Far from being a metaphor for racial tension, chess reveals world where people could engage as equals
On the chessboard, black and white pieces are lined up against each other for an unrelenting battle.
But in the middle ages, the game was not a metaphor for racial tension – but often a vehicle for equality and mutual respect, research has found.
Analysis of medieval manuscripts, paintings and chess sets by University of Cambridge historian Dr Krisztina Ilko has revealed a vision of a “just world” where intellectual exchange – and not race or religion – mattered most.
Libro de axedrez, an illustrated 13th-century treatise on chess produced for King Alfonso X of Castile, features dozens of depictions of players from Africa, the Middle East and Asia that defy preconceptions of medieval social attitudes.
