Chess became a source of inspiration in the arts in literature soon after the spread of the game to the Arab World and Europe in the Middle Ages. The earliest works of art centered on the game are miniatures in medieval manuscripts, as well as poems, which were often created with the purpose of describing the rules. After chess gained popularity in the 15th and 16th centuries, many works of art related to the game were created. One of the best-known, Marco Girolamo Vida's poem Scacchia ludus, written in 1527, made such an impression on the readers that it singlehandedly inspired other authors to create poems about chess.
In the 20th century, artists created many works related to the game, sometimes taking their inspiration from the life of famous players (Vladimir Nabokov in The Defense) or well-known games (Poul Anderson in Immortal Game, John Brunner in The Squares of the City). Some authors invented new chess variants in their works, such as stealth chess in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series or Tri-Dimensional chess in the Star Trek series.
History
10th to 18th century
Palatine Chapel in the Norman Palace in Palermo you can admire the first painting of a chess game that is known to the world. The work dates from around 1143 and the artists who created the Muslim players were chosen by the Norman king of Sicily Roger II of Hauteville, who erected the church.
The earliest known reference to chess in a European text is a Medieval Latin poem, Versus de scachis. The oldest manuscript containing this poem has been given the estimated date of 997. Other early examples include miniatures accompanying books. Some of them have high artistic value. Perhaps the best known example is the 13th-century Libro de los juegos. The book contains 151 illustrations, and while most of them are centered on the board, showing problems, the players and architectural settings are different in each picture. Another early illustrated text is the Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess () which is based on the sermons of Jacopo da Cessole and was first published in 1473.The Immortal Game: A History of Chess
The pieces illustrating chess problems in Luca Pacioli's manuscript On the Game of Chess (, c. 1500) are described as "futuristic even by today's standards" and may have been designed in collaboration with Leonardo da Vinci.
After chess became gradually more popular in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, especially in Spain and Italy, many artists began writing poems using chess as a theme.Litmanowicz (1974), p. 11 Chess of love (), written by an unknown artist in the end of the 15th century, describes a game between Mars and Venus, using chess as an allegory of love. The story also serves as a pretence to describe the rules of the game. De ludo scacchorum (unrelated to the manuscript mentioned above) by , also created at that time, is a collection of gameplay advice, presented in poetic fashion.Litmanowicz (1974), p. 12
One of the most influentialLitmanowicz (1974), p. 13 works of chess-related art is Marco Girolamo Vida's Scaccia ludus (1527), centered on a game played between Apollo and Mercury on Mount Olympus. It is said that, because of its high artistry, the poem made a great impression on anyone who read it, including Desiderius Erasmus. It also directly inspired at least two other works.Litmanowicz (1974), p. 14 The first is Jan Kochanowski's poem Chess (c. 1565), which describes the game as a battle between two armies, while the second is William Jones' Caissa, or the game of chess (1772). The latter poem popularised the pseudo-ancient Greek dryad Caïssa to be the "goddess of chess".
19th century onwards
Since the 19th century, artists have been creating novels and – since the 20th century – films related to chess. Sometimes, they are inspired by famous games, like John Brunner's The Squares of the City, structured after the famous match between Wilhelm Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin; Poul Anderson's short story Immortal Game, inspired by the 1851 game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky (which also appears in the film Blade Runner); or Waldemar Łysiak's Szachista (), centered on a game played between Napoleon Bonaparte and The Turk. The game Frank Poole versus HAL 9000 from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey is also based on an actual match, albeit not widely known.Roesch vs Willi Schlage (1910) in chessgames.com
Other artists have drawn their inspiration from the life of players. Vladimir Nabokov wrote The Defense after learning about Curt von Bardeleben, while the musical Chess was loosely based on the life of Bobby Fischer. Some authors invented new chess variants in their works, such as stealth chess in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series or Tri-Dimensional chess in the Star Trek series.
Another connection between art and chess is the life of Marcel Duchamp, who almost fully suspended his artistic career to focus on chess in 1923. Salvador Dalí and Man Ray were also chess players and both designed chess sets. The three artists played chess together, and one of the chess sets designed by Dalí is called Echecs (Hommage à Marcel Duchamp). Duchamp's 1910 painting The Chess Game depicts his brothers Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Jacques Villon playing chess in the garden of Villon's studio. Another Duchamp painting from the following year again depicts his brothers at the chess table. Duchamp wrote a book titled Opposition and Sister Squares Are Reconciled which was published in 1932. Man Ray and Duchamp are seen playing chess in René Clair's film Entr'acte. A book titled Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess was published in 2009.
Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris were also chess players, and both made references to the game in their work.
The design of Bauhaus professor Josef Hartwig's early 1920s chess set uses the shape of each piece to indicate its permitted movement.
Artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Barbara Kruger, Damien Hirst, Gavin Turk, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Rachel Whiteread, Paul McCarthy, Tom Friedman, and Tracey Emin have also either designed chess sets or made works that reference the game.
In literature
Poems Versus de scachis (c. 997), earliest known reference to chess in a European text Scachs d'amor () (late 15th century). Describes a game between Mars and Venus De ludo scachorum (On the Game of Chess) (early 16th century) by . A collection of chess gameplay advice in poetic form Scaccia ludus (1527) by Marco Girolamo Vida. The poem describes a game of chess played by Apollo and Mercury on Mount Olympus Chess (c. 1565) by Jan Kochanowski. An epos parody which portrays a game of chess as a battle between two armies Caissa, or the game of chess (1772) by William Jones. Inspired by ancient Greek mythology, the poem tells the story of dryad Caissa, with whom Mars falls in love. In an attempt to win her heart, Mars asks the god of sport to create a gift for Caissa. The god creates the game of chess A Game of Chess, a section in The Waste Land (1922) by T. S. Eliot The Game of Chess included in Dreamtigers (1960), a poem (two sonnets) by Jorge Luis Borges
Novels Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) by Lewis Carroll. The book is chess-themed. Most main characters in the story are represented as chess pieces, with the main protagonist, Alice, being a pawn. The Chessmen of Mars (1922) by Edgar Rice Burroughs, captives are forced to fight to the death in an arena, in a modified version of jetan, a popular Martian board game resembling chess. The Twelve Chairs (1928) by Ilf and Petrov, partially taking place at a chess club The Defense (1930) by Vladimir Nabokov. The main character, Aleksandr Luzhin, suffers from mental problems because of his obsession with chess The Royal Game (1942), a novella by Stefan Zweig All the King's Horses (1951) by Kurt Vonnegut, also included in Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) John and the Chess Men (1952) by Helen Weissenstein, a children's novel introducing the game of chess. The author competed in several US women's championships. From Russia, with Love (1957) by Ian Fleming, part of the James Bond series. One of the villains, Tov Kronsteen, is a chess grand master who applies chess principles to espionage The Chess Players (1960) by Frances Parkinson Keyes, a fictionalized account of the life of Paul Morphy. Forbidden Planet (1961) by Lionel Fanthorpe using the pseudonym John E. Muller, which describes an interstellar chess game played by superhuman entities using humans as pawns. The Squares of the City (1965), a science fiction novel by John Brunner, structured after the famous 1892 chess game between Wilhelm Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin. Invisible Cities (1972) by Italo Calvino The Westing Game (1978) by Ellen Raskin Szachista () (1980) by Waldemar Łysiak, centered on the game of chess between Napoleon Bonaparte and The Turk The Queen's Gambit (1983) by Walter Tevis. The Tower Struck By Lightning (1983) by Fernando Arrabal The Discworld series (since 1983) by Terry Pratchett features a chess variant called Stealth Chess, which adds an assassin piece to the game. It is described in The Discworld Companion (1994) Unsound Variations (1987), a novella by George R. R. Martin included in Portraits of His Children The Eight (1988) by Katherine Neville. The main character, Catherine Velis, tries to recover the pieces of a chess set once owned by Charlemagne The Joy Luck Club (1989) by Amy Tan The Flanders Panel (1990) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a chess-themed crime novel The Lüneberg Variation (1993) by Paolo Maurensig Harry Potter series (1997–2007) by J. K. Rowling. The series fictional universe features wizard's chess, a chess variant where the pieces are similar to living beings, to which the players give orders by voice Lord Loss (2005) by Darren Shan. The main character, Grubbs Grady, lives in a family of chess players Zugzwang (2006) by Ronan Bennett. St Petersburg tournament 1914. Chess, psychoanalysis, murder, intrigue, terrorism. Dissident Gardens (2013) by Jonathan Lethem. Uncle Lenny, who once played Bobby Fischer to a draw as a participant in a simultaneous exhibition in which Fischer defeated everyone else, destroys the chess confidence and ambitions of the young Cicero. The Tournament (2013) by Matthew Reilly. A work of historical fiction based around a fictional chess tournament.
Short stories Striding Folly (1939) by Dorothy L. Sayers The Immortal Game (1954) by Poul Anderson, inspired by the 1851 game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky Quarantine (1977), a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, about an extraterrestrial civilization which discovers chess after visiting Earth Unicorn Variation (1983) by Roger Zelazny, included in Unicorn Variations
Comics Superman: Red Son (2003)
Plays The Tempest (1610) by William Shakespeare A Game at Chess (1624) by Thomas Middleton Endgame (1957) by Samuel Beckett Der Seekadett (known in English as The Royal Middy and in Italian as Lo Scacchiere della Regina) (1876) by Richard Genée, the name borrows from Seekadettenmatt.
In film and television
Feature films, short films and made-for-TV films
A Chess Dispute (1903), a one-minute comedy by British film pioneer Robert W. Paul. Earliest known film with a chess theme. Entr'acte (1924), a short Dadaist film by René Clair Chess Fever (1925), a short Soviet comedy film featuring a cameo appearance by José Raúl Capablanca. Casablanca (1942), the character Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, analyzes a game. (Bogart was also an avid chess player in real life.) A Matter of Life and Death (1946), main characters play chess, Alekhine book has a plot role and Philidor is mentioned A chess game as a metaphor for the struggle for life eleven years before Bergman's The Seventh Seal: to Powell and Pressburger the idea may have been suggested by the death of Alekhine in 1946, the very year in which they made this film.