Twelve stories, two minutes each.

Story 1 · 2 minute read 払えなかった王さま 王さまが笑ったほど小さなほうび — けれど、王国でも払えないほど大きなほうびでした。 インド、とても古い伝説 Story 2 · 2 minute read 軍の4つの部隊 チェスになる前、それはチャトランガでした — そして盤上の軍は、本物の軍でした。 北インド、約1,500年前 Story 3 · 2 minute read 馬だった詩 ある詩人が、ナイトの旅を詩の中に隠しました — それは、私たちが知るもっとも古いものです。 カシミール、約1,100年前 Story 4 · 2 minute read クイーンになった相談役 800年のあいだ、キングの隣の駒は盤上でいちばん弱い駒でした。あるとき、誰かがルールをひとつ変えました。 スペインとイタリア、1475年ごろ Story 5 · 3 minute read The champion who trusted his eyes He could not read the chess books. He beat the people who wrote them. Punjab and London, 1929 to 1933 Story 6 · 2 minute read The machine with a man inside It beat emperors at chess. It also had a secret. Vienna, 1770 Story 7 · 2 minute read The machine that counted Two hundred years after the fake, a real machine sat down against the world champion. New York, 1997 Story 8 · 2 minute read Ninety-two ways A question in a chess magazine that mathematicians could not leave alone. Germany, 1848 Story 9 · 2 minute read The first queen of chess She won the first women’s world championship — and then went looking for harder games. London, 1927 Story 10 · 3 minute read Three sisters and an experiment A teacher believed that champions are made, not born. He decided to prove it at home. Budapest, the 1970s and 1980s Story 11 · 2 minute read The clock with two faces Once, a player could think for as long as he liked. Then somebody lost patience. London, 1883 Story 12 · 2 minute read The boy who would not wait At eighteen he became the youngest world chess champion there has ever been. Chennai and Singapore, 2024