The Pawns had names

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  • The Pawns had names

    This news item that Pawns once had individual 'names' amuses me given my propensity for throwing away my e4 Pawn ("the doctor") on move 2 (i.e. 1.d4 d5 2.e4!? albeit some would likely argue 2.e4?!). I've long 'hated' doctors (iatrogenic stats confirm that your doctor is the only person more likely to kill you than yourself) and have shunned them for nigh half a century now. Evidently, I'm being consistent over the chess board in this regard (:

    http://www.geekosystem.com/names-of-chess-pawns/

  • #2
    Re: The Pawns had names

    The Chess and Math online magazine Scholar's Mate includes stories to make chess more lively and interesting for children. One of the authors names each pawn differently - though I cannot remember the details. ( I think it is something like a-pawn Alvin, b-pawn Bob, etc., but I could be wrong.)
    Last edited by Nigel Hanrahan; Wednesday, 6th November, 2013, 03:40 PM. Reason: (supplemental)
    Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.

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    • #3
      Re: The Pawns had names

      Wilkinson's description of the individual pawns matches that of Jacob de Cessolis in De Ludo Scachorum (later translated by Caxton as The Game and Playe of the Chesse) with one crucial difference, the order is reversed. Thus for Cessolis the doctor stands in front of the queen; it is the merchant/money changer in front of the king. Given the fame of Cessolis's work, one suspects Wilkinson misread his source. For the Caxton version, scroll down to the woodcuts on http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Cessolis.html.

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      • #4
        Re: The Pawns had names

        Fascinating piece of chess history. Certainly a more interesting picture emerges from imagining a merchant traveling up the land than just 1.e4...

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        • #5
          Re: The Pawns had names

          Originally posted by Nigel Hanrahan View Post
          The Chess and Math online magazine Scholar's Mate includes stories to make chess more lively and interesting for children. One of the authors names each pawn differently - though I cannot remember the details. ( I think it is something like a-pawn Alvin, b-pawn Bob, etc., but I could be wrong.)
          There's also Delroy (the white d-pawn) in Jonathan Rowson's Understanding the Grünfeld.

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