Chess Theory

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 85943

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "iris_ft" <iris_ft at y...> wrote:

Angel of the north:  
> > The DEs being white is a curious thing, as white initially 
suggests
> > purity, sterility even. But consider - the likes of Lucius seem 
to 
> exist
> > quite openly, in the light. (skip)
> 
> Iris: 
> You give yourself the explanation: white suggests purity and 
> sterility. Now who are the Death Eaters? They are purebloods, 
> obsessed with their pure lineage. Just the kind of behaviour that 
> leads to sterility (not only biological, but also cultural, 
> psychological, etc). And you add in your post that the White pieces 
> always play first. It's what happens in GoF: the Death Eaters play 
> first, and so does Evil. At the end of the book, we realize that 
the 
> whole action has been manipulated by Voldemort. He always 
> anticipated his action, he always played first.

Geoff:
It is also interesting that, in a number of literary and other cases, 
the people or beings who are most evil have started out as being of 
the light - which tends to be associated with white. Black and dark 
are usually linked with evil and light and white with good. Tom 
Riddle's hatred of his background and treatment turned him to the 
Dark Arts and he became unrecognisable as the "clever, handsome boy 
who was once Head Boy here". (COS p. 242 UK edition). This equates 
with Christian tradition and the parallel which Tolkien (sorry 
Kneasy) used in LOTR and the Silmarillion. In Christian tradition, 
Satan (the deceiver) was once the mightiest of the angels - Lucifer 
(bringer of light) and fell from heaven because he turned towards 
evil and the dark. Likewise Tolkien's Melkor (he who arises in 
might), the first and greatest of the Ainur, fell because he wished 
to emulate and best Eru (the one) and became the evil, dark Morgoth 
(The Black Enemy). 

Iris: 
> (Big big skip), because I don't have the time to comment what you 
> write about the pieces. I 'd just want to know something. You call 
> Hermione "the Rook", but JKr calls her "the Castle" in PS/SS 
> (Bloomsbury paperback). Which word do chess players use more 
oftenly?

Geoff:
The pieces are most frequently referred to as rooks and in the style 
of annotation which records a move as, say, KR-R4. Castle tends to be 
reserved for the move of castling.

Geoff