JOSEPH FOURIER,Analytic Theory of Heat, Preliminary Discourse (1822) The way I first heard the story, it happened in ancient Persia. But it may have been India or even China. Anyway, it happened a long time ago. The Grand Vizier, the principal advisor to the King, had invented a new game. It was played with moving pieces on a square board comprised of 64 red and black squares. The most important piece was the King. The next most important piece was the Grand Vizier—just what we might expect of a game invented by a Grand Vizier. The object of the game was to capture the enemy King, and so the game was called, in Persian, shahmat—shah for King, mat for dead. Death to the King. In Russian it is still called shakhmat, which perhaps conveys a lingering revolutionary sentiment. Even in English there is an echo of this name—the final move is called “checkmate.” The game, of course, is chess. As time passed, the pieces, their moves, and the rules of the game all evolved; there is, for example, no longer a Grand Vizier—it has become transmogrified into a Queen, with much more formidable powers.
What do You think about Billions & Billions (2011)?
