king' signifies to the small world of the chessboard ('The
King never dies') and to the big world outside ('Kings are leaders of
the national army and shepherds of their peoples and also connected
with justice, protection of the poor, widows and orphans').

The essay gives translations of the word 'king' into different
languages (the German is given as 'Koning', which is Dutch; the
German word is 'König' or 'Koenig'), references to the king in
literature (ex. 'Shelley: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look
on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'), the titles of 40 movies about
kings (ex. 'The King and I'), and images from the chess poster
related to the king. The other pieces -- Queen ('For what's a play
without a woman in it?'), Rook ('Twin towers represent the split in
the psyche'), Bishop ('The Catholic Church has 4,500+ Bishops'),
Knight ('The Knight as a symbol has come to represent the virtues of
chivalry'), and Pawn ('If you know them, they'll help you win lots of
games') -- receive similar treatment.

---

I'd like to discuss the 61 articles (really 59) about chess history,
but I have a problem. I admit that I don't understand their real
point. To explain what I mean, I'm going to use extensive quotes from
the Chesmayne material followed by the number of the article. For
example...

'It seems we are mysteriously connected to the universe. We are
mirrored in it, just as the entire evolution of the universe is
mirrored in us. However, like frogs, sooner or later we have to step
outside our limited sensorium.' [01]

...is from '01: History of Chess'; this sentence...

'[Chess] is a magical place where you can ride on fluffy white clouds
wearing a dreamy expression on your face, moving your pieces as you
play your favorite game of make believe.' [03]

...is from '03: Non-violence - the credo of Chess'.

As farce, the articles are brilliant; as literature, they contain
unique observations on chess and on life; as chess history, I just
can't take them seriously. Why not? I'm not really sure, but I'll
illustrate with a few examples. They're not hard to find.

>>> Perhaps I can't take them seriously because of the numerous
condescending references to chess when compared to Chesmayne...

'It is our good fortune that traditional chess has been handed down -
for it is on this very foundation that Chesmayne has been
constructed.' [19]

'Chesmayne, the game on which you are about to embark is a contest
that caters for the intellectual capacity of the modern mind.' [21]

'Chesmayne brings a breath of fresh air to the traditional game of
chess and propels it into the 3rd millennium.' [26]

'Chesmayne is the synthesis of all these variations and is an
enlargement of our chess concept.' [40]

...without ever explaining what 'Chesmayne' is. I had to go back to
the chess dictionary site to get a definition of the term. From...

Chesmayne
http://chesmayn.valuehost.co.uk/Chesmayne.htm

...I learned that the 'word "Chesmayne" is taken from the French and
means "Chess-Company" -- "ches" and "mayne". It is the term used to
describe the modern new boards, MPs/mps, symbols, notation, syntax
etc.' I speak French reasonably well, but these words are unknown to
me. The French and French-English dictionaries that I consulted
weren't much help. Neither were a few friends who are native French
speakers. Google offered only suggestions like 'Mayne, Grand Cru de
Saint Emilion', a Bordeaux wine. Could the word be Old French,
Breton, or another regional language spoken inside the French
hexagon?

>>> Perhaps I can't take them seriously because of the special
symbols and vocabulary which pepper the discussions. The last few
words in this sentence...

'Losing a game of draughts never results in the same sense of deep
personal loss that one has when the KI is ++CM.' [01]

...mean 'when the King is checkmated'. The phrase 'game-tree' pops up
frequently, as in...

'Today, the game of traditional Chess is very similar to the original
game that was played in India 1400+ years ago (i.e., the game-tree
has not been altered significantly). Chesmayne allows any game-tree
to be used for play.' [01]

'"Renaissance" : The rumblings of dissent began in earnest when chess
players in the early 15th century got a pain up the crevice of their
arse playing the then existing game-tree and some gollix had the
effrontery to suggest that the Vizer (Adviser) be transformed into
Queen.' [11]

>>> Perhaps it's because of the clumsy constructions used to avoid
any hint of sexism...

'[The pieces] are not merely rounded lumps of wood or stone but
individuals, each with h/er own power and attributes.' [01]

'We have gained control over the forces of nature to such an extent
that we would have no difficulty exterminating one another to the
last wo/man and child if necessary. The real solution to this problem
lies in the minds of wo/men. [...] Generations of wo/men have argued
that the appropriate solution to human violence is to channel innate
aggression into cerebral or physical activities such as sports and
games. [...] [Chess] educates individuals to see themselves as
members, not of a tribe of white wo/men or black who invent tribal
prejudice, fear and suspicion of alien race, culture, religion and
ideas, which draw wo/men, as members of a herd or mob to perform acts
of collective lunacy which most of them, as reasonable individuals
sitting quietly at home with their families would concede as being
without sense or justice. The invention of a common enemy reinforces
a tribe's sense of unity, hence wo/men kill one another without
knowing why. They kill because of a cultivated mob conviction.' [02]

'Each player probes, pokes, feels and flexes h/er pieces in a nose-to-
nose staring competition.' [04]

'Chess can be played by any person of any race, colour or, creed, and
if given the facility of equipment and instruction s/he can make a
start.' [30]

...This could easily be avoided by replacing the awkward '/'
constructions with neutral English words. What's wrong with 'its'
instead of 'h/er' in the first example? In another passage the
awkwardness moves to the opposite side when queens and princesses are
counted as gentlemen...

'played by many gentlemen of fair estate and fortune - Kings and
Queens, Princes, Princesses, Dukes, Generals, Regents, Presidents,
Academics and School children alike.' [03]

... along with school children.

>>> Perhaps it's because of the non sequitors which appear constantly
throughout the text...

'It seems that aggression and violence are innate attributes of homo
sapiens and largely irremovable. [...] However, it must be noted that
human beings are not, and never have been, born aggressive, but learn
it as a response to circumstances.' [02]

'There are many word, card and other board games which exercise the
human mind and give many hours of pleasurable enjoyment - bridge,
scrabble, poker, backgammon, cribbage and Shogi allow you to have fun
competing in the game best suited to your mental ability. A game that
Albert Einstein played as a child sold for $20,000 in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, USA, in 1995.' [05]

'The theory of chess did not begin to face true critical scrutiny
until about the 16th century when western intelligence began its slow
emergence from the quagmire of ignorance in which it had been content
to live with for a thousand years. [P] Within our lifetimes it will
be possible finally to be able to understand this vast universe and
answer its many riddles in our journey of self-correcting discovery.
On reaching western shores the names and design of the pieces were
gradually altered to represent the political and religious mores of
European feudalism.' [11]

'All the moves are immediately visible and the power of the pieces
precisely regulated - this is the real mystery of the game.' [28]

'Chess is a barometer of Russian cultural supremacy and they have
come to believe the game to be their permanent treasure. A national
fear arises that something is rotten in the land when they are
defeated - part of the national consciousness - like football in the
west where the top players are frequently in the tabloids and even
the broadsheets or seen signing autographs.' [30]

'The players themselves are also called white and black. Many Jewish
and Christian scholars have played chess.' [32]

...My favorite extended passage is this gem...

'"The Immortals" : With few exceptions, the really big international
stars of chess are definitely larger than life. Their talent,
appearance, strength of character and general ambience single them
out from lesser mortals, and the mark of the truly big international
star is the ability to stand out without consciously and constantly
striving to do so.

'Admittedly, there are the ornate Staunton chess pieces on the
sumptuous chequered board itself at its most magnificent, the Marie
Therese crystal chandeliers, the $1,500 suits that makes them appear
almost presidential and those fancy Swiss Rolex watches with matching
oyster bracelets which have been used by generations of adventurers
and explorers that contain over 200 parts, 29+ synthetic ruby
bearings meticulously engineered in pursuit of absolute reliability
and tested for hundreds of hours by the Controle Officiel Suisse des
Chronometres in Geneva.

'John Ridgway (explorer) rowed across the North Atlantic in an open
boat, trekked the length of the Amazon from source to sea, made the
first crossing of the Gran Campo ice-cap in Patagonia, embarked on a
non-stop voyage around the world, sailed his entire family from
Scotland to Antarctica via Polynesia (a perilous odyssey of 18
months) and paddled alongside the first woman (his daughter) ever to
canoe round Cape Horn while wearing a Rolex Oyster which survived
hurricanes, blizzards, icebergs and tropical storms.

'But, when in play these incidentals fade into the background of the
overall image. It is the talent and the personality that rivet the
attention and admiration of an audience. Such fame, fortune and truly
larger-than-life image inevitably draws others by its magnetic
attraction. They live in a world where every hand is turned against
every other hand - even their closest friends.' [16]

>>> Perhaps it's because of the silly tips on how to improve...

'Remember that as long as your opponent has pieces, they can be moved
and may become dangerous.' [17]

'One of the ways to understand chess is to ask the following
questions:
01 What is a chessboard?
02 What symbols are used?
03 What variants are available?' [23]

'The `adopt a legend' technique has worked well for many chess
experts. This is probably the best way to improve your playing style
once you have got over the hurdle of the elementary stage. Choose a
hero/heroine and examine h/er games in depth.' [58]

...This last is actually good advice, but `adopt a legend'?

>>> Perhaps it's because of the psychological, sociological,
mystical, and symbolic nonsense which abounds...

'Crowded with its 32 pieces the player looks down auspiciously on
their work and presides with unshaken self-possession and undaunted
perseverance over the tumult and raging fury of this theatre of war
with visage furrowed and darkened by the anguish of contemplation.'
[04]

'Western players do not usually speak of Chess as art and
metaphysical questions about the game cause people to feel queasy.
Most writing on the subject is dry technical analysis relevant only
to serious students of the game with society tending to regard
serious players as an eccentric group of heavyweight thinkers whose
intelligence is useless.' [04]

'Chess reveals the inner lives and characters of the wo/men who,
escaping madness, can unremittingly devote all of their mental energy
during 10, 20, 30 or 40+ years to the ludicrous effort of cornering a
wooden King on a chequered wooden board.' [16]

'[The top players'] magnetic presence has elevated the game to
national importance and convinced the world that being a chess player
is respectable, even romantic. Some have become folk heroes with
reputations that cross oceans and many generations. Along with the
global fame and whispering reverence comes the immortality that goes
with casual mention in a chess handbook.' [16]

'The two processes that operate on the chessboard, tactics and
strategy, are what the Chinese call Yin and Yang and the interaction
of the two, the Tao.' [21]

'The Russian school encouraged the aggressive stare at the board and
Mikhail Tal was the most famous exponent of this practice, developing
the intimidating stare into something approaching an art form.' [30]

'"X's and O's" : The game of X's and O's is basically a very
simplified form of Chess with one type of piece and a board of nine
cells. Each player inputs an X, or O, onto this board alternately.
[...] X's and O's can be played on a piece of paper, on a frosted or
dirty window, or on the sand at the beach.' [35]

>>> Perhaps it's because of the confusion over the origin of the
game...

'The origins of Chess are obscure, and it is not until the 7th
century that there is a reference to the game in literature.' [01]

'The finest original copy of `The Book of the Dead' is the Papyrus of
Ani, now one of the treasures of the British Museum in London. [...]
It also contains an illustration of the resurrection of the scribe
Ani himself and his wife, who are depicted playing Chess - which may
give lovers of Chess some idea of its age.' [05]

...A Google search told me that the 'Papyrus of Ani' dates from 1240
BC...

'[Chess] originated in India, or China, during or before the 6th
century' [09]

'Chess in its various forms (Chatrang, Chaturanga, Shatranj, Korean,
Burmese, Chinese and Thai, etc) has endeared itself to all those who
have come in contact with it during the last forty centuries...' [19]

'"Origins of Chess" : The Indian Brahmin who designed the original
concept some 25 centuries ago' [31]

'It seems that the origins of modern traditional chess arose in the
5th century AD in northwest India.' [33]

'Chess migrated from India to China in the 8th century, but there is
some residual supporting evidence to conclude that it was imported
from India in the 2nd century AD.' [39]

>>> Perhaps it's because of the many gaffes. The errors can be
consistent...

'FIDE or, the `Federation Internationale des Eches [sic]' motto
is, `Gens una sumus' (`we are the people') [sic].' [19]

'"F.I.D.E." : French: Federation Internationale des Eches
(International Chess Federation). Its motto is `Gens una sumus' (`We
are the people').' [56]

...inconsistent...

'"Aron Nimzowitsch" : Author of `My System'. [...] He worked out `His
System' during the years 1906-1913...' [15]

'in 1861 a chess clock was introduced. [...] During the 18th century
the introduction of the clock made chess players careful in the
management of their time allocation...' [17]

'The game progressed to such an extent that during the 18th century
players such as Philidor could play three or more opponents
blindfold.' [14] [...] 'Aladdin (Ala'Addin at - Tabrizi) : A 14th
century chess player who could play blindfold chess. He was a lawyer
and considered the best chess player in the world who could play four
blindfold games at once, plus another game under normal conditions
while carrying on a conversation with the spectators.' [44]

'Nathaniel Cooke designed the six Staunton chess piece set which is
still used today as the standard set of symbols for traditional
occidental competitions.' [16] [...] 'Howard Staunton commissioned
Nathaniel Cook in 1849 to design the chess set which is used in all
international traditional chess competitions.' [54] [It's 'Cook'.]

'The first officially recognized world chess championship was held in
1886, when Wilhelm Steinitz beat Johannes Zukertort in a match held
in the USA.' [...] 'Wilhelm Steinitz became world champion when he
defeated Adolf Anderssen in 1886.' [58] [Anderssen died in 1879]

...typos..

'The chess world's Chevalier's of the Legion d'Honneur/Croix de
Guerre would include Philidor, Staunton, Anderssen, Morphy, Steinitz,
Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Karpov, Smyslov, Tal,
Petrosian, Spassky, Nimowitsch [sic] and of course, Fisher [sic], who
are just a few that have been elevated to the chess world's `order of
the purple'.' [16]

'The world record for the greatest number of participants in a
simultaneous exhibition is 301 players.' [53] [It's 310.]

...undocumented opinion...

'Paul Morphy (U.S.A. Irish/Spanish/French) 1958-1959' [01] [I'd love
to see the proof that Morphy was Irish]

'Russian Chess players have dominated world Chess since the 1940s,
although their superiority is fast being challenged by Britain' [01]

'President's Gorbachov and Yelstin ruled as Tsars!' [30]

'"Correspondence Chess" : Invented by Professor J.W.D. Wildt of
Gottingen, Germany.' [51]

...or just plain wrong...

'Modern board games such as Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble (invented
1948), Monopoly (invented in 1934 by Charles Darrow) and Bridge are
played the world over.' [22] [Bridge is not a board game]

'A rating is achieved by attaining a certain score against other
rated players. The method was invented and codified by a professor of
mathematics, now retired to Wisconsin, U.S.A., Arpad Elo.' [56] [Elo
died in 1992]

---

Finally, I tried to find other Web-based resources related to
Chesmayne, and came across this...

Ch'Essays : A brief history of chess
http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/history1.html

...which starts, 'We're pleased to present the following synopsis of
the history of The Game from Raymond Reid's excellent Chessmayne
Encyclopedia.' A well rewritten text of Chesmayne's first article
(01: History of Chess) is prefaced by 'History -- an account, mostly
false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by
rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools'. Perhaps I'm not
the only person to have read through the history of chess according
to Chesmayne.

Bye for now,
Mark Weeks

---

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