Chess and the Talmud

     The 1912 book by Daniel Fiske, Chess Tales and Chess Miscellaneous, had a letter to the editor of Nation Magazine in which the writer stated that in his studies of the Talmud he had come across some curious references to chess. (Note: there are two Talmuds, the Jerusalem and Babylonian.)
     According to the writer, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled about 485 A.D. and consisted of discussions which took place near Babylonia from about 227 A.D. on the Mishna, a collection of Pharisaic Oral Law made in Palestine about 200 or 220 A.D. 
     The writer goes on to explain there is a question raised in the Mishna under Marriage Contract on the right of a wife whose dowry comprises four slave women to be free from all household work and “to sit in a chair.” The patriarch Simon, son of Gamaliel (I assume he means Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel I) objected that to do so would “drive her into morbid listlessness” and as the writer observed, ladies in those days lacked the resources of reading novels, lawn tennis, etc. 
     He explained that when this subject comes up in the Talmud, it is said she might play with little pups or “nadrshir.” Nadrshir is evidently a corrupt reading for “Ardeshir”, the first King or Shah in the new Persian dynasty, under whose rule the Babylonian Jews lived. 
     The word indicates a game in which a king plays the foremost part. Rashi, the great commentator on the Talmud, a rabbi living in France who died in 1102, leaves no doubt about the question. He said “Nadrshir is what we call “escaques” the Old French form od “eches”, the German Schach Shah. 
     So, the writer and others believe that according Rashi, chess is mentioned in the Talmud and Jewish legal (Halachic) works, including responsa, and address an array of legal and ethical questions pertaining to the game of chess. 

Refer also to: 
Chess in Rabbinic Literature by Machon Shmuel
Chess in the Jewish Encyclopedia 
Chess: The Game and its players. The Story of Samuel Reshevsky 

Article by Reshevsky's daughter Shaindel. Esther Shaindel Reshevsky Ph.D. was a nutritional consultant in Spring Valley, New York.  

     I found this amusing article in The American Jewish Outlook magazine of December 6, 1946 in the Jews in Sports column.  It's doubtful that Rabbi Twersky was that good!

Ben-Gurion at play

     David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, envisioned the dominance in the sport by Israelis which included chess as Ben-Gurion himself was an avid chess player. His vision was to establish chess in Israel came after the country’s national soccer team was beaten by the Poles. He said, “Let’s invest in something we are good at.” 
     Ben Gurion used to secretly play chess behind the Knesset plenum when he was bored with the superfluous debates in the Israeli government. At the 1964 chess Olympiad of 1964, Ben-Gurion gave out the prizes, in the closing ceremony. Ben-Gurion was a member of the Sde Boker Kibbutz, where he was living at the time, and played fourth board for the chess team. 

Handing out prizes to the Soviets at the 1964 Olympiad

     By the way, did you know that there were stories appearing last year that originated on the satirical web site The Daily Chronicle that President Trump’s son, Barron, was awarded the prestigious title of Chess Grandmaster from the International Board of Chessmasters? The article also stated, “Donald Trump is one of the highest ranked and most celebrated American chess players of all time. In the 1970s and 80s, Donald Trump studied under the tutelage of players like Bobby Fischer. Eventually, he won hundreds of chess tournaments abroad before retiring at the ripe old age of 40.”  It should come as no surprise that a lot of Facebookers and Twitterites thought it was a true story.

Why do some people believe these ridiculous stories?  Confirmation bias. Related posts:

Confirmation Bias

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