Timur s curse: Did the opening of his tomb START World War II for the USSR? rbth.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rbth.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Turko-Mongol ruler Timur was appreciative of the arts and culture. The emperor was as fierce, cruel and ambitious as his predecessor, Genghis Khan. However, apart from his soft spot for the arts, he had one more peculiar weakness: chess. It is said that he even invented a chess variant called ‘Tamerlane Chess’. Diana Mihajlova tells us more.
The young Uzbek team winning this year’s Olympiad came as a pleasant surprise, but it is not an isolated example in the recent shift of world chess power. Other Central Asian countries are also looking to become more relevant in the elite chess scene, including Kyrgyzstan, a land that was once part of the Timurid Empire its leader, Timur The Great, was an avid chess player.
The young Uzbek team winning this year’s Olympiad came as a pleasant surprise, but it is not an isolated example in the recent shift of world chess power. Uzbek boys, Kazakh girls, Azeri youth, Chinese, Indian and Iranian young phenoms ever more frequently lit the chess sky. What do their countries have in common? They all once lined the Silk Road.
A Journey through Uzbekistan | Uzbekistan Tourism bbc.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bbc.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.