Did you know?
The oldest document of the existence of chess in an European text is found in the will of the Count Ermengol I of Urgell (Catalonia), written in the year 1008.
In his will, the count specified that he left his chess pieces to the Abbey of Saint Gilles in Provence, which back then was politically Catalan territory.
Some years later, in 1058, chess would be mentioned again in the will of Ermessenda de Carcassona, the Countess of Barcelona.
As a homage to Europe’s oldest witness of chess, the Polish chess Grandmaster Savielly Tartakower opened the chess tournament of the 1929 International Exposition (held in Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital city) with his creation called the Catalan Opening.
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The photo in this post shows the quarz chess set that belonged to Arsenda d’Àger, Lady of Àger. This chess set was sculpted between the late 10th century and the early 11th century, and is known as the Sant Pere d’Àger chess set. It’s kept in the Diocesan Museum of Lleida (Ponent, Catalonia).
