A brief history of chess

国际象棋简史

来源视频

The attacking infantry advances steadily,

their elephants already having  broken the defensive line.

The king tries to retreat, but enemy  cavalry flanks him from the rear.

Escape is impossible.

But this isn’t a real war-

nor is it just a game.

进攻步兵正稳步推进，

他们的大象已攻破敌人的防线。

国王试图撤退， 但敌方骑兵已从后方包抄，

逃跑是不可能的了。

但这不是真正的战争——

也不仅仅是一场游戏。

Over the roughly one-and-a-half millennia  of its existence,

chess has been known as a tool  of military strategy,

a metaphor for human affairs,  and a benchmark of genius.

While our earliest records of chess  are in the 7th century,

legend tells that the game’s origins  lie a century earlier.

在其存在的大约一千五百年中，

国际象棋被称为军事战略工具、

对人类事务的隐喻 和天才的衡量标准。

虽然对国际象棋的 最早记录是在 7 世纪，

而传说中游戏的起源 还要早一个世纪。

Supposedly, when the youngest prince  of the Gupta Empire was killed in battle,

his brother devised a way of representing the scene to their grieving mother.

Set on the x ashtapada board used for other popular pastimes,

a new game emerged with two key features:

different rules for moving  different types of pieces,

and a single king piece whose fate  determined the outcome.

据说，当古普塔帝国 最年轻的王子在战斗中丧生时，

为向悲伤的母亲讲述王子牺牲的场景， 他的兄弟就设计了这种方式。

一款使用 x 的八条棋盘的 娱乐用新游戏面世了，

它有两个主要特点：

不同类型棋子有不同的移动规则，

王者棋子的命运将决定胜负。

The game was originally  known as chaturanga–

a Sanskrit word for "four divisions."

But with its spread to Sassanid Persia,

it acquired its current name  and terminology–

"chess," derived from "shah," meaning  king, and “checkmate” from "shah mat,"

or “the king is helpless.”

该游戏最初被称为“恰图兰卡”——

梵语中的意思是“四部”。

但它传播到萨珊王朝的波斯后，

就获得了现在的名称和术语——

“国际象棋”源自“shah”，意思是国王，

而“将军”来自“shah mat”， 意思是“国王孤立无援”。

After the 7th century Islamic conquest  of Persia,

chess was introduced to the Arab world.

Transcending its role as a  tactical simulation,

it eventually became a rich source  of poetic imagery.

Diplomats and courtiers used chess terms  to describe political power.

Ruling caliphs became avid  players themselves.

七世纪伊斯兰征服波斯之后，

国际象棋被引入阿拉伯世界，

并逐渐超越其作为战术模拟的作用，

成为诗歌意象的丰富来源。

外交官和朝臣们使用 国际象棋术语来描述政治权力，

执政的回教主们也成了狂热的玩家。

And historian al-Mas’udi considered the  game a testament to human free will

compared to games of chance.

Medieval trade along the Silk Road carried the game to East and Southeast Asia,

where many local variants developed.

历史学家艾马斯迪认为， 与机会博弈相比，

国际象棋是人类自由意志的证明。

沿丝绸之路，中世纪贸易 将国际象棋带到了东亚和东南亚，

并衍生了许多本地版本。

In China, chess pieces were placed at  intersections of board squares

rather than inside them, as in the native  strategy game Go.

The reign of Mongol leader Tamerlane saw  an x board

with safe squares called citadels.

And in Japanese shogi, captured pieces  could be used by the opposing player.

But it was in Europe that chess began to  take on its modern form.

在中国，就像本土战略游戏围棋一样，

国际象棋棋子下在棋盘交叉点， 而不是下在格子内；

而蒙古征服者帖木儿统治时期，

x 的棋盘上带有 叫做大本营的安全岛；

在日本的将棋中， 对手可以使用被俘的棋子。

但在欧洲，国际象棋 开始采用其现代形式

By 1000 AD, the game had become part  of courtly education.

Chess was used as an allegory

for different social classes performing  their proper roles,

and the pieces were re-interpreted  in their new context.

At the same time, the Church remained  suspicious of games.

Moralists cautioned against devoting  too much time to them,

with chess even being briefly  banned in France.

到公元 1000 年，游戏 已成为宫廷教育的一部分。

国际象棋被用来

比喻履行各自职责的不同社会阶层，

并且在新的背景下， 棋子功能被重新定义。

与此同时，教会仍对游戏持怀疑态度。

道德主义者告诫 不要花太多时间玩游戏，

国际象棋甚至在法国被短暂禁止。

Yet the game proliferated,

and the 15th century saw it cohering into the form we know today.

The relatively weak piece of advisor was  recast as the more powerful queen–

perhaps inspired by the recent surge  of strong female leaders.

This change accelerated the game’s pace,

and as other rules were popularized,

treatises analyzing common openings  and endgames appeared. 

Chess theory was born.

然而，这款游戏迅速传播，

在 15 世纪，它演变成 我们今天所知的游戏形式。

相对较弱的顾问 被重塑为更强大的女王——

也许受近期强势女性领导人的启发。

这种变化加快了游戏的节奏，

并随着其它规则的普及，

出现了分析常见 游戏开局和结束的论文。

由此，诞生了国际象棋理论。

With the Enlightenment era, the game  moved from royal courts to coffeehouses.

Chess was now seen as an expression  of creativity,

encouraging bold moves and dramatic plays.

This "Romantic" style reached its peak  in the Immortal Game of 1851 ,

where Adolf Anderssen managed a checkmate

after sacrificing his queen  and both rooks.

But the emergence of formal competitive  play in the late 19th century

meant that strategic calculation would  eventually trump dramatic flair.

随着启蒙时代的到来， 游戏从宫廷搬到了咖啡馆。

国际象棋现在被视为创造力的表达，

鼓励大胆的举动和戏剧性的下法。

这种“浪漫”风格在 1851 年的 “不朽对局”中达到了顶峰，

比赛中，阿道夫·安德森 在牺牲了女王和两只车后，

成功把对手将死。

但 19 世纪后期正式竞争游戏的出现，

意味着战略考虑最终 会战胜戏剧性的天赋。

And with the rise of international  competition,

chess took on a new  geopolitical importance.

During the Cold War,

the Soviet Union devoted great resources to cultivating chess talent,

dominating the championships for the rest  of the century.

But the player who would truly upset  Russian dominance

was not a citizen of another country

but an IBM computer called Deep Blue.

随着国际竞争的兴起，

国际象棋有了新的地缘政治重要性。

在冷战期间，

苏联投入了大量资源培养国际象棋人才，

并通揽该世纪剩余时间里的冠军。

但真正打破俄罗斯统治地位的玩家

不是另一个国家的公民，

而是名为“深蓝”的 IBM 计算机。

Chess-playing computers had been  developed for decades,

but Deep Blue’s triumph  over Garry Kasparov in 1997

was the first time a machine  had defeated a sitting champion.

Today, chess software is capable of  consistently defeating

the best human players.

But just like the game they’ve mastered,

these machines are products  of human ingenuity.

And perhaps that same ingenuity will guide us out of this apparent checkmate.

国际象棋游戏计算机已开发了几十年，

但 1997 年，“深蓝”战胜加里·卡斯巴罗夫

是机器第一次击败当代冠军。

如今，国际象棋软件

能够轻松击败最优秀的人类玩家。

但就像它们掌握的游戏一样，

这些机器是人类聪明才智的产物。

也许同样的人类聪明才智， 将引导我们走出这个明显的死局。