Las Vegas Showgirls V - Godel Chess

Those world-reknowned Las Vegas Showgirls, Bambi Darlin and Candi Kane, have just arrived at McCarran International Airport in fabulous Las Vegas after their hugely successful global promotional tour for the new Spring/Summer Goddess Chess resort fashions, and the new Goddess Chess Game.

Bambi is wearing one of Goddess Chess' Adrian-inspired dresses of sheer scarlet microfiber that reveals a hint of pure red silk lingerie underneath. The empire-style bodice is trimmed with red bugle beads, and the scarf-cut skirt shows flirty flashes of matching red garters. Candi is wearing the new Goddess Chess faux-leopard skin travel suit ensemble, with matching hat, purse and stiletto-heeled boots. The Girls walk together through the gate with their famous stage strut, softly singing "It's raining men...Hallelujah...

Bambi: It's sooo nice to be home.

Candi: Yes... Las Vegas has the best airport in the world. I just love the little golf cart that pick us up at the gate and drives us to Luggage Claim, and then takes us to our car.

Bambi: I agree. The carts make it possible to wear our high-heels, instead of those ugly athletic shoes...Look Candi! There is Sammy Stalone! You get the cart and I will talk with Sam for a few minutes...I need to invite him to our Goddess Chess 6th Anniversary Party.

Candi: Sky Cap...Sky Cap.....

Candi heads toward a sky cap, when suddenly a man in a black suit and dark glasses comes up to her and asks her if she is with Goddess Chess. Candi is flattered that a fan recognizes her and nods her head, yes. The mysterious man hands her a package, a large manila envelope, and then turns around and leaves, vanishing into the crowd. Stunned, Candi looks for an address or other identifying mark on the package, but there is none to be found.

Bambi: Candi! Candi! Good news, Sammy will be coming to our anniversary party. Isn't that wonderful?

Candi: Yes...He is soo sweet, and intelligent... Bambi, You'd better take a look at this package that was just delivered to us.

Bambi: Who delivered it?

Candi: A Man dressed all in Black, just like in the movie "MiB". He asked me if I was with Goddess Chess, handed me the package, and then did a 180 and disappeared.

Bambi: Very interesting...very interesting indeed...

Candi: OK, Nancy Drew, let's get the luggage.

Bambi and Candi are greeted at Baggage Claim by their Major Domo "Jake", a retired premiere dancer and chess grandmaster.

Jake: Ladies, you look absolutely fabulous!!! And your tour is a triumph. Orders are coming in for the new line of clothing so fast we hare having a problem keeping up with the demand. And the new Goddess Chess "Triple Goddess Game" is going to be written up in this quarter's edition of CCI's "Chess Collectors". Congratulations!! Ladies you go to the limo and relax, and I will get your luggage.

Bambi: Thank you Jake. Come on Candi we can open our mysterious package in the car. I wonder what's in it? Hmmmm...

Candi: Maybe it is an invitation to a party? Or maybe we won the lottery?

Bambi: Candi, You first have to ENTER the lottery in order to win the lottery.

Candi: Oh - really? You mean all those people are actually spending money to buy tickets to enter the lottery? Ohhh...

The Girls head to their fully-restored classic 1969 Cadillac limousine. The vehicle is hard to miss, because there are usually a couple of car buffs and collectors gathered around it, drooling. As the Girls arrive at their limo a gaggle of men offer to help them, falling over themselves in their eagerness to "help". As the Girls enter the limo they make sure to show lots of leg to their fans. Just as a mini-riot breaks out among the men, Jake the Major Domo arrives with the luggage and whisks the girls away toward the glittering lights of Las Vegas.

The Girls settle in, and then Bambi opens the large manila envelope and pulls out a sheet of paper and a couple of photographs. Both Girls eagerly read the single sheet of paper with its cryptic typed message:

O' MA GOG

ARAGON,

IT IS TIME TO PLAY

PAXON CHESS!

Candi: Let me see those pictures. Well, this is very strange, don't you think, Bambi? What does it all mean?

Bambi: I don't know, Candi. I don't know. We need to get this to the Goddess Chess Headquarters.

The Girls arrive home, and head for the computer to scan and fax the contents of the package to Goddess Chess. While they wait for Chief Editor Jan to reply the Girls try to relax and discuss the mysterious message.

Candi: Those cute little elephants...Where have I seen them before? Oh yeah! Our "Chess -Tesselations - Knight's Tour - Escher - "Harry Potter" " article - the elephant and tower tassles.

Bambi: No, not tassles, Candi, tesselations.

Candi: What? Tesselations? But look Bambi, they're both wearing tassles too.

Bambi: So they are, Candi, so they are. Hmm.... Candi, the Plot Thickens!

Candi: Ok, I'll get it...It will only take a minute. I'll be right back.

Bambi: Where are you going?

Candi: abruptly leaves the room but shortly returns with the Girls' Scythian pot bowl and pipe.

Candi: Here Bambi...just as you asked...

Bambi: Thank you, but I don't remember asking you to get the bowl!

Candi: Bambi, don't you remember? You said "Candi, the pot quick!"

Bambi: Candi. I said "The PLOT THICKENS"...

Candi: Oh. And what does that mean?? Never mind... I'll fill a bowl...

Bambi: I'll check for emails......We got an email from Jan!

Hi Girls...

I got your inquiry about Aragon and O Ma Gog. Mysterious packages? Men in Black? What is going on and what are you up to now? I hope you will let me know as soon as you figure it out! In the meantime, in response to your questions, here is a little research that I hope will be useful:

I don't know about "O Ma Gog", perhaps it is meant to be a pun on "Oh My God" but if so, it's in pretty poor taste, given the biblical meaning attributed to "Ma Gog"! In Chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel (Old Testament) and Revelation 20:8 (New Testament) "Ma Gog" and "Gog of Magog" are used in allusions to the great battle that is supposed to take place between the forces of good and the forces of evil at the end of the world - Harmageddon - or, as we say in English "Armageddon". Ma Gog and Gog are the bad guys. Some evangelical groups of Christendom think that this battle will actually occur with real people and weapons upon the Plain of Megiddo in Israel - a place where many historically significant battles occurred in ancient times between the Israelites/Hebrews ("God's chosen people") and various "bad guys."

Perhaps "O Ma Gog" is a reference to descendants of an historical personage. I have a vague recollection of a possible connection to the Celts. My biblical encyclopedia says that Gog was one of the descendants of Reuben, who is one of the twelve sons of "Israel." "Ma Gog" is cited as a son of Japheth and a grandson of Noah (of Noah's Ark fame). Traditionally Ma Gog's descendants were described as living "north" of the land of Israel. Here is a website that provides some information, seems to trace etymological connections and cites ancient historians, but I won't vouch for its accuracy: No originator or author's name is given for this information, and there is no link back to a homepage - why not? Seems a bit suspicious to me. There are also Muslim equivalents of Gog and Ma Gog.

Here is a little map of modern-day Spain showing its various regions. With relatively little change, these same regions existed at the time of Queen Isabella. Aragon, and Queen Isabella, are important to the development of the powerful queen piece in chess. Queen Isabella of Castile (Region 6 on map) married King Ferdinand of Aragon (region 8 on map), uniting their two kingdoms (she was crowned Queen in 1472).

As you can see, this marriage created a very large and powerful kingdom that also had ties through marriage and kinship with other regions. Both Isabella and Ferdinand, formidable in their own right, had earned reputations as warriors prior to their historic marriage. Together, Isabella and Ferdinand's forces succeeded in driving out the remaining Muslims (Moors) in Andulusia (Region 15 on map), thus finally ending some 700 years of Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula.

Americans know Isabella best as the Queen who sold some jewels to fund Christopher Columbus' voyage across the Atlantic in search of a short-cut to the islands in the far east and the extremely lucrative spice trade. Columbus is still, I believe, taught in history classes as the "discoverer of America" in 1492, (which is incorrect). Not many Americans realize that Isabella is also responsible for a massive genocide against the Jews (not to mention the Muslims), who had lived in Spain for centuries in relatively peaceful co-existence with the Muslims and Christians prior to Isabella and Ferdinand's start of that horrid blot on the Roman Catholic Church - the Inquisition. Isabella decreed through King Ferdinand that Jews either had to convert to the Roman Catholic religion or leave Spain. Those who were forced out could take nothing with them except the clothes on their backs - thereby enriching Spain's war depleted coffers with the accumulated wealth of expelled Jews. Thousands upon thousands of Jews died as a result of being packed onto ships, without adequate provisions and no money to buy any, and set adrift upon the Mediterranean to make their way as best they could to any country that would accept them.

Some displaced Jews found temporary refuge in Portugal. But, by the turn of the 16th century the Jews found themselves expelled from that country, too. Other Jews tried overland routes out of Spain to get to what they considered friendlier areas of Italy. They too, died by the thousands. Isabella - acting in the Name of God...? Today, we might be tempted to call her a "terrorist" ...

Isabella is often pointed to as the ultimate inspiration for the enhanced value of the queen in modern chess. Presently known as the most powerful piece on the board, in former times, the viziers whom she displaced in chess were as limited in their range of movement as those of the Arabic game of Shatranj. In either game, the vizier piece could move only one square at a time on the diagonal, and chess before the advent of the queen was a rather plodding, drawn-out affair. As the state of the queen inspired game took shape in some so-called "Christian" areas of Europe (including Christian-controlled areas of Spain) the queen piece had probably replaced the vizier of Shatranj by the beginning of the 10th century, although that queen exhibited only the weak move of the vizier.

Marilyn Yalom's book, "The Birth of the Chess Queen", discusses these developments and on pages 53-55 particularly discusses references to the queen (in place of the vizier) in Spanish chess, as recorded in the works of 11th century Jewish poet Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167) and the work of Bonsenior ibn Yehia (possibly 12th century, possibly later). In these works the queen (Hebrew "Shegal") is depicted as standing at the side of her King. These references remind me of the following scripture in Psalms 45:9 (verse b):

"The queenly consort has taken her stand at your right hand in gold of Ophir".

The new "Isabella-inspired" queen, on the other hand, could move as many squares as she wished, in any direction, so long as she did not "jump" any piece (she just killed that piece, instead, and took over its square). She could go vertically, horizontally, and diagonally - and in her long, sweeping moves became the terror of the chessboard and ushered in an entirely new era - the modern era - in chess-playing strategy. This new queen was called "the mad queen". With good reason, I'd say...

There are many good essays online that discuss Isabella and the development of the powerful chess queen in Spain. See, for instance "Chess and Chess Players of the Renaissance" and Grovert Westerveld's work.

The first "modern" chess game using the new, sweeping moves of the queen, is dated to circa 1475 and is recorded in the poem "Eschacs d'amor". As you know, The Chief was especially interested in the developments of the modern game of chess in Valencia (Region 13 on map). See, for instance Carmen's essay based on The Chief's work, "Lucena, A Mystery After 500 Years" and The Chief's essay "Valencia Spain: The Cradle of European Chess".

That Valencia would be a hot-bed of development of chess makes sense, as there is a "geographic chain" across the Mediterranean Sea from Valencia to Sardinia to Sicily (both conquered by the Muslims) and Southern Italy. Too, the Spanish Jewish Disapora instigated by Isabella ultimately resulted in the spread of the new form of chess with the "mad queen" to many countries that bordered the Mediterranean as the expelled Jews sought new homes.

So, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Isabella of Castile and Aragon was a very important influence on the development and spread of modern chess.

Hope this info helps. Take care - and get me that article you promised - it's overdue! JX