The Anti-War Wargame: a Comprehensive Analysis of the Origins of the Game of Chess 1989-1990

By Henry J. Greenberg

Millions of people love the game of chess, but most of them dont know how the game developed.

Henry J. Greenberg, one of the worlds leading chess historians, reveals how chess has its origins in a game called Chaturanga, which was designed during the reign of the Gupta Dynasty to commemorate Chandragupta IIs victory over the Sakas and to ensure the continuation of peace.

In this comprehensive history of the game, youll learn how:

seeds for the origin of chess were planted during the flourishing of the Harappan civilization from 2,300 to 1900 B.C.;
Chaturanga was specifically designed for the civilian population;
rules were made so simple that even children could learn how to play;
elephants play a critical role regarding when and why chess developed;

Greenberg also explains how chess historians can be classified into four types: Archaeologists, Linguists, Sinologists, and Oxfordites. Learn the characteristics of each, what they disagree on, and whether their views about the origins of chess hold any validity.

From the very beginnings of the game to Leonardo da Vincis invention of modern moves while living in Milan, Italy, youll be delighted with this comprehensive history of chess.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491773536

Henry J. Greenberg

Henry J. Greenberg can appropriately be considered the world champ of the history of the origins of chess, having debated the history of the game with international chess historians from Moscow, Berlin, England, and India.

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ABOUT THE COVER

This chess set was made in France in the decade of the 1950’s by the Lardy Company. The set was used in official tournaments in New York City during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. In 1964 Henry’s uncle, Ben Schorr, gave the set to Henry as a gift. Thereafter, the set has remained as a Greenberg family heirloom.

During the 1990’s Henry customized the set by adding new bases which increased the height of the King is 4 & ½ inches. The rooks, Knights, Bishops, King and Queen received new wood bases, using a variety of designs. Each piece received brand new felting which consisted of plush felt pads of a very luxurious Cashmere Tan color. The Knights received a reins harness made from genuine leather.

The white light colored pieces, as seen in the front cover photo, were made from French Jura boxwood. A light French wood varnish was used to preserve the natural wood grain, as well as to highlight the beautiful wood grain. The resulting finish is a very beautiful Patina finish. No other wood chess set in America has such a beautiful natural wood Patina finish.

Extra special wood features include the observation with the naked eye of twenty-five tree rings on the top of three pawns. These 25 tree rings can be counted with the naked eye. These 25 tree rings represent the first 25 years of the tree’s life. No other wood pawns have this special wood grain detail.

Also, regarding the King piece, 24 tree rings can be counted underneath the central bulge of the piece. These rings include the darker heart wood near the center of the rings. No other wood King piece in America has this extraordinarily unique wood detail.

All together the natural wood features of this French set, plus the super exquisite French Patina wood finish, constitute the most luxurious natural wood chess set in America.

The front cover photo was taken by Robert Moskowitz, professional photographer.

THE ANTI-WAR WARGAME:

A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ORIGINS

OF THE GAME OF CHESS 1989-1990

Henry Greenberg

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THE ANTI-WAR WARGAME: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS

OF THE ORIGINS OF THE GAME OF CHESS 1989-1990

Copyright © 2015 Henry J. Greenberg.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-7352-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-7353-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015913219

iUniverse rev. date: 09/24/2015

Contents

INTRODUCTION:  SUMMIT MEETING

A HISTORY OF THE ORIGINS OF CHESS

INTRODUCTION

SUMMIT MEETING

The time was approximately 12:30 P.M., Friday, May 25th, 1990. The place was the Astor Convention Room on the first floor of the Inter-Continental Hotel, located at 48th Street & Lexington Avenue, Manhattan. The occasion was a meeting of expert chess historians as part of the program of Chess History Seminars of the Convention of the 4th Biennial Congress of Chess Collectors International, held in New York City, May 24-28, 1990.

The four chess historians who attended this meeting were from four different nations — England, Germany, Russia, and the United States. From London was Mr. G. Ferlito. From Moscow was Mr. Yuri Averbakh. From Berlin was Mr. Mansfred Eder. And from New York was Mr. Henry J. Greenberg. Both Mr. Eder and Mr. Averbakh spoke in English, so as a result, the entire conversation, which lasted about half an hour, was conducted solely in the English language.

What all four men had in common was that they all had prepared formal papers on the subject of the origins of the game of chess. A packet of five different historical papers on the origins of chess, had been distributed to all 160 people who had attended the Convention of the 4th Biennial Congress of Chess Collectors International. Those five historical papers were as follows:

1. To the Question of the Origin of Chess, A Summary by Yuri Averbakh

2. Protochess: 400 B.C. to 400 A.D. by G. Ferlito and Alessandro Sanvito

3. Lothal, A Harappan Port Town: Gamesmen and Toys by S. R. Rao

4. Medieval Western Europe and Joan of Arc by Henry J. Greenberg

5. A paper by Mansfred Eder concerning the recent discoveries and conclusions of Dr. Joachim Petzold.

All of the papers, except that of Mr. Greenberg, delt with the early origin of chess prior to the 6th century A.D. (the date which has been previously accepted by scholars as the provisional date of the origin of chess).

MR. EDER & DR. PETZOLD

Dr. Joachim Petzold, from Berlin, is Germany’s leading chess historian. Unfortunately, Dr. Petzold in person, was unable to attend the Convention of the 4th Biennial Congress in New York City. In Dr. Petzold’s absence, Mr. Mansfred Eder assumed the task of presenting Dr. Petzold’s discoveries and conclusions at the Convention of the 4th Biennial Congress.

In this regard, in a special formal lecture given to the entire Convention at about noon, on May 25th, Mr. Eder spoke on Dr. Petzold’s discoveries and conclusions with respect to the early origins of chess. Mr. Eder began his remarks by saying that Dr. Petzold’s new book on the origin of chess has recently been published in German, but has not as yet been translated into English.

Mr. Eder’s presentation included photographs which were projected on to a big screen in front of the Convention room. Among the photographs were artifacts which had been excavated at the town of Lothal, where in the 2nd - 3rd millennium B.C an ancient Indian civilization called the Harappan had flourished. Mr. Eder stated that in accordance with the conclusions formulated by Dr. Petzold, that the Harappan artifacts — terracotta (clay) figurines, terracotta gaming pieces, cube dice, and gaming boards (clay tablets in which squares were etched with lines) — were in fact prototypes of an early form of the game of chess. According to Dr. Petzold, the prototypes consisted of a four-handed game played with dice on clay gaming boards. The Harappan clay figurines were early forms of Chaturanga playing pieces (Chaturanga was the early Indian form of modern chess). The Chaturanga figures of chariots and boats were the counterparts to the modern-day chess piece called the rook. Ancient artifacts at Lothal (a port town located in the delta region of the Indus River valley) had been unearthed during archaeological excavations which had been conducted from 1955 to 1962.

Dr. Petzold’s overall thesis was that chess originated from the ancient Harappan civilization, and therefore, the game of chess was 4,000 - 5,000 years old. Mr. Eder said that Dr. Petzold’s thesis regarding the date of the origin of chess, confirms Duncan Forbes’s theory that chess was about 5,000 years old.

MR. FERLITO

During the conversation which occurred from about 12:30 - 1:00 P.M. between Mr. Ferlito, Mr. Eder, Mr. Averbakh, and Mr. Greenberg, Mr. G. Ferlito made several comments concerning the early origin of chess. Among those comments were the following:

A. He was thoroughly familiar with the recent work done by Mr. Michael Mark and Mr. Kenneth Whyld concerning the archaeological excavations at Lothal.

B. Merely placing the Lothal artifacts on a modern-day chess board does not necessarily prove that they are in fact chess pieces.

C. Mr. Rao, an Indian, wrote a book in the year of 1973 in which he claimed that chess originated in India as evidenced by artifacts excavated at Lothal.

D. Mr. Rao’s book, in reality, was a political reaction to Russia’s claim in 1972 that chess originated in Russia as evidenced by artifacts which had been excavated at the ancient site of Dalverzin-tepe, located in southern Russia.

E. A prototype chess called Chaturanga originated in India sometime during the period 400 B.C. to 400 A.D.

MR. AVERBAKH

As a prominant Russian chess historian, Mr. Yuri Averbakh is very knowledgeable with regard to the work and publications of Dr. Isaak Linder [Dr. Linder, Russia’s leading chess historian, also attended the Convention of the 4th Biennial Congress in New York City]. Among Mr. Averbakh’s remarks during his conversation with Mr. Eder, Mr. Ferlito, and Mr. Greenberg, were the following:

A. He (Mr. Averbakh) had visited India on four separate occasions.

B. The concept of checkmate resulted from the transformation of the four-handed game to the two-handed game.

C. The elimination of the dice in Chaturanga was caused by the influence of a Greek board wargame, called Petteia, which lacked dice, and which also lacked a King playing piece.

D. Mr. Averbakh said that he had the feeling that Chaturanga originated either during the time of the Maurya dynasty or during the time of Chandragupta.

Upon the conclusion of the conversation on the early origin of chess, it was the consensus of opinion of the four chess historians that the Harappans did not create Chaturanga. Rather … .

[Mr. Eder]   The creation of Chaturanga required a people of higher intelligence than the Harappans.

[Mr.