Dorris Lessing, the British-Zimbabwean novelist and the Nobel Prize Awardee of 2007 said: ”Things are not quite so simple as black and white.” If that is so why do we just ponder upon the substance of just two colours, Black and White? These weigh too heavy if classified differently, yet the fundamentals of all from a silent comedy movie of the 1900’s to a poetic representation of the darkness that prevails on a full moon night.
One such expression has also been associated with the black and white of a chessboard. Well, we found out the representation of the chessboard painted or referred to as black and white has nothing to do with its primitive discovery.
The mystery of the black and white
The black and white era has nothing to do with it being called so. It is not what we think it is. Black and White are mere expressions in Chess. It has always been. By referring to the achromatic colours of black and white, we don’t literally mean the colour Black and White. Though the game has experienced frequent transformations across countries and cultures, one thing that remained constant is, the use of two colours in chess, generally one of a darker and one of a light hue.
The one chess rule that the general population is still unaware of and considers literally, if not figuratively is, the player who moves first is called ”white” and the player who moves second, is called ”Black”. Mostly you could find chess boards and pieces coloured black and white because of a simple reason, you could easily differentiate between the two colours. Also, they are opposite colours.
The history behind the rule
There are a lot of speculations and debates that this century has come across about the first move of the colours. Many have been said to be just irrelevant but the most believed speculation is, the Moors of Africa were the one who brought chess to Europe, so till then, it was the player having black pieces, who used to decide the first move and the white followed. However, the game changed with the Moors being sent away from Europe. It is also said that the game at that point came across some transformation on the basis of racial undertones and the white makes the first move. We would never know if that is true or not, since all the transcripts and literature of the Moors were destroyed after they were driven away from the continent.
Though it has been mostly seen the white moves first, there was no such rule that could decide upon that. One such case in recent history is the ”immortal game”, the most famous game that was played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on 21 June, 1851. It was the break of the first international chess tournament that made headlines for various reasons. However, one of them was, it was the black that made the first move.
Conclusion
It was much later that the rule of white playing the first move was established at the New York 1880 tournament. So, here we solve a mystery and bust a myth about chess. You can play any colour. Make sure you play fair and Mind Mentorz reminds you to continue experimenting with your tacts as was done by the players of ”immortal game”. Also, read the moves over the net if you wish to become a recent part of something historic.