What's New - Random Roundup Archives Page 1

June 8 , 2008

The Goddesschess "Fighting Chess" Award
2008 U.S. Women's Chess Championship
Winner selected by G.M. Susan Polgar

Congratulations!

TATEV ABRAHAMYAN winner of the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award,
who finished with six wins, three losses and no draws.

Some easy reading and listening...

Connections between Music and Chess by John Greschak: July 22, 1998 - May 24, 2008

Eshu's Cap: Improvisation at the Crossroads of the Diaspora
Marshall Soules, Ph.D. Malaspina University-College: "In his vernacular theory of the blues, Houston Baker situates the African-American idiomatic music at the railway junction, the place where road crosses tracks..."

Playing Chess With RZA By Dylan Loeb McClain
RZA, one of the founders of the Wu-Tang Clan, the rap super group, is a huge chess fan, and a pretty good player. On Monday, in conjunction with Chesspark, he launched a Web site called Wuchess.com, where fans of the group (and even those who are not) can play chess and socialize online. Video interview

CHESS RECORDS

In late 1949, Leonard and Phil Chess purchased the interests of the Arons and became the sole owners of Aristocrat Records. On June 3, 1950, they reorganized the company and changed its name to Chess Records. Chess Records flourished in those early days of both rhythm and blues and independent record companies. Chess along with Atlantic, Aladdin, Specialty, Imperial, Modern and King were giving the public music that they could not get from the larger, established "major" record companies...

Chess Records specialized in blues, R&B, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases. Run by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess, the company produced and released many important singles and albums, which are now regarded as central to the rock music "canon." Musician and critic Cub Koda described Chess Records (more info) as "America's greatest blues label."

Collectors items from ChessRecords available by mail

And Checker Records too...

Stop, look and...

Bo Diddley (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008)
was an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Often cited as a key figure in the transition from blues to rock and roll, he introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound. He was also known for his characteristic rectangular guitar. Music video at U Tube

Beyonce Starring In Chess Records Film:
The 10-time Grammy winner has signed on to executive produce and star in Darnell Martin's "Cadillac Records" for Sony BMG Films. Knowles will play Etta James in the 1950s period film about the Chicago record company Chess Records.

The Chessmen
consist of five vocalists, who play piano, keyboards, harmonica, saxophone, drums, percussion, bass, guitar, dobro, violin, mandolin and banjo.

ALL World: African- West albums
a large selection of downloadable African sounds from which the following two were selected...

The Healing Drum
Authentic Sacred Shamanic Drums of The Yoruba Tribe of West Africa. These come from traditional sacred Ifa Drum rhythms and rituals. Ifa and Voodoo is the spiritual tradition of the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria and Benin of west Africa. Available MP3 downloads

Zebra Crossing
African Jazz that ROCKS - Beautiful Sth African vocals and kalimba. Intricate West African Percussion. Soaring jazz sax and flute. 'Valanga Khoza, Ray Pereira and Leo Dale make music that keeps the outside world at bay. Available MP3 downloads

E4 is a chess inspired "Ambient Techno" album
produced by Onde-Spirale and Chess Art. E4 was created with the help of many talented people and was a labor of love. This album aims at capturing some of the many emotions that chess, and its relationship to real life, can evoke. (From John Greschak's website)

The Twist - Chubby Checker - U Tube
(What happens when tables turn on the dance floor...)

Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino - U Tube
(The thrill of victory!)

Beggin You - The Royal Chessmen - U Tube
(The agony of defeat...)

June 1, 2008

Mostly Africa

Everyone's a historian now
How the Internet - and you - will make history deeper, richer, and more accurate. By Stephen Mihm May 25, 2008

The Chess Drum... Chess Drum describes itself as an "All-purpose chess site which champions the success of Black chess players, or those of African ancestry... includes interviews, playable chess games and a comments/discussion section. Ned Munger friendly!

Yorubic Medicine: "The Art of divine Herbology"
by Tariq Sawandi - "Yorubic medicine has its roots in the Ifa Corpus, a religious text revealed by the mystic prophet, Orunmila, over 4,000 years ago in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, now known as Yorubaland." (Ed note: Interesting diagrams. Readers are invited to compare with Titus Burkhardt's Indian selection. See Also: Ancient Gnosis and Chess Evolution by Dr. Ricardo Calvo.)

African Art
View an impressive catalogue of essential items from various peoples and places throughout Africa. Last updated April 2008

Ancient Africa's Black Kingdoms
Ancient Civilization did not begin in what we think of as the West. It did not start in Europe, Rome, India, or Asia. Homo Sapiens migrated from Africa to inhabit all the continents except Antarctica, some 200,000 to 100,000 years ago.

A New Non-Jonesian History of the World
by Ranajit Pal

"Sir William Jones was an eighteenth century Jurist and Orientalist whose founding of the the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 (with Charles Wilkins) was a landmark in Oriental studies. Jones, the chief justice at the Calcutta Supreme Court, was a prolific linguist, studied the ancient Indian Law books in Sanskrit..." wrote an early tract on chess and the epic chess poem, "Cassia".

"Sanskrit & Sanscrito"
Here you will find massive contents about Sanskrit language, Indian philosophies, translations, sacred sounds, hatha yoga postures, Sanskrit names and so forth. There are also many other features...

QUICK TAKES

New Publications & A Video Podcast

• Archaeology Magazine, May-June, 2008 edition online has a feature article on crystal skulls and a special page dedicated to Indiana Jones.

• Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June, 2008 edition has many articles and abstracts available online.

• British Archaeology has put a number of articles from its March-April, 2008 edition online, including an article of the discoveries at Stanway, where the "doctor's game" was excavated. The May-June, 2008 issue is available for purchase. Subscriptions can be purchased online.

• The Archaeology Channel this month has an excellent podcast/video on efforts to preserve the Tang Dynasty era Foguang Temple, Xanxi, China.

Location: China
Length: 12 min.

Windows Media Player 56k 300k 700k

Real Media Player 56k 300k 700k

May 25, 2008

Our movie of the week!

Legend of the Crystal Skulls
by Jane MacLaren Walsh
"These exotic carvings are usually attributed to pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, but not a single crystal skull in a museum collection comes from a documented excavation, and they have little stylistic or technical relationship with any genuine pre-Columbian depictions of skulls, which are an important motif in Mesoamerican iconography."

The British Museum
"It is impossible to be sure why the skulls were produced. It maybe that they were produced to satisfy demand in the US and Europe in the nineteenth century when interest in collecting Mexican material was at its height."

Legend of the Urgel Chessmen
Dr. Ricardo Calvo's Presentation to the IGK - Amsterdam, December, 2001. The trail of the rock crystal Urgel pieces leads to other discoveries in the north of Spain.

Fatimid Ewer Sells for £220,000
Signalling one of the most remarkable chance discoveries in years, an 11th-century Fatimid rock crystal ewer, with a market value of up to £5m, recently surfaced in a British provincial auction.

The Royal Draughtboard
Palace of Minos at Knossos - "Pieces of the inlay-gold-plated ivory, glass paste, silver plaques, rock crystal and other precious materials were found scattered around and were also broken off by the picks of the workmen. "

Animal Figurines
Category: SCULPTURE, CULT OBJECT
These are the first examples of animal sculpture in the round which signal the master pieces, yet to come, in Egyptian sculpture. The pieces consist of: a lion which was originally a game piece, a hippopotamus and a crocodile which were votive objects depicting strong forces that had to be appeased, a falcon and a monkey which provided protection, and a frog whose purpose was to answer prayers for fertility.

In Europe and the Ancient Near East, most dice were made of bone or ivory. However, other dice were made from bronze, agate, onyx, marble, rock crystal, amber, jet, alabaster, and porcelain.

Rubric: "This Chapter shall be recited over a Tet of crystal, which shall be set upon a brick made of crude mud, whereupon this Chapter hath been inscribed. Thou shalt make a cavity in the west wall [of the tomb], and having turned the front of the Tet towards the east, thou shalt wall up the cavity with mud which hath been mixed with extract of cedar. This Tet shall drive away the enemies of Osiris who would set themselves at the east wall [of the tomb]."

Religious use of gemstones

"...The word "amulet" is derived from an Arabic root meaning "to bear, to carry," hence "amulet" is "something which is carried or worn," and the name is applied broadly to any kind of talisman or ornament to which supernatural powers are ascribed. It is not clear whether the amulet was intended first of all to protect the living or the dead body, but it seems that it was originally worn to guard its owner from savage animals and from serpents...."

The "St. Louis" Chess Set
From the Louvre Museum

The "St Louis" chess set comes from the Crown collection, but the tradition attributing it to Louis IX of France (1214-1270) is certainly mistaken. This set, made of rock crystal and smoked quartz, was in fact created in the late fifteenth century in Germany (the board) and France (the pieces). Extensively altered over the centuries, it nevertheless remains a fine example of the artistic inventiveness of the fifteenth century and of the magnificence of the French Crown collection.

May 18, 2008

Recent meetings, upcoming events and sites to see before some of them disappear from the face of the earth. But, you'll need to hurry! Flying carpet supplied (see below)...

Board Games Studies recently concluded its 11th Colloqium in Lisbon, Spain, April 23 - 26, 2008. Here is an abstract (in PDF format) of the program. This year's event included presentations by Alex de Voogt (Leiden University), David Parlett (board games scholar and author of coveted books on board games) and friends of Goddesschess, Dr. Ulrich Schaedler (The Museum of Games in Switzerland) and Dr. Jurgen Stigter (Amsterdam, the Ken Whyld Association).

Too late to bid - but of interest nonetheless...
May 13, 2008: Bonham's of London recently hosted an auction of chess sets and chess pieces. See the article at The Wall Street Journal.

The Ashmolean will be creating an online virtual Center of Islamic and Eastern Art, currently scheduled to go online sometime in 2009.

Parker Library at Corpus Christi (Cambridge) is going online! Scholars and students in the pertinent subjects—medieval, Renaissance and early modern studies; art history; paleography; church history; the history of the English language; Anglo-Saxon studies—are invited to use the test site and provide criticism and suggestions to guide revisions and enhancements.

The Columbia Museum of Art (Columbia, South Carolina, USA) in cooperation with the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, presents "Excavating Egypt," an exhibit of artifacts from the Petrie's collection, January 27 - June 8, 2008. Find out more about the exhibit.

Allianoi (Turkey), an ancient Roman asclepion (ancient healing temple) centered around a thermal spring, dating back to second century AD that was discovered just 10 years ago, will be submerged under the waters of Yortanli irrigation dam, which is much needed for the local farmers. We need to preserve our ancient cultures - but we also need to feed our hungry ever-growing population.

Archaeologists working at Sarab-Mort site in Kermanshah Province have announced the news of the possible discovery of a Sasanian Fire Temple adjacent to the Parthian Manor house. Iranian archaeologists began their second and last season of archaeological salvage operation at Sarab-Mort archaeological site in Kermanshah Province in February 2008, prior to the site soon being submerged once the newly built Dam becomes operational.

More than 50,000 petroglyphs and over 5000 inscriptions in 39 different scripts and languages have been recorded so far along the Karakoram Highway in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. These rock carvings which are cultural assets of mankind are threatened and endangered due to the proposed construction of a dam near Basha.

Flying Carpets!
and other unique textile artwork...

The New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show has drawn displays from 76 galleries, including assembles from a broad range of tribal art from Africa, Oceania, Asia and North and South America. It is a forceful, entrancing ensemble...

May 11, 2008

Hail bounteous May, that doth inspire
Mirth and youth, and warm desire
-- John Milton (1608-1674)

May day, may day By Lubna Abdel-Aziz "May Day is a feast of ancient origins. Egyptians, Babylonians, Indians, Romans and others, celebrated the new season of beauty and pleasure."

May 7, 2008 Archaeologists from the University of Hamburg said they discovered the Queen of Sheba's palace and an altar that may have once held the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, Ethiopia. A Sothic cult appears related to the site and is said to have been a latter arrival."

"A latter arrival..." ?! - This statement is unusual for at least a couple of reasons, some perhaps listing towards historical misrepresentaton. A brief history of Sothis, Sobek and Seba might help resolve some questions - or perhaps the opposite. You decide!

Who is "Sothis"?

• Sothis is the Greek name of a star that the Egyptians considered unusually significant. The star is not explicitly identified, but there are enough clues for modern scholars to be almost unanimous in identifying Sothis as Sirius.

• Sothic cycle
The Sothic cycle or Canicular period is a period of 1461 ancient Egyptian years (of 365 days each) or 1460 Julian years (averaging 365.25 days each). During a Sothic cycle, the 365-day year loses enough time that the start of the year once again coincides with the heliacal rising of the star Sirius (the Latin name for a star called Sothis in Greek, deified by the Egyptians as Sopdet; a single year between heliacal risings of Sothis is a Sothic year).

• Sothic Dating
Sothic Dating Examined - "The Sothic Star Theory of the Egyptian Calendar (A Critical Evaluation)" - By Damien F. Mackey (MA. B Phil.) October, 1995 Sydney, Australia.

• Seba and Sheba?
The Egyptian symbol for the stars was a symbol five-pointed line drawing, resembling the sea stars (aka "starfish") that inhabited the Red Sea.

• The star symbol appears
in many forms from a simple dot or circle through to a five point star as shown here. The five-pointed star was mostly used in formal or decorative scenes or to adorn the sky hieroglyph or the body of the sky goddess Nut.

• Sah and Sopdet (Sothis),
the Egyptian Astral God and Goddess by Jefferson Monet

• The Song of Solomon
"Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies."

Armies in the figurative or literal sense? From The Alpha and the Omega - Introduction by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © 1995, all rights reserved ALL THE HOST OF HEAVEN (1) Heb. tsaba', tsaw-baw', or (feminine) tseba'ah, tseb-aw-aw' - and important etcetera relating to astronomical phenomena... i.e. a rotating, cyclical and spiral cosmos.

What was the ancient pentagram board game?
Ambiguous - for one thing...

• Greek Board Games
Roland G. Austin (University of Liverpool, England)
Antiquity, 14, September, 1940, Pages 257-271

• Pente Grammai means "five lines" and was an Ancient Greek game.

• Kurna Pentalpha Game Dr. Ricardo Calvo's numerological reference to the Kurna board games.

The Number "5"
• "The Symbolism and Spiritual Significance of the Number Five" by Dee Finney

Butrint and the Number "5"
• "And right perfection wrongfully disgrac'd"

"As already suggested, precursors of chess such as 5th Century CE hnefatafl and an as yet unproven form of Greek penta gramma or Egyptian pent alpha board game(s) offer various reassurances that the figure of the king had already been established as a viable gaming commodity prior to its inclusion in chess and chaturanja."

New Jewels in the Goddesschess Crown

More marriages made in heaven through
Internet Link Exchanges

This month we welcome:

Rick Knowlton
http://ancientchess.com/
Chess Throughout History and Around the World
and
Jeroen Tijssen
http://www.schaken.opzijnbest.nl/
A nicely designed Dutch site with lots of good links to various useful resources

April 27, 2008

Hardly a springtime theme ... unless you're T.S. Eliot! Nonetheless, recent burial discoveries remind us that every ending is also a new beginning - and like the older games we find included in ritual burials, some secrets of chess lie within the cycles of the seasons. (pdf)

• Was he a Druid? A follow-up story on the tomb from which the "doctor's game" was excavated in 1996.

• See: Dr. Ulrich Schadler's article. (pdf) Iron Age mystery of the 'Essex druid' Grave near Colchester could be the first burial site of an ancient mystic ever to be discovered in Britain

• Cleopatra - a name and a mystique that keeps recyling - (like Tina Turner!)

Tomb of Cleopatra and lover to be uncovered
Archaeologists have revealed plans to uncover the 2000 year-old tomb of ancient Egypt's most famous lovers, Cleopatra and the Roman general Mark Antony later this year. Another link via Free Republic

• Representations of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor from the 1963 film "Cleopatra?" Well, er, not exactly, although the resemblance is somewhat uncanny... This is a piece from the Columbia Museum of Art exhibition of items from the fabulous Petrie Museum (London):

Dyad
Egypt, late dynasty 18, 1352-1292 B.C.E.
Limestone and pigment
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology,
University College London.
Photo by Mary Hinkle

• Blast From the Past: Archaeologists excavating the ancient cemetery of Gohar Tepe of Mazandaran, north of Iran, discovered some 600 pieces of bone used in a gambling game inside the tomb of a woman. From Payvand.com, October 4, 2005!

• No Sacrificial Murder: The mystery of the Oseberg Viking ship burials of two women solved. Tests of the bones of two Viking women found in a buried longboat have dispelled 100-year-old suspicions that one was a maid sacrificed to accompany her queen into the afterlife.

• B.C. 'iceman' descendants discovered DNA shows 17 aboriginal people are related to man who lived centuries ago. "Clark and Callaghan are members of the Teslin-Tlingit First Nation, and research shows the iceman moved between the coast and the northern Interior, which would have had him travelling through Teslin-Tlingit traditional territory..."

• See: Tlingit chess pieces

Terminus, endless cycles,
or eternal preservation?

During routine quarry work, an ancient burial cave was discovered in the Philippine island of Mindanao, south of Manila, yielding priceless clay burial artifacts about 2,000 years old. The latest discovery in the village of Pinol was near another ancient burial site discovered in 1991 where burial jars, shaped in different human forms, had been recovered inside Ayub cave.

Image: "Maitum" burial jars discovered at Ayub Cave in 1991, about 1/2 kilometer away from this discovery. Each jar's facial characteristics is unique.

April 20, 2008

Tracking the trail of board games history -
as written in stone footprints, handprints and
cupholes dotting the world landscape...

• LONDON, (CAIS) -- April 19, 2008 - An ancient four-pointed compass-rose showing directions of ‘four cardinal points’ and a number of board-games carved on rocks discovered in the Iranian island of Kharg in the Persian Gulf, reported Persian service of CHN on Saturday.

• "The history of backgammon is long, complicated, very incomplete - and fascinating. The exact origins of the game remain unknown, though there is much conjecture, a good deal of it both ingenious and farfetched." Oswald Jacoby / John Crawford, 1970

• Goddesschess wanders innocently into the fray! Although the name "backgammon" is claimed to be of English origin, what of the "Ammon" in Backgammon? Were English Tudors truly detached from ritual Egyptian and African backgrounds to Western coronation ritual - or just playing games? Why then does Shakespeare "see Helen in a brow of Egypt"?

"Ammon: Greek name of an Egyptian oracle god, whose main sanctuary was at Siwa in the Libyan desert. Ammon became famous because Alexander the Great claimed to be his son. Ergo - the possibilty that: Ba + Akh = Ammon -- thereby echoing an ancient formula appropriate to the Egyptian senet game's promotional venue.

• At Petra - more cupholes: At the Second Annual Conference for Nabataean Studies, Dr. Bilal Khrisat of the Hashemite University, presented a paper that introduced the conference to the various board games that are found in ancient Petra. That paper was also responsible for introducing Nabataea.net to this fascinating aspect about Petra. A second link can be found here...

• Elvina Track Engraving Site Just inside the Kuringai National Park lies one of the largest engraving sites in Australia.

• Board-games and divination in global cultural history a theoretical, comparative and historical perspective on mankala and geomancy in Africa and Asia – Part I Wim van Binsbergen

"The scholarly literature on board-games continues to be dominated by Murray’s (1913, 1952) classic works History of chess and History of board-games other than chess. In the wake of these studies, also subsequent work on board-games has tended to keep aloof of any consideration of the relation between board-games and divination."

• Board-games and divination in global cultural history a theoretical, comparative and historical perspective on mankala and geomancy in Africa and Asia – Part II Wim van Binsbergen

"The specific imagery of mankala and geomancy is primarily explored within a Neolithic context of animal husbandry, agriculture, hunting, proto-astronomy and the earth cult. The simple formal structure of mankala has tempted several archaeologists to interpret as mankala boards Neolithic cupmarked artefacts; the paper addresses the difficulties involved in such an ascription, and formulates a ritual model for the possible origin of mankala. At this point the paper foreshadows the more extensive and technical argument on cupmarks, mankala and Palaeolithic astronomy."

"You can't get there from here..."

Cupmarks - footprints, handprints and dinosaur tracks... too many bridges too far for chess? Perhaps it all depends upon who is footing the bill for research...

• Walking as Art The Romans were accustomed to carve pairs of footprints on a stone with the inscription pro itu et reditu, "for the journey and return". They used them for protective rites on leaving for a journey and for thanksgiving for a safe return, when the traveller would place his or her feet in the footprints to mark the beginning or end of the undertaking.

• Chess - A Living Fossil Gerhard Josten "Written sources and statuary artefacts on the one hand as well as theories, speculations and legends on the other have formed the more or less well-founded basis for the past thousand years for all those looking for the answer to the question as to how the game of chess came into being."

Jelly Fish

Chess can turn a human brain to jelly and the history of chess seems to have shapeshifting properties that do just about the same thing. Why this preoocupation with the chess octupus and how it evolved? Well... backgammon is thought to be a smaller fish than chess - but... watch where you step!! Those tentacles are poisonous...

• With JellyFish™ the first neural network based backgammon software becomes commercially available. At this time JellyFish™ is significantly stronger than any other backgammon software. The availability of such strong software has a deep impact on the understanding of the game.

Jelly Fish REALLY?!!
"From goo to you" - the wonderul interconnectedness of all life - and boardgames in general ...

• Through a massive analysis of the evolutionary biology of animals it has been suggested that this jellyfish might just be the direct progeny of the first animal on Earth making it the earliest member of the kingdom that includes insects, fish, reptiles, birds, mammals (including humans) and many more or all the ones that belong to the kingdom Animalia.

Normally experts were supposing the sponge to be the first true animal because it is the simplest known, lacking in distinct tissues and nervous system which are two of the jelly characteristics.

Jelly Chess
(the natural evolution - of course!)

• Rubber chess set... Designed by Buro fur Form for umbra this chess set has all the playing pieces made entirely from rubber. You can throw the pieces into your opponent without the fear of hurting him. I’m not saying to do this, but it’s just your insurance if you loose the game and you have a choleric temperament.

April 13. 2008

It's all about one Roman soldier's road
and where it leads today!

Roman soldier's gift found - David Ottewell 10/ 4/2008 He was many miles from home - a Roman soldier posted to Manchester, perhaps feeling cold and lonely, longing for loved ones left behind.

It is believed that Aelius Victor may have been a centurion commander posted from Germany - where worship of Hananeftis and Ollototis originates.

• Hananeftis ?

• Hneftafl ? - a venerable board game of 4 warlike goddesses and one besieged king... (and why are we not surprized?)

• Ollototis ?

• Matres ? The Celtic and Germanic Mother Goddesses

• Matrikas ? Matrikas (Sanskrit: lit. "The Mothers"), also called Matara and Matris, are a band of Hindu goddesses, who always appear in a group.

• See also: Icons

• Orissa - (pdf file) a possible location for the origins of chess referred to in H.J.R. Murray's only footnoted entry acknowledging the work of the esteemed Spanish historian Don Jose Brunet y Bellet. Bellet's hypothesis actually cited an Egyptian origin for chess.

• Sixty-four - In one of the religious traditions of India, there are 8 major forms of Devi, the Goddess. These are known as the Ashta Matrikas (8 Mothers.) Each of these has 8 attendants and so we arrive at the number, 64. Each of the 64 can be further correlated to the currents or winds of the human "etheric" body, or viewed as a type of neurotic or unproductive tendency (if not balanced by the others.)

Bejeweled Anglo-Saxon Burial Suggests Cult
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

April 11, 2008 -- In seventh century England, a woman's jewelry-draped body was laid out on a specially constructed bed and buried in a grave that formed the center of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, according to British archaeologists who recently excavated the site in Yorkshire. Prior coverage