dame aan zet queen's move

166 Pages·2000·2.16 MB·English

DAME AAN ZET
d
a
m
e QUEEN’S MOVE
In deze catalogus zijn bijdragen opgenomen van
a
a
arabiste prof dr Remke Kruk, schaakjournaliste
n

drs Yvette Nagel Seirawan en schaaksocioloog z
e
t
dr Hans Scholten. Drs Henriëtte Reerink, beheerder

van de schaak- en damcollectie van de KB,

verzorgde de verklarende teksten bij de

q
tentoongestelde werken op de expositie: u
dame aan zet e
e
n
vrouwen en schaken door de eeuwen heen ’
s

m
o
v
e

This catalogue contains contributions by

the arabist prof dr Remke Kruk, the chess journalist

Yvette Nagel Seirawan and the chess sociologist

k
dr Hans Scholten. Henriëtte Reerink, staff member o
n
for the chess and draughts collection of the KB, i
n
k
provided the explanatory texts to the books
l
i
j
exhibited in the exposition: k
queen’s move e

b
women and chess through the ages ib
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k Koninklijke Bibliotheek

queen’s move dame aan zet

DAME AAN ZET
vrouwen en schaken
door de eeuwen heen
QUEEN’S MOVE
women and chess
through the ages
remke kruk
yvette nagel seirawan
henriëtte reerink
hans scholten
Koninklijke Bibliotheek• Den Haag 2000
queen’s move
TENTOONSTELLINGSCATALOGIEN-BROCHURES
VANDEKONINKLIJKEBIBLIOTHEEK
Tentoonstelling van 28 augustus t/m 17 november 2000
Exhibition Koninklijke Bibliotheek August 28th to November 17th 2000
Queen’s Movewww.kb.nl
UITGEVER|PUBLISHER
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag, 2000
SAMENSTELLING|COMPILEDBY
Henriëtte Reerink
BIJDRAGEN|CONTRIBUTIONS
Remke Kruk, Yvette Nagel Seirawan, Hans Scholten
VERTALING|TRANSLATION
Lysbeth Croiset van Uchelen-Brouwer, Erik Geleijns, Nynke Leistra,
Peter Thomson
GRAFISCHONTWERP|GRAPHICDESIGN
Geert Henderickx
OMSLAGILLUSTRATIE|COVERILLUSTRATION
Joost Veerkamp
FOTO’S| PHOTOGRAPHY
Optische technieken KB/ Optical Technology KB
BUREAUREDACTIE|EDITORIALSTAFF
Stafafdeling Communicatie | Corporate Communications Department
LETTERTYPE|TYPEFACE
Garamond Stempel, Copperplate
DRUK|PRINTEDBY
Enroprint bv, Rijswijk
OPLAGE|NUMBEROFCOPIESPRINTED
500
ISSN0169-3557; 63
dame aan zet
inhoud | contents
7
INLEIDING|INTRODUCTION
13 Remke Kruk
EENDAME, EENPAARDENEENTORENVÓÓR
Middeleeuwse schaaksters in Oost en West
ALEADOFQUEEN, KNIGHTANDROOK
Female chess players in the medieval East and West
35 Yvette Nagel Seirawan
DAMEAANZET
Een hobby, een beroep, een beleid
QUEEN’SMOVE
A hobby, a profession, a policy
57 Hans Scholten
DEDAMEINZETDWANG
Schakende vrouwen in de negentiende eeuw
THEQUEENINZUGZWANG
Female chess players in the 19th century
74
CATALOGUS| CATALOGUE

henriëtte reerink
inleiding
introduction
das schach hat wie die liebe,
wie die musik die fähigkeit,
den menschen glücklich zu machen.
siegbert tarrasch (1862-1934)
queen’s move
8
(cid:2) The chess collection in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek is one of the biggest and
most beautiful in the world. It has been a privilege to put together an exhibition of
books from this rich, inexhaustible collection. A choice was made for an exhibi-
tion devoted to women and chess, a controversial and humorous subject reflec-
ting a wide-ranging social development which is alluring to chess players and lay-
men alike. The objective of the exhibition is to paint a general cultural historical
picture rather than to give an overview of the history and the present state of af-
fairs of women’s chess. The chess collection in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek was
the starting point for putting together this exhibition.
The Koninklijke Bibliotheek was already in the possession of a modest number
of chess books when it acquired the collection of chess historian Antonius van
der Linde in 1876. The collection became world famous when the well-known
chess book collector Meindert Niemeijer bequeathed his private collection of
7000 titles to the library in 1948. The Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijerianawas
born. From that moment onwards, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek has actively collect-
ed chess books with the aim of maintaining as complete a chess collection as
possible. The collection is marked by its diversity. All subjects that are related to
chess are represented in the collection in a large number of languages.
Do women play such an important role in chess that it justifies an exhibition?
Until recently, this question could still be asked. But when the Hungarian Judit
Polgar became the youngest Grandmaster ever at age 15 in 1991, all judgments
and prejudices of women and chess seemed for a moment to have evaporated.
Even the greatest sceptic was taken by the idea that the impossible might be-
come possible: a female world champion.
Judit Polgar is 23 years old, has an Elo-rating of 2658 (Kasparov’s rating, by
comparison, is 2851 and Timman’s 2655) and is the number 30 on the world rank-
ings. In january, 1996 she held the 10th place with a rating of 2675. Is she, to-
gether with her sisters Zsuzsa and Szofia, the exception that makes the rule that
women can play chess alright, but not as good as men? Was their talent for chess
in their genes or was it bred by the specific education they received? These are
questions the future will provide answers to.
The exhibition Queen’s movesheds light on the past and gives a general cultur-
al historical picture of women and chess. Roaming along a selection of the most
beautiful works from the collection the visitor meets women playing chess in early
Islamic culture and in medieval Western Europe, indiviual women chess players
and their achievements, women in chess societies, views on chess-playing
women and the image of women and chess in literature, art, caricature and ad-
vertising.
Remke Kruk, Yvette Nagel and Hans Scholten wrote articles for the catalogue
that shed more light on important topics. I would like to thank them for their fas-