WEBVTT 00:01.000 --> 00:01.640 Hi there. 00:02.540 --> 00:09.010 In this lecture, I just want to introduce you to the concept that chess through the ages actually seems 00:09.010 --> 00:17.170 to capture the kind of context and culture of the times. 00:18.230 --> 00:28.960 Now, that seems maybe a completely outrageous concept, but chess is such a vast game and the way it 00:28.960 --> 00:38.110 is played and conducted has been largely influenced by the context of technology, culture, communications, 00:39.700 --> 00:40.610 power shifts. 00:41.470 --> 00:49.270 So, for example, Philidor, in our pawn structure section, believe it or not, who talked about the 00:49.270 --> 00:56.380 --'s being like the soul of chess that was at the time of the French Revolution and --'s and like 00:57.520 --> 01:03.210 the humble foot soldiers of the chess board, and he showed how great important they can be and influential. 01:05.290 --> 01:07.330 Now, you might think, oh, I'm just joking. 01:07.960 --> 01:14.470 I'm not actually, because in the romantic era chess, there was a romantic era of chess also, you 01:14.470 --> 01:20.800 know, because of a lack of communication perhaps that we have today, we take for granted if people 01:20.800 --> 01:28.120 played brilliant games in the cafes like cafes, the Norwegians are often involved gambits to get ferocious 01:28.120 --> 01:28.750 initiatives. 01:29.140 --> 01:39.220 So the king's gambit was all the rage in the so-called romantic era of chess as science, communications 01:39.220 --> 01:40.860 and technology improving. 01:41.800 --> 01:48.910 You have the likes of Wilhelm Steinitz playing in more refined ways with the accumulation of advantages. 01:48.910 --> 01:58.780 Very, and he was publicizing his findings in magazines and becoming a major influence throughout the 01:58.780 --> 02:05.050 world from the start positional play, which kind of started to end the romantic era of chess. 02:06.040 --> 02:13.380 Nowadays, if you look at modern grandmasters, they're playing him very much more solid, almost like 02:13.400 --> 02:22.570 scientific manner games where you can see the powerful impacts of engine technology making variations 02:22.570 --> 02:29.800 which are very, very deep and theoretical kind of sometimes and in and draws quite a lot of the time. 02:30.280 --> 02:36.160 And so they're actually, you know, exploring modern grandmasters, explore other ways of getting advantages 02:36.160 --> 02:43.660 and the shift, you know, from 434 and even like the console and systems where I don't think that I 02:43.660 --> 02:45.700 was the best on the Kingside. 02:46.210 --> 02:49.750 This the shift is a kind of also a kind of reaction. 02:51.320 --> 02:57.750 To the amount of analysis that the game has experienced in one eight four when it was ready to make 02:57.760 --> 02:58.130 a move. 02:59.630 --> 03:07.190 So you do have there's a cultural and historical context, which I kind of called the evolution of style. 03:07.610 --> 03:12.940 And it is evidenced even in the major world chess champions. 03:14.180 --> 03:22.010 You can see the stylistic shifts, especially the unofficial world champions, before the official Bowl 03:22.010 --> 03:29.750 Championship Series that was organized in the likes of Alfonsin and Paul Morphy, the romance around 03:29.750 --> 03:33.680 chess there were much more brilliant like sacrifices. 03:33.680 --> 03:38.260 A lot of the immortal games are actually from that era, the so-called immortal games. 03:39.200 --> 03:45.920 So just bear that in mind that chess seems to capture the context of the time. 03:47.630 --> 03:53.690 So you might either think, oh, that's really logical, or you might think you might be slightly surprised 03:53.690 --> 03:54.050 by that. 03:54.060 --> 03:59.840 But chess is such a vast game, it does seem to capture what is going on at the time. 04:00.740 --> 04:06.680 So just bear that in mind as we look at some of the world champion games as much.