Caïssa
Caïssa is a fictional (anachronistic) Thracian dryad portrayed as the goddess of chess. She was first mentioned during the Renaissance by Italian poet Hieronymus Vida.
For similar words, see Caisse (disambiguation)William Jones's poem[edit]
The young English orientalist William Jones re-used the idea of a chess poem in 1763, in his own poem Caïssa or The Game at Chess[2] written in English heroic couplets. In his poem, Caïssa initially repels the advances of the god of war, Mars. Spurned, Mars seeks the aid of Euphron, God of Sport (Jones's invention), brother of Venus, who creates the game of chess as a gift for Mars to win Caïssa's favor.
It is an unproven assumption that Jones's name "Caïssa" (ka-is-sa) is an equivalent to Vida's name "Scacchia" (ska-ki-a).
The English version of Philidor's 1777 Systematic introduction to the game and the analysis of chess[3] contained Jones's poem. In 1851 the poem was translated into French by Camille Théodore Frédéric Alliey.[4]
Victoria Winifred's novel[edit]
Victoria Winifred continued the story introduced in William Jones's poem in her 2022 mythological fantasy, *The Princess, the Knight, and the Lost God: A Chess Story*.[5] In Winifred's continuation, Mars and Caïssa marry following the events depicted in Jones's work. Caïssa gains immortality and becomes a goddess, and together they rule over Chess Mountain. Their 12-year-old daughter, Princess Kassie, later undertakes a series of adventures on Earth, through which she establishes her own goddess title within the chess realm.
Caïssa is referred to in chess commentary.
The computer program that won the first World Computer Chess Championship (in 1974) was named Kaissa.
The card game Android: Netrunner features a program type named Caïssa, which are modeled after chess pieces.
In Michael Chabon’s novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, a character writes an Acrostic letter that spells Caissa.
Bibliography