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handmade mother-of-pearl inlay xiangqi 象棋(chinese chess)by 山白shanbai
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Chess Blog Day #38 - Chess and Its Family
Although there still remains some debate on whether chess originated in India or Persia, most historians believe chess to have originated in India.
The common ancestor of chess-like games would then be Chaturanga.
"Chaturanga" literally means "four divisions". The four divisions were infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariotry. These would later become the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook.
Chaturanga was played on an 8x8 board but this board wasn't checkered like a chessboard.
Chaturanga was probably the earliest game to have two things that chess has that other board games like Go don't: Different pieces with different powers, and a single piece that the game centres around trapping (a "king").
Chaturanga was then introduced to Persia (modern Iran) and became Chatrang, which was eventually given the Arabic name Shatranj.
In Chaturanga the king could be captured. Persian players must have decided that this was no fun because at some point in the 700s the rules of Shatranj were changed so that you couldn't put yourself in check and had to move out of it.
Shatranj had the king, knight and rook equivalents move the way they do to this day; but the pawn, queen and bishop equivalents were much less powerful.
This didn't entirely solve the problem of instantly losing games via a silly mistake though, as any online blitz player will attest. Oh well.
Players also had to announce "shāh" (meaning "king", the origin of the modern "check") when they attacked their opponent's king. And of course they also had to declare "Shāh Māt!" ("the king is dead!"), the origin of the modern checkmate.
Later on they started to engrave half of the squares and the iconic checkerboard came into play.
Shatranj sets are typically more minimalist than Chaturanga sets, likely because of the Muslim ban on idolatry that we mentioned yesterday.
Here's a Chaturanga set (left) compared to a Shatranj set.
Before we continue down the descent of chess, we need to take a look at its cousins.
Chinese chess, xiangqi, is thought to be derived from Chaturanga. There are some niche historical theories that it was the other way around, but these aren't well supported. It has the two properties of a chess-like game that we mentioned before - a "king" and pieces with different moves. Xiangqi doesn't have squares though. Pieces are placed on intersections like in Go.
Shogi, or Japanese chess, is also thought to be derived from Chaturanga and may have been invented in India. Some historians even believe that it was originally played with 3D Chaturanga pieces and not the 2D set that it is today. Shogi has the interesting property of being able to use your opponent's pieces after you capture them, reflected in the western variant of bughouse chess.
One theory is that this rule was added at a time in Japanese history when there were a lot of mercenary fighters switching loyalties.
Makruk, or Thai chess, is another Chaturanga derivative. It's actually much more similar to Chaturanga than Chinese or Japanese chess, and is probably the closest thing to Chaturanga still played today aside from chess itself.
In fact Chaturanga derivatives spread so far east that they reached what is now the USA, as chess-like pieces have been found belonging to the Tlingit people of Alaska.
Back to chess.
Eventually Shatranj was introduced to Europe and became associated with violence, revelry and gambling (I know). The historical cultural impact of chess could be its own blog post.
Eventually chess became more prestigious and associated with knights and royalty, who played with ornate pieces. Christian cultures didn't have the same issues with idolatry at that point in history and began making the sort of elaborate sets we saw yesterday.
At this point the rules hadn't really changed from Shatranj.
There were a couple of early European rule changes though. Pawns were allowed to move two squares on their first move and en passant was added to balance this out. King and queens could jump on their first move (queens were still weak and king jumping eventually became castling).
People also experimented with the idea of setting up the pieces behind the pawns however they wanted, although this never caught on.
Then around 1500 AD the Spanish came along and decided that chess was just too slow. They decided that bishops and queens should have the move ability that they do today.
This was initially called "Mad Queen Chess" or "Chess with the madwoman".
This update spread like wildfire though because clearly everyone found it led to much more action.
Finally in the 1800s the modern rule around stalemate was added, castling was standardised, and all later rule changes like threefold repetition were more technical in nature.
We talked a little bit about the rule changes over history, but some of them are quite interesting so it's worth looking into them in more detail.
Tomorrow: The rules of chess's ancestors.
#chess#board game#history#chaturanga#shatranj#chatrang#xiangqi#shogi#makruk#japanese chess#chinese chess#thai chess#tlingit#mad queen chess#en passant
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Relaxing to watch, stressful to think of the hours and skills needed. 😅
holy shit is this gorgeous.
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stalemate ! my first game of xiangqi ever!!
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For non Chinese speakers this Android app (maybe iOS idk), has entire manuals that you can download. If you don't speak Chinese, the entire book can be gone through on interactive board. It even shows variations.
If you have an s pen (idk if others do this) for Samsung s23 plus you can automatically translate the commentary given
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Red Queen takes Black Pawn!
#hot asian girl#thigh high boots#chinese lady#thigh boots#red lips#hot asian lady#red leather#zip boots#Human chess
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“宫、商、角、徵、羽” Gōng Shāng Jué Zhǐ Yǔ · The pentatonic scale in Chinese music
"Gong Shang Jue Zhi Yu" was first documented in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2600 years ago. The five tones are the basic scales of Chinese ancient music. Compared to the seven-tone scale of Western music - minus the semitone ascending "fa" and "si", Gong is roughly equivalent to 1 (Do), Shang is roughly equivalent to 2 (Re), Jue is roughly equivalent to 3 (Mi), Zhi is roughly equivalent to 5 (So), and Yu is roughly equivalent to 6 (La). In the Tang Dynasty, “合、四、乙、尺、工” "Hé Sì Yǐ Chǐ Gōng" were used.
云之羽 My Journey To You · 2023
#云之羽#yun zhi yu#my journey to you#cdramasource#asiandramasource#dailyasiandramas#dramasource#chineseartistsinc#cdramanet#chinesemedia#cdramaedit#cdramagifs#chinese drama#cdrama#caps#chinese stuff#can you tell im trying to mimic the chess animation in the drama i did try to recreate the flipping and spinning effect and it didnt work#and then remaking the pentagon with the circles took 500 hours 🥴#pulling my hair out once again doing the write up i drafted few massive paragraphs about the music and origins of this too#but i dont understand music so that was hard to understand to translate and write up 五音不全说的就是我#and then i remembered that this is for a tumblr post on a chinese drama and not a music essay so i deleted it 😂
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Fricassee and Beyond part 1
#comic#comics#webcomic#mountain time#funny#bugbear#chinese restaurant#fortune cookie#battleship#chess#dust
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Jacob Horse should play chess for mental enrichment
Jacob Horse tries to play chess(he needs a lil help)
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also y'all
does anybody have the original japanese of this line from book 5 ch 27???
bc rereading it i was like. O_O. is he. not talking about vil.
i was thinking like "the first read through you're definitely meant to think so, and vil did absolutely change rook's life, but with context from both book 6 and his halloween vignette, what he's describing here leans more towards the latter" which is like. masterful gaybait i can't even be mad. it's like that post saying "some gaybaiting is like a box propped up with a stick and a block of cheese underneath" except this has all the intricacy of a steampunk clock.
but my VERY shoddy japanese skills r telling me the line translates more to "beauty in your eyes and the darkness, lighting up your entire life for you—in a time in your existence when you'll be able to have [such an experience] (expanding on the prev line where he says they'll be able to understand his ideology in the future)"
^ and i probably mangled this so bad but the main point is i didn't hear him refer to a "someone" like he does in the english tl & i'm wondering if i missed it or if it was in fact added!!!
#txt#how should i tag this to potentially reach ppl who know the answer#twisted wonderland#rook hunt#i was gonna say the sunbeam simile does lean the other way too but iirc he does describe vil as radiant in an earlier scene so that's moot#anyway even if my translation is right you can interpret it as either of the ways i was talking about but it is/would be much more openended#much more cryptic and rookish hahahahaha#japanese is so hard dawg i only had to look up one of the words in this line to understand p much all of them but i still struggled so hard#figuring out what the words meant together😭💔#& inb4 i'm having monolingual struggles i speak mandarin chinese as a second language which Also uses topic-comment structure#i do have way less experience w japanese though & one sentence of modern japanese can feel like a paragraph of mencius to me.#modern mandarin does not do 5d chess with language quite so much
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Just looked on the older books for refs of Thea and
Boi Curse of the Cheese Pyramid is insane
It literally starts with G heading to work on time at 9, but William comes in like "BOI YOU'RE SPENDING TOO MUCH MONEY ON THE GAZETTE YOU HAVE TO CUT DOWN THE BUDGET" (Imagine this screamed directly into Geronimo's ear)
Obviously William's definition of "cut down the budget" is this
TW: Spoilers for Curse of the Cheese Pyramid, William behavior, do not click on if you don't want a spike in blood pressure
If you choose to turn away now, the following fume was just an intermission for finding this picture lmao
He pawned over everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in Geronimo's office, from his desk to his armchair to his carpet to his book collection to his art collection, and replaced it all with a single plastic chair and desk ("All you need in an office is a desk and chair!")
He fired ALL THE STAFF and decided that only family members will be working for the paper (because family members don't need to be paid as much probably (if at all) when working for a family business-- they all share their finances with each other, anyway maybe (it's not clear what their salaries are gonna be (wanna bet G is paid minimum wage while Thea is paid 50% of the Gazette's monthly expenses after this clean sweep))). The only person spared from the firing spree was Shif T. Paws, the Gazette's sales manager, who apparently offered to work there for free.
He delegates all the work of the Gazette to four people-- G does all the office work (taking calls, building maintenance, writing, editing, printing, clientele stuff), Thea does all the interviews and field work stuff, Trap does all the cooking, and Benjamin is "William's personal assistant". Lord knows what that last position means for little Benji. (Okay reading ahead Benjamin seems fine, but he does say that William is "a bit pushy".)
He sends G out on a work holiday thing and he overworks the crap out of everyone, to the point where even Thea is sick of William's senile old-fashioned ass, and it seems that the Gazette was also going downhill because of this mouse furry ripoff Daniel Dancer. (To give a preview of what he did in the working perspective, he basically had Trap work seven days a week)
He was planning to have staff give use old newspaper instead of toilet paper (T&B expenses), make a 30-second time mechanism for the restrooms (to maximize manpower efficiency and possible humiliation for anyone going number 2), and was considering cutting all electricity to the building and just have staff work on typewriters "just like the old days".
This man's senile ass--
#geronimo stilton#rant#give up the toilet paper and use old newspapers instead#where are they in the filipino provinces lmao#william would fit right into an episode of extreme cheapskates#absolute nutjob#how is he not actually senile yet#imagine going so daniel dancer that even your favorite niece who you openly spoil can't stand your guts#shif t paws is mvp#man's playing 4d chess here#and all for his boss who he seems to be on pretty good terms with#i asked my parents a bit about william's relationship with the gazette (retired but still making absolute decisions for the company)#and uh turns out one of the family businesses on my family's chinese side works a similar way apparently#my great-uncle is retired technically and his son is his successor#but my great-uncle is still making decisions for the company that his son has to comply with#i guess it's a cultural thing? doesn't mean i like the way it sounds#i heard my uncle's starting to act more independently tho i think so good for him if he's actually doing that
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ten caps per episode - Law and Order Criminal Intent - s01e15 - Semi-Professional
Eames: History of violence. Sounds like a distinguishing feature of the semi-professional hit man. Goren looks at her, surprised. Eames: I only look like I’m not paying attention to you.
#alex is the master of looking super cas but actually being hyper aware of what bobby is up to at all times#this episode was quite funny actually#loved when bobby gave the judge shit for not walking his mistress out to her car in the dark#he was like did u guys fight?? why wouldn't you see her out of your house?#absolutely rakes the guy over the coals for being ungentlemanly#ep also features lots of alex sarcasm and bobby playing a move in chinese chess while arresting a guy#also why are they always just Looking At Each Other Like That ?! *claws face off*#i had to cut out so many caps of gazing oh my god#law and order criminal intent#my stuff#goren/eames#goren and eames#alex eames#bobby goren#ten caps per episode#ten caps: loci#loci s01e15
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my favorite thing about forcing edgeworth and lelouch to play chess against each other in my head is that canonically both of them have used insane (and illegal!) placements and are still both considered to be masters of the game or whatever
#edgeworth’s chess board with NO KING ON IT. what was he building in there (failed attempts at repressing his homosexuality)#VERSUS#whatever the fuck lelouch and schneizel were doing in the chinese federation#(before anyone asks me who would win i barely know how to play this game and quite frankly it turns into a contest of who has a mental brea#*breakdown first.)#(come again in a year maybe i’ll know the answer then)#he scream at own follower
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Not to be the most niche of niche, but The Princess Royal (a historical cdrama) au for Edelgard x Claude would go so hard.
#edelclaude#for those unaware the basic premisis is that the princess and her husband have a 20 year marriage that ended up estranged#they die on the same day and wake up 20 years in the past#they both remember the 20 years extra they lived#end up married again after both saying they should go their own ways#they played (Chinese) chess together their entire lives#there’s even a brother that would fit Dimitri pretty well
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Hiii! I hope you are having a great day! I just made this for fun in Canva. I am a logo designer mainly from chess.com so, if you guys want a logo/other, you can message me. You can also message me if you play chess.com so we can friend each other and get to know each other better. Sorry for not posting more often, I am just busy with school and organizing things to get a better head start. Also sorry for posting a day after Chinese New Year.
Nonetheless, Happy Chinese New Year (新年快乐) to the people who are the year of the dragon or to the people who celebrate it. 🐉 (Not my year though, I am the year of the rat. 🐀 And yes, I am Chinese, I sadly just can not read or write in Chinese but I can speak Chinese. Do not make fun of me. >.<) I will be posting a video soon of my progress in chess.com back in 2023. Happy early Valentine's Day as well! I will be posting another Canva design of Valentines too.
Have a nice day everyone! Make sure to subscribe to my channel if you want to:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOc8fM7COOMYcdlq7i1QPgQ and see my about page to see all of my other social medias that I have! Byeee!
#chinese#chinese new year#lunar new year#dragon art#year of the dragon#canva#my art#artwork#art#artists on tumblr#logo design#creative logo#logo#cute#creative#chess#youtube#youtube video#social media#social networks
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