Post on 14-Apr-2018
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
1/12
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
2/12
ix
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)
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 9 19/08/13 11:20 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
3/12Tournament_3rd pages.indd 10 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
4/12
1603
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 1 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
5/12Tournament_3rd pages.indd 2 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
6/12
3
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
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 3 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
7/12
4
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
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 4 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
8/12
5
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.
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 5 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
9/12
6
M a t t h e w r e i l l y
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
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 6 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
10/12
7
T h e T o u r n a m e n T
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
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 7 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
11/12
8
M a t t h e w r e i l l y
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
Tournament_3rd pages.indd 8 19/08/13 9:14 AM
7/30/2019 The Tournament Esampler
12/12
9
T h e T o u r n a m e n T
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.