On 25/6/07 02:39, "NABOKV-L" <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> Kinbote compares Charles the Beloved's predicament to "what a composer
> of chess problems might term a king-in-the corner waiter of the solus
> rex type" Cf. Pale Fire, 118-9, following the indications made by Brian
> Walters' article in Zembla "Synthetizing Artistic Delight", from where
> I'm also copying the other sentence: "If the King is the only Black man
> on the board, the problem is said to be of the 'Solus Rex' variety" Cf.
> Russian Beauty 140.
>
> What intrigued me was the reference to the King as a "Black man on the
> board" because but I remember VN's chess-boards might carry, instead of
> a black, a red king. Could the outfit Charles II wore during his escape
> from Zembla in a very conspicuous red be related to such Red, and not
> Black, chess pieces? Could this substitution ( black/red pieces )
> indicate some particular chess-related clue?
>
> Thank you, A. Stadlen, for the reply: "It's Aino Ackté (Achte), not
> Aina. (Incidentally, Sibelius's wife was Aino née Järnefelt.) Aino in
> the Kalevala drowns because she swims towards a rock coloured like the
> rainbow. Iris is the goddess of the rainbow. So maybe there actually is
> a connection between Aino Ackté and Iris Acht." and for the lines from
> Rune 4 of the Kalevala. Iris, syrens, iridules, nackered shells and
> water are recurrent themes in VN's works...
> Jansy Mello
>
>
Jansy: the simple (I hope) answer is that regardless of the two colours of the pieces, the terms W (White) and B (Black) are used to denote the opening player and her opponent respectively. White is by far the most common physical colour for the opening player. The opposing colour is usually Black but can be any distinctive, darker shade e.g., Red as a literary ‘conceit’ (cf Lewis Carroll!)
White/Black to be translated into your preferred language, of course.
The traditional chess problem beloved of VN asks “White to play and [achieve some stated goal. e.g., mate in two; draw; lose!]” Not to be confused with general chess problems (often taken from real-game situations) where you might be asked for Black’s best move.
But seldom will the chess literature say “Red to move” or “White takes Red’s pawn.”
Stan Kelly-Bootle
PS: Guess who’s coming to dinner tonight? Prof. Victor Fet!