The Tournament Esampler

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It has long been accepted that the frst international chess tour-

nament was the event staged in London in 1851 and won byAdol Anderssen o Germany. Sixteen men rom all over Europe

competed to determine the best player in the world. (Prior to

that occasion, individual players would play in celebrated one-o

matches.)

But a rumour persists in the chess world o a tournament that

was held long beore the London one, an event that took place in the

16th century in the ancient city o Constantinople, now Istanbul.Sadly, no records o this event remain and until some kind o

documentary proo o its staging arises, it is destined to remain the

stu o legend.

From:A History of Chess,

Boris Ivanov (Advantage Press,

London, 1972)

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PROLOGUE

1603

My QuEEN IS DEAD. My FrIEND IS DEAD. The wold is not

the same. It is dake now.

How she caied hesel so well in this chaotic wold, I shall

neve know. In a lie lived in a maelstom o coties, bishopsand commandes, she alwas got he wa. This she achieved

otentimes thogh cham, man times thogh shewdness,

and on ae occasions thogh the moe diect method o

execting those who opposed he.

She alwas knew when people wee watching. I have no

dobt that when she sent some poo wetch to the Towe, it

was as mch o the spectacle o it as it was o the cime.Sometimes les mst set gim examples.

It has been said b man that he extaodina nimble-

ness o mind was the eslt o he edcation at the hands

o the geat schoolmaste roge Ascham. Having peson-

all witnessed some o that edcation, I can attest that he



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M a t t h e w r e i l l y

schooling was o the highest ode.As the child o one o he hoseholds sta and being o

a simila age, I was the ong pincesss pincipal plamate.

Late in lie, I wold assme the ole o chie attendant to he

bedchambe, bt as a gil, b shee vite o poximit, I was

allowed to patake in he lessons and ths eceived a level o

instction that I othewise wold neve have known.

B the time Elizabeth was seven, she was fent in Fench,capable at Spanish and cold speak and ead Latin and Geek.

When William Gindalspevised b the geat Ascham

took ove he edcation in 1544, she had added Italian and

Geman to that list. While Gindal managed he da-to-da

lessons, it was Ascham who alwas loomed in the backgond,

the gand achitect o he oveall schooling. He stepped in

when majo sbjects wee taght: langages, mathematics,and histo, both ancient and ecent. A vocal advocate o the

benets o egla otdoo activit, he even taght he ache

in the gonds o Hateld.

He also, it mst be said, taght the ong pincess Elizabeth

chess.

I can still see he as a thiteen-ea-old, bent ove the

boad, the wild cls o he caot-coloed hai aming aneln eckled ace, he ees xed in a deadl stae at the pieces,

ting to dedce the best available move, while acoss om he,

Ascham, ttel caeless o the state o the game, watched he

think.

As a child Bess lost moe games than she won and some



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T h e T o u r n a m e n T

in the oal hose at Hateld thoght it scandalos thatAscham shold continall beat the daghte o the king, oten

cshingl.

On moe than one occasion Bess wold all into m ams

in teas ate a game. Oh, Gwinn, Gwinn! He beat me

again!

He is a cel monste, I wold sa soothingl.

He is, isnt he? Bt then she wold egathe hesel. I shallbeat him one da. I most cetainl will. And, o cose, event-

all she did.

Fo his pat, the geat teache made no apologies o his

btal manne o pla, not even when Besss goveness wote a

lette to the king complaining abot it.

When pessed b an emissa o the king abot the matte,

Ascham aged that nless one loses, one does not lean. Hisjob, he said, was to ense that the little pincess leaned. The

king accepted this agment and the beatings at chess wee

allowed to contine. As an adlt, Elizabeth wold ael lose

at the game and on the a moe dangeos chessboad o

he lieat cot in London and on the high seas against the

Hose o Castileshe neve lost.

Chess, Ascham claimed, taght man impotant lessons: tofatte ones opponent, to la taps and to see them laid, to be

bold and to estain ones tendenc to boldness, to appea nave

when in tth one is alet, to see the te man moves ahead

and to discove that decisions always have conseqences.

Ascham taght m ong mistess well.



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Bt now, to m geat shock, I have jst leaned that Aschamsbest lesson might have occed not in o little schooloom in

Hetodshie bt a om England.

Fo last week, as he health aded and she la conned to

he bed, m mistess called me to he side and then odeed all

the othe attendants to leave the chambe.

Gwinn, she said. M deaest, deaest Gwinn. As the

light dims and the end daws nea, thee is something I wish totell o. It is a tale that I have kept to msel o nigh on sixt

eas.

yes, yo Majest.

Call me Bess, like o sed to, when we wee childen.

Bt, o cose. Please go on . . . Bess . . . I had not called

he that o hal a cent.

He ees opened bt the staed at nothing. Man havewondeed at the lie I have led, Gwinn: a qeen who neve

maied o boe heis; a woman with no milita taining who

ended o Philips amadas; a Potestant le who continall

exected Ignatis o Loolas Catholic missionaies and who

on moe than one occasion ebed poposals o maiage

om the rssian tsa, Ivan.

How I came to be sch a womansexless and aloo withmen, wa o coties and ambassados, thless when dealing

with enemieswas the eslt o man things, bt above all o

them ises one expeience, one singla expeience om m

oth, a jone that I took in absolte secec. It was an event

that I have not daed tell anone abot o ea that the wold



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think me a ablist. It is this expeience that I wish to impatto o now.

Fo the next two das, m qeen spoke and I listened.

She econted to me an event eal in he lie when, ding

the atmn o 1546 at a time when Hetodshie was gipped

b a sdden bot o plage, roge Ascham took he awa om

Hateld Hose o a peiod o thee months.I emembeed the time vividl and o seveal easons.

Fist, the plage o 1546 was a paticlal vicios one.

Escaping otbsts o the deaded disease was common o

oal childenemoving a ong hei om the locale o an

illness was the best wa to avoid a seveing o the oal line

and that ea man o the esidents o Hetodshie fed the

distict ve pomptl.Second, it was a paticlal dangeos time o Elizabeth.

Althogh the passage o the Succession to the Crown Actof

1543 had seen he etned to the line o sccession, in 1546,

at the age o thiteen, she was still thid in line behind he

onge hal-bothe, Edwad, then nine, and he olde hal-

siste, Ma, then thit. yet Elizabeths mee existence still

posed a theat to both o thei claims and she aced the veeal possibilit o being taken awa in the dead o night and

meeting a blood end in the Towean end that cold be

convenientl blamed on the plage.

The thid and last eason pehaps efects moe on me than

on m mistess. I emembe that paticla time well becase



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when she went awa to the east, Elizabeth chose not to take mewith he.

Instead she took anothe ong membe o o hosehold,

a spitel olde gil named Elsie Fitzgeald who was, I admit,

a pettie and moe woldl than I was.

I wept o das ate the let. And I spent that atmn

miseabl alone at the home o elatives in Sssex, sae om

the plage bt missing the compan o m iend.

When m mistess nished he tale, I was speechless with

hoo and shock.

In the eas ollowing that missing atmn o 1546, she

had alwas maintained that he tip awa had been an nevent-

l one, jst anothe excsion to the Continent with Ascham.

Althogh the had ostensibl gone east to see some chesstonament, pon he etn Elizabeth had neve talked abot

chess o an sch championship, and he iendship with Elsie

was neve the same again.

Ate heaing he accont o that time, I now know wh.

He tip had not been neventl at all.

Ascham had not jst taken he a to the eastbeond the

bodes o Chistendom, into the ve heat o the lands othe Moslems, the geat cit o Constantinoplehe had also

exposed the te qeen to man deadl peils as the

became pivileged witnesses to the most emakable event

neve ecoded in histo.

When she nished telling me he tale, m qeen la back



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on he pillow and closed he ees. Long have I wondeed iI shold tell anone o those das, bt now all o the othe

paticipants ae dead and soon I will be, too. I it pleases o,

Gwinn, wite down m wods, so that othes might know

how a qeen like me is omed.

And so I make this m task, m nal task on he behal, to

commit to witing he exact wods and econt to o, dea

eade, the mavellos thingsthe teible things, the tei-ing thingsshe beheld ove the cose o that secet jone

in 1546.

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