Schachdorf Ströbeck is a village in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, which since 1 January 2010 is part of the town of

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bom ...

in the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German w ...

district, in

. Located about west of the city centre, the ''Schachdorf'' ("chess village") is known for its long historic connection with

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

History

The first mention of ''Strebechi'' dates back to 995, when King

Otto III of Germany Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of Ge ...

dedicated the estate in the Eastphalian Harzgau to his sister Abbess Adelaide of Quedlinburg. In 1004 his successor King Henry II granted it to Drübeck Abbey. Ströbeck was a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

of the

Bishopric of Halberstadt The Diocese of Halberstadt was a Roman Catholic diocese (german: Bistum Halberstadt) from 804 until 1648.

, later held by the comital House of Regenstein, from 1343 by the Counts of Wernigerode.

Chess

The main activity for which the village is known, occurred possibly in 1011. According to legend, Bishop

Arnulf of Halberstadt Arnulf is a masculine German given name. It is composed of the Germanic elements ''arn'' "eagle" and ''ulf'' "wolf". The ''-ulf, -olf'' suffix was an extremely frequent element in Germanic onomastics and from an early time was perceived as a mere ...

had imprisoned Gunzelin of Kuckenburg, the deposed Margrave of

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albre ...

, in the ''Wartturm'', a tower in Ströbeck, and ordered the local farmers to guard him. Due to the boredom in his prison, Gunzelin created a chess set and taught his guards the game. Notgeld - Ströbeck, 50 pf, 1921

The game was first mentioned in a 1515 deed, when it had become a tradition among the local people, even though at that time chess was only played elsewhere by nobles and clerics. The Ströbeck tradition was described by Duke Augustus II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel ''alias'' Gustavus Selenus in his 1616 book '' Chess or the King's Game''. Ströbeck is also mentioned in H. J. R. Murray's 1913 work '' A History of Chess''. In 1651,

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William (german: Friedrich Wilhelm; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is ...

awarded a chess board to the townspeople for their proficiency in the game. It is preserved in a local museum. Chess continued to be a strong part of Ströbeck's culture and when they village issued its own currency ('' Notgeld'') during the First World War, it featured images of chessboards.

Chess traditions

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13449, Ströbeck, Lebendes Schachspiel

An international chess tournament is annually held. Since the late 17th century, famous chess matches are regularly illustrated by human chess performances with actors in the guise of pieces. The local elementary school, named after Emanuel Lasker, is the only public school in Germany which teaches chess as part of the curriculum, and it had done so since 1823; just as the Ströbeck secondary school, which was closed in 2004, due to too few pupils. A local chess museum opened in 1991. Among the exhibits are an elaborate chess set, donated by the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg in 1651, as well as several 12 x 8 boards for Courier Chess.

Notable residents

* Edward Salomon (1827–1909), politician. governor of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

* Frederick Salomon, general in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

References

External links