The Story of Chess lyrics

[THE ARBITER]

Each game of chess

Means there's one less

Variation left to be played

Each day got through

Means one or two

Less mistakes remain to be made

[SOLOISTS 1 & 2]

Not much is known

Of early days of chess

Beyond a fairly vague report--

[SOLOIST 3]

That fifteen hundred years ago

Two princes fought

Though brothers

For a Hindu throne

[SOLOIST 4]

Their mother cried

For no one really likes

Their offspring fighting

To the death

She begged them stop

The slaughter

With her every breath

[SOLOIST 5]

But sure enough

One brother died

[SOLOISTS 4 & 6]

Sad beyond belief

She told her winning son

[SOLOIST 6]

"You have caused such grief

I can't forgive

This evil thing you've done."

[SOLOISTS 3 & 7]

He

Tried to explain

How things had really been

[SOLOIST 7]

But

He tried in vain

No words of his

Could mollify the queen

[SOLOIST 8]

And so he asked

The wisest men he knew

The way to lessen her distress

[THE ARBITER]

They told him he'd be

Pretty certain to impress

By using model soldiers

On a checkered board

To show it was his brother's fault--

[ALL]

They thus invented chess

[MALE SOLOISTS]

Chess displayed no inertia

Soon spread to Persia

Then west

[FEMALE SOLOISTS]

Next the Arabs refined it

Thus redesigned, it

Progressed

[SOLOIST 9]

Still further yet

And when Constantinople

Fell in 1453

One would have noticed

Every other refugee

Included in his bags a set

[SOLOIST 10]

Once in the hands

And in the minds

Of leading figures

Of the Renaissance--

[SOLOIST 2]

The spirit and the speed

Of chess made swift advance

Through all of Europe's vital lands

[FEMALE SOLOISTS]

There we must record

The game was further changed--

Right across the board

The western touch

Upon the pieces ranged

[MALE SOLOISTS, simultaneous with Female Soloists above]

Each game of chess

Means there's one less

Variation left to be played

[ALL SOLOISTS]

King, and queen, and rook

And bishop, knight, and pawn

All took on the look

We know today--

The modern game was born

[THE ARBITER]

And in the end

We see a game

That started by mistake

In Hindustan--

And boosted in the main

By what is now Iran--

Become the simplest

And most complicated

Pleasure yet devised

For just the kind of mind

Who would appreciate this

Well-researched, and fascinating

Yarn

[THE ARBITER, spoken]

The World Chess Federation, of which I have the honour of being president, announces that the next world championship will take place here in Merano, Italy. The current world champion, Frederick Trumper of the United States of America, will defend his title against Anatoly Sergievsky of the Soviet Union. The first player to achieve six victories will be declared Champion. The first game will begin on March 27, 1979

Welcome, world, to Merano!