The Goddesschess Museum
Useful Links




Online Historical Materials  
The Elliott Avedon Museum
and Archive of Games
Hosted by the University of Waterloo, Ontario... This is an excellent resource, I wish there were more like it online!  I visit this site from time to time to check for new content.
Cleveland Public Library

The John G. White collection
Koninklijke Bibliotheek Van der Linde - Niemeijeriana collection
Max Euwe Centrum Amsterdam, NL
Connections between Music and Chess John Greschak's on line links and bibliography
Chess book bibliographies The Chess Museum collection of resources
Compass The British Museum's Search Feature - London, England.  I use the search feature periodically to search for new exhibits as well as to locate images and histories of gaming artifacts in the museum's extensive collection.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York, NY - The museum has many ancient game pieces and game boards in its vast collection.

The Louvre

Paris, France - The museum has many ancient game pieces and game boards in its vast collection. 

La Mecca Chess Encyclopedia

One of the oldest chess encyclopedias online, this site put together by Maurizio Mascheroni (nickname maskeret), an Italian chess player and tournament director, has information on a host of subjects from Books to Variants. Among other features, there is a current events calendar and a huge database of searchable links.

Chesmayne History of Chess

This is an updated version of Raymond Reid's Chesmayne, containing lots of information. I've always loved Chesmayne because of the depth and breadth of its coverage of chess-related subjects, even if I don't always agree with what some of the entries say. 

Another View on Chess

This is an excellent resource for anyone interested in ancient board games.  Cazaux does a good job of staying politics-free in presenting his material and has scanned images from many publications of ancient playing pieces that you won't easily find elsewhere on the internet (I know because I've looked).

History of Chess

I agree with Sam Sloan that there is more historical evidence to support the invention of chess in China than in India.

Online Guide to Traditional Games

James Masters' site is chock full of useful information.

Victor Keats

Dr. Keats wrote two books that I own in my small chess library:  Chess, Jews and History and Chess: It's Origins. Handsomely bound (hardback) and loaded with tons of useful information.  I recommend their purchase.

Jose Olivera's Sport of Kings

Jose's website has been online longer than Goddesschess, and we've been around since May, 1999.  Jose's site has a section on the Origins of Chess, a Links Section, Tips for Chess Beginners, a selection of games from the 1996 and 1997 matches between Gary Kasparov and Deep Blue, information on internet data bases and internet chess, and more.
Home of The Games-History
Research Project
Pascal Romaine's personal site on the history, archaeology and images of various games.
The I G K The IGK Group is an international group of scholars, talented amateurs, chess professionals and chess aficianados dedicated to researching the origins of chess, an ongoing project for the members of the Group. The site includes essays by Egbert Meissenburg, Kenneth Whyld, Joseph Needham, Pavel Bidev, Ricardo Calvo, Victor Keats, Yuri Averbach, and Gerhard Josten. A must-see site for anyone interested in the origins of chess and chess archaeology.

1001knights.com

Susan Strahan's 1001 Knights: Includes interesting essays on various chess topics, book reviews, games archived in various formats, a bulletin board where one can post messages, and witty topical columns including "Chess Chick's Guide to Girl Stuff" by (you guessed it) Chess Chick herself presenting her unique takes on various chess topics, and "You Can't Look It Up" by David Moody, who creates fictional chess playing characters from the past and writes "histories" on some of their more "memorable" games! Hilarious!
Chess History Center
Chess notes by Edward Winter: A host of informative vignettes... "A forum for aficionados to discuss all matters relating to the Royal PastimeÕ was the description of Chess Notes in its first issue (January-February 1982), and until 1989 the series ran as a bimonthly periodical (C.N. items 1-1933). It resumed publication in 1993 as a syndicated column in many languages around the world (C.N.s 1934-2187). From 1998 to 2001 it was published exclusively in New in Chess (C.N.s 2188-2486) and subsequently appeared at the Chess Cafe (C.N.s 2487-3414). Since September 2004 Chess Notes has been located at the Chess History Center. "

Dave's Shrine to Judit Polgar

Dave Hardenbrook's is another website that has been online longer than Goddesschess.  He is a true and faithful fan of one of the greatest chess players in the world, Judit Polgar.  He features news about Judit, pictures, games and links to other sites of interest about women chessplayers.  Dave also hosts a Yahoo discussion board about Judit Polgar and other women chessplayers. 
http://www.gmchess.com/
GM and former World Chess Champion Alexander Khalifman's great chess site: Comprehensive reports on tournaments (especially Russian and European tournaments not covered elsewhere) including analysis and commentary on key games, entertaining and provocative essays, lots of other cool featues and good stuff; and a clean, lean design that is easily navigated. There is also that affiliation with the Grandmasters' Chess School, where some of the brightest minds in chess today are available for online or email instruction. An all around A+ site.
http://www.tigerchess.com GM Nigel Davies' site: It's a bit confusing at first because he uses the European method of dating, which is backwards - instead of 10/8/99, it shows up as 8/10/99! Insightful and thought-provoking essays by this British GM, fun problems that one needs brain power to solve rather than computer power, a small links selection, book reviews, and more.
A Guide to Variant Chess - Part 1 Assembled by George Peter Jellis - with links to other pages of information
Knight's Tour Notes Compiled by George Jelliss — © 2000 – 2004 The mother of all knight's tour web sites...
The Online Guide to
Traditional Board Games
This website provides history, useful links and current information about traditional games from around the world.Ê It is produced for the edification of others in the original spirit of the Internet. Ê There are no paid ads.Ê The author (James Masters) welcomes your comments.

An important academic site associated with a team of recognized authorities and links to its own publication.
Explanation of Chess
and Arrangement of Vin-Artakhshir
An interesting site with additional pages on Zoroastrianism and Avestan vocabulary - both of which are important to the study of Indo-Persian chess.
Pavle Bidev Gerhard Josten and the IGK host a page about Pavle Bidev's dramatic change of heart - from chess Indian to chess Chinaman.
Protochess, 400 B.C. to 400 A.D.
G. Ferlito/A. Sanvito
Research and articles in Italian and English with dedication to Cassia, the goddess with a hidden face.
Chessarch-excavations Jacques N. Pope's site is a library of matches, photos and more...
Schackportalen Per-Ake Lindblom's multilingual website suppiles links to chess
Edinburgh U. Chess Club A VAST list of links to all kinds of resources. Someone has been doing their homework over at Ed U.
What's new! - Chess Variant Page "...let me count the ways..."
Non-Predatory Games From archives presented at "The Games Journal" - a monthly magazine about boardgames which ran from July, 2000 until September, 2005.
Perhaps the final word in online graphics presentations focused on chess. No shortage of eye candy for the chessophile..
Bill Wall's Chess Links

Another HUGE listing of historical, archival and technical information. Constantly being updated.

Culture et curiosites de l'echiquier Culture et curiosites de l'echiquier Une rubrique magazine animee par Dany Senechaud Le jeu d'echecs ce n'est pas que de la technique, c'est aussi de l'histoire, de belles legendes, de la philosophie, de la peinture, de la litterature...
The Bobby Fischer Chess Page A comprehensive site with lots of information about America's greatest chess prodigy - and more!
   
Xian and the Silk Road Marilyn Shea's introduction to the past and present of the Silk Road and it's Chinese passage.
Chess Journalism - Online sources for regularly updated articles  
The Chess Show:

How to describe this website?  Well, guess you'll just have to visit yourself and find out.  The Chess Show was a public television show in Portland, Oregon but is no longer on the air. The website lives on, though, supported by thousands of fan visits since the show went away.  Botielus and Cybele (the Chess Show principals) now reside in Las Vegas.  Viva Las Vegas, baby!

inChess: http://www.inChess.com IM George Mastrokoukos' crisp website devoted to tournament news from around the world, with brief synopses of events and links to website coverage. Easy to navigate, the most current news is always listed at the top, and there is a side bar with links to world level events.
Chessbase A journalistic staple with up to date information on the state of international chess and the people engaged in it. ChessBase.com - Chess News
Chess Cafe

Here is a link to the Chess Cafe's archives/index to Susan Polgar's On Chess columns:

The Week in Chess

Says it all. An ongoing profile of worldwide events

 

The Knight's Tour - Illustrated  
M. C. Escher Tessellations Escher Tessellations - one of his designs" (a fish pattern, tricolored) halfway down the page.
The "Horseman" "The Horsemen" - Just past halfway down the page. "Circle Limit I" and "Circle Limit III" display Escher's brilliance as an artist and mathematician.
http://www.mcescher.com/ The connection with Chess, and Escher's work, can be seen in the movie "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone". In this magical movie the staircase scenes, at Hogwort's Castle, are based on Escher's work (Ref. to "Relativity 1952"). Chess is woven throughout the movie, so for those who enjoy the game of chess, may enjoy looking for the tessellations within the "Harry Potter" stories.
http://www.borderschess.org More M.C. Escher Tessellations
Magic Squares  
Mathematics and the Liberal Arts These pages are intended to be a resource for student research projects and for teachers interested in using the history of mathematics in their courses. Many pages focus on ethnomathematics and in the connections between mathematics and other disciplines.
http://home.mindspring.com/ ETHNOMATHEMATICS - a wonderful page with spellbinding links to various traditions associated with the history of mathematics. Several associations with well known board games such as mancala are given.
http://www.amazeingart.com/. "AMAZENG" MAZES - A very friendly page - Christopher Berg takes us on a tour of mazes and brings us back again. Some nice links to home pages of people who are actively involved in the study and construction of all types of mazes and garden labyrinths.

Universal Harmonics A study of numbers as symbols of the single field of Consciousness. Ancient languages were alphanumeric: each letter had a numerical value. This was not simply a counting system, for numbers were considered the Language of the Divine. Words and names having the same numerical sum indicated a similitude of underlying meaning. This page offers a concise view of Gematria.
Pattern - Permutation - Variations on Mathematical Hierarchies

http://www.glassbeadgame.com/ An "interesting" location: Herman Hesse's Nobel Prize Winning Novel, The Glass Bead Game lays the foundations for an Artistic/Conceptual Game, which integrates all fields of Human and Cosmic Knowledge through forms of Organic Universal Symbolism, expressed by its players with the Dynamic Fluidity of Music.
http://phanes.com/beggui.html A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science A Voyage from 1 to 10 By Michael S. Schneider Book review by David Fideler, reprinted from PARABOLA (Winter 1995): "The universe may be a mystery, but it's not a secret. Each one of us is capable of comprehending much more than we might realize. A vision of mathematics different from that which we were taught at school holds an accessible key to a nearby world of wonder and beauty."
The Mathematics and the Liberal Arts pages are intended to be a resource for student research projects and for teachers interested in using the history of mathematics in their courses. Many pages focus on ethnomathematics and in the connections between mathematics and other disciplines.
Virtual Reality and Game Theory  
Mark Pesce
"Outside the Light-Cone"
"When a child enters the world, it knows nearly nothing of the universe beyond itself. With mouth, then eyes, and finally, hands, it reaches out to discover the character of the surrounding world. Over the course of time, that child will discover its Mother - the source of life - and, sometime later, its Father. But in the first days after birth, the child will be presented with rattles, mobiles, mirrors and noisy stuffed animals that will become its constant companions. Our children, in nearly every imaginable situation, are accompanied by toys...
Game Theory for Real People Game theory, the study of rational behavior broken down into strategic decisions, is all about equations. If you do this, I will decide to do this, and then you will probably decide to do that -- expressed in the language of math
Gaming Sites  
It's Your Turn
online chess
Flash Arcade

A colourful site with lots of game diversions - all done in "Flash".

Chessking.com An entertainment site with a variety of games selections
http://gamesbooks.net/related_links.jsp Robert Graham has assembled a nice page of reading materials that may interest gamesters and history buffs of many different persuasions.
Online Chess Games Download free chess games and chess softwares from Chessboss.com, the premier chess server on the net.
Book Sales  
Amazon Books

Biblio.com
FetchBook
New & used books
Kessinger Books  
Commercial Sites  
Chess USA
A commercial site for the purchase of all sorts of games and paraphenalia - - from the standard to the exotic .
Tecnhical Sites  
Chess Openings From the folks at Bucknell Chess Club, a list of openings.
Chess Rules for En Passant Perhaps the most obscure and least used moves in Chess is called En Passant.
Logical Chess Resources, books, links and information on how to play and improve your game. Even a recipe for Chess Pie and other baked goodies!
Ancient Board Games  

Mah Jongg - Worldwide Web Site

This site aims to provide comprehensive information on the classic Chinese game for four players.

Terry's Egyptian Page - Senet Senet is one of the most intensely researched of all ancient games.
Roman Board Games

Wally Kowalski's site. Here you will find descriptions and images of game boards and playing stones for nine Roman board games. Directions for playing each game also are provided. Kowalski describes the context in which each game was played and notes which games were the favorites of regular folks and famous Romans, such as the Roman emperor Augustus.

Latrunculi This selection appears to be a holdover from a previous incarnation of the Kowalski Roman games website.
MindZine - Backgammon
History of Backgammon - Part 1
Like some of the other items listed on this page, this article appears to be a throwback to an earlier archive. MindZine has undergone some renovation. It's home page can be found at http://www.msoworld.com/
Alquerque

From a Birmingham U.K. educational site...

Count & Capture

Patty A. Hardy has put together a nice page on mancala.

The Game of Merels

A brief introduction to Merels (also spelt Merreles), or Nine Men's Morris - is a simple board game for two players. It was popular in the 14th century, but earlier versions with fewer than nine pieces have been found dating back to 1400BC.
Go Variants

From "Chess Variants" - Here are some variants of our noble game, in case you want to do something else. This is only for games that are real variants, for the variants in the rules of go itself see Fred Hansen's Compendium of Rules for Wei-Qi (Go,Baduk). I have added Tibetan go, though, because it differs so much from the normal (Chinese, Japanese or western) rules.

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