Ah Spain!

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Welcome to Aspain Poco Poco. Hey Tanya.
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Hey. How's it going?
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It's going good. How are you?
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Ah, it's all good. Today we're going to
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talk about chess. But tell us why we're
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talking about chess because this is very
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exciting and I did not know this.
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So, what happened this summer? Right. I
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was walking around the city as one does
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and I went into the Yes. I went into the
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the Marquette de Cologne and there was a
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big statue there of a chess piece and I
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was like that's just a weird place and
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then I looked in the sign and it said
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550th anniversary Valencia is the
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birthplace of modern chess which I had
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no idea. So, I had to go like home and
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go on the computer and go to Wikipedia
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and see, are they lying to me? And it's
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I was going to say you're like assuming
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that it's not true and you have to go
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double check it, which I love. And we
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want to teach everybody to double check
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everything you read anywhere, right? But
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Exactly.
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They put a lot of work into these um
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displays, I'm assuming. So, they can't
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be wrong.
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They can't be wrong. But, you know, I
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have to double check everything. I think
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you've learned that about me by now.
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Yeah, we do. Yeah. Everybody should.
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So, I thought that was very exciting.
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So, I guess we could just go right in
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and tell people what we've learned about
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chess.
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Absolutely. But tell me quickly, did
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they have displays of like actual chess
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things or like what was other than a
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sign? Was there anything else or did you
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just happen to see a sign?
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Yeah, there was a big statue of a chess
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piece. I think it was the queen. I don't
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remember. I took a picture of it. So,
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when when I do the post for this
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episode, I'll put that I'll use that
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picture. But I I think it was like the
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queen piece. I'm not sure. And then what
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was really nice is on the four sides of
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the statues and they had little placards
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on the bottom and in four different
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languages so you could walk around and
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they had one in English. So I got the
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what's what right in the beginning, you
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know? I didn't have to like Google
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translate an image to find out what they
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were talking about, you know?
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Right. And I mean I have played chess.
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I'm not very good at it. I don't I but I
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can play and I know how to play. So it I
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but I have I've not read a lot about it
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to be honest. I think we've all seen the
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Queen's Gambit, maybe. Like that's about
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the extent of my extended knowledge of
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of chess.
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That's all my knowledge of chess. So,
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I've never played it. I don't know. I
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mean, we had chess boards when growing
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up, but we never used them. They were
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for decoration, you know,
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and they're beautiful. So, it's it's
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nice to have something like that around,
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but whether we all play it, not so good.
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So, why Valencia? I think this was kind
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of the interesting part of it really is
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I I had no idea about this. And it is,
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you know, it was a thriving Renaissance
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city and the crossroads in Mediterranean
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trade. So it makes sense that a lot of
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things were coming through here and
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getting
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during that time. Yeah. And so 550 years
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ago, I still get amazed about the city
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and I don't know about you about the
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history of it. Like it was I think even
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it was a more important city 500 years
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ago than it is now. Like it was the
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crossroads, right?
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huge a huge
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port and things were coming in and out
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and filtering through the rest of Europe
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and so I think that was
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pretty exciting stuff you know
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absolutely and I think it was you know
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it makes sense that all the different
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cultures that were coming through a lot
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of different elements were I mean we've
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seen this in the pockas that we've
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talked about food so it also makes sense
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that it applies to a lot of other things
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as well like chess yeah should we jump
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into the like the history of chess a
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little bit and then we'll come back to
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how Valencia got involved in being such
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a hot spot for it.
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I think that sounds good to me. I mean,
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it's the research we've prepared. So, we
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have and double checked, by the way, but
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still come come at us if we got it
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wrong, which I'm sure there might be
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some things in here that are, but we're
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just going to assume that we did our
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triple checking here. So you know a
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chess what the the game of chess
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originates in India around the sixth
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century and it's a game called
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chataranga
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which is not just a yoga post just found
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that out right now. I mean, there's new
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information. This this episode is full
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of new information. And that is a game
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that does still exist today, and you can
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play it online and everything, but
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it is now considered the ancient
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ancestor of modern chess rather than a
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game that's re really, really widely
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played right now.
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And that game had a counselor instead of
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a queen. And the queen could only move
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one square diagonally. And then they had
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an elephant instead of a bishop. And I'm
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thinking I would like that game because
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I would love to play with little
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elephants.
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Well, you know, I bet I could find you a
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little chess set that's got zoo animals
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as all the pieces. So,
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I would be very inclined to play to play
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that if I had that chess board. I think
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from India, it had moved into the Arab
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and Persian world in around the 7th
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century. And it was a a game called
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Shhatrange, I believe. And it had
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different rules than what we have now.
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Again, the the bishop was limited. The
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queen was weak. It was a slower game,
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which okay, because it seems so slow to
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me now. I mean, I don't play chess, but
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I know it's a slow game.
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I can't imagine it being slower, but I
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guess it depends on how well people are
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playing. I mean, if if if there was a
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very a very very excellent player
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playing against me, it would be a
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five-minute game probably, right? But
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you get two really good people together
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or, you know, you're doing something
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else while you're playing. I guess it
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could be a very long game. But yeah, it
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got it got faster. And so I guess that
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was played by the Sasanian
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Empire and then it kind of was brought
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in into Spain through the Anderoo area
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or Ander Lucia as we know in the like
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10th century
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and that was I mean by the that was
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brought in via the Moors. So they were
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the that was that that is how it got
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bought in to the Spanish area from the
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Persian Arab part of the world into the
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Spanish part of the world where we are
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now. So by the 15th century, the
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Europeans are experimenting with new
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rules. And this is where they've been
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playing this hodgepodge of this sort of
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game, this Indian and Arabic game that
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has come here, but they're now starting
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to try and they're now starting to kind
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of turn it into another game and try and
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make it faster and more exciting. So now
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I still don't think it's exciting and
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fast. So I don't know that they
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succeeded in that necessarily, but they
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it we don't know what it was like
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before. So well well I can only imagine
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that if if if it's now being played
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throughout Europe and like everyone's
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got they're making up their own rules
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but they're all coming through Valencia.
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I could imagine one of these tavernas
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and people are playing chess and the
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Germans fighting with a with a Spaniard
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because they're playing by different
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rules. Maybe that was going on.
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That's true. And I mean anybody that's
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sort of I think gone to the parks and
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all this I mean it's a very popular game
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for people just to play in the
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afternoon. So yes, I would imagine back
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then it was even more so. I mean that
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was how people were spending their time
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if they were playing a game that was
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like that cuz everybody kind of probably
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had all their own house rules, right?
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Was kind of how it was. So now we bring
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in why Valencia. So this is where
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Valencia gets very interested in
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Valencia because here is where all the
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rules start to kind of come together for
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various reasons. So the late 1400s or
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the 15th late 15th century as we had
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said before it was a slower game. The
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rules weren't making sense but there was
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three Valencian poets and I am going to
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butcher these names but they're dead now
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so it's okay. They can't come and be mad
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at me
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right
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Francesca de Cast
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Bernat Fenoar Narcissis Vinles.
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That's amazing. Absolutely. Yeah.
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I was kind of proud of myself. Um wrote
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you get a star. You get a star.
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They wrote sax dmore which means chess
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of love. So it was a it was kind of a a
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poem that doubles as the record of new
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chess. So I guess in this story they're
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also laying down the rules of chess
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which I think is kind of cool.
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Very interesting. We have not read this
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poem but that is how we understand it.
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It wasn't, you know, it was how people
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are kind of people chess movers, right?
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Moving around and using chess moves to
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have have a have a love story, right?
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And I think that's um maybe we have to
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go read it at some point.
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Well, I've only read it in the original
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Valencian, so I it's hard to translate.
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Excuse me.
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So in this in this time period what
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happens is the queen starts to gain more
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power and is allowed to move in in a
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number of squares. And this is symbolic
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because it's happening at the same time
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that Queen Isabella I of Castile who was
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from was from 1474 to 1504. She was one
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of Europe's most powerful monarchs. We
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feel like this represents the power that
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she had in Europe at that time and they
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were giving her kind of a a gift of
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making her the center point of this
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game. I think
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yeah I think there's a little exultation
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putting her on a a pedestal as it were
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but I'm bumped right
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you got to you got to do that for your
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kings and queens especially back then I
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think.
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Exactly.
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So yeah so and then also the bishops
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became more um mobile in the game as
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well. So I I think that Yeah. And I
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think was it not one of the things in
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the meat de colon that you saw was a big
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queen piece.
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Yeah. Yeah. That's what
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and that would have been why that was
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why they used that piece versus any
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other piece on the board because that is
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a symbol of the modernization of chess,
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I think.
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Right. Right. I I I would agree. I'm not
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going to fight you on that one.
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It's so nice today. What's going on?
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The weather's breaking here, kids.
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That's
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true. It is. Yeah. We we are getting our
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sense of humor back a little
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a little bit.
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But yes, now that they so in this
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they've kind of codified the rules,
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right? So now it's it's a faster sharper
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game kind of reflective also how life is
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becoming. There's more technology coming
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and the big technology being the
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printing press which Valencia was one of
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the first cities to adopt it. So they
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kind of like
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this poem got printed sent out and
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everyone kind of I'm assuming just kind
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of took it as these are the rules and
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Valencia had the printing presses to
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send it out and say here you go right
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so also with the printing press what was
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interesting is they also printed in 1495
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a book which was the rules it was the
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first chest treatise and it was by
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Francesc Vicent and I don't think we
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want to name it it's the Libre
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Deljerk partit del
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son
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deen. I don't know what number what
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language that 100 should be in because
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I'm not quite sure what language it
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says. It's probably
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an pretend that we know how to do any of
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that. But that was the name of this
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really concise named book. So this is
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really explains how Valencia became the
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the center of how the old chess
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transforms into modern chess which I
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think is very interesting and it
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includes you know just being at the
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center of all of the movement of people
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back and forth and games from different
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parts of the world and printing presses,
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right? And and you know we'll do another
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episode, but you know there was also the
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the center of like the silk trade going
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on here. So there was merchants coming
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back and forth at that time and and all
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of that. So it's like really exciting.
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But now it's so it's the 550th versary.
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They love to party here. They love to
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celebrate. They do.
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Yes.
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So around the city. So I I had found out
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that they have these the ladies they're
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called all over the in different places
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in the train station and in other parts
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of the city. So the the people know this
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is to remind the citizens that this is
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all happening. And they have different
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like exhibitions and I think they even
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have like master classes with other you
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know famous chess players.
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Yeah.
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I think that could have been that would
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have been really fun to participate I'm
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sure in some of those things if you know
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if you can somehow figure out how these
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things are happening ahead of time which
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is I found very hard to do here.
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when you at least if you stumble upon
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them, you might end up in the middle of
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one and you can still take advantage of
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some of the events that they do because
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they really do do a really good job of
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putting together sort of activities and
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things in relation to this type of um
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festivity I think in Spain. So, it's
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definitely worth taking advantage of.
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I agree. And you know, they probably
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even had some fireworks for this, too.
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Who knows? I mean,
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you wouldn't know. They could be for
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anything.
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Have no idea whatsoever.
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Oh, I love it. I'm sure they did. Well,
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I'm really glad that you stumbled across
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that because I would not have known
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really.
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And you know, and it's one thing I'm
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going to end this episode with that is
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that is the one thing that is not the
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one thing that is one thing I love about
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living here.
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You stumble upon these things that had
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no idea the history of the place you
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stand on. Right.
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I think that's one of the benefits of
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living somewhere that you didn't grow
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up, isn't it? Yeah, for sure.
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Yeah. Excellent. So that's all I know.
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That's it. That's chess for you.
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Adios.
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Adios.
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Bye.
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