Talib is a librarian from Baghdad's House of Wisdom, and a contestant in the Invitation Chess Championship representing Baghdad.
History[]
The Tournament[]
Born and raised in Baghdad, Talib joined the House of Wisdom (also known as the Grand Library of Baghdad), and became known as a prodigious player of chess. For over sixty years, he was given the rank of aliyat - a title only granted to the best of chess players - and he would write many papers on the game regarding classic strategies, which he specialised in. However, in these papers, Talib discarded the notions of using new methods to play, resolutely relying on his years of experience to aid his strategies in matches.
In 1546, the leadership in Baghdad received a letter from Sultan Suleiman of the Ottoman Empire to announce that he was going to be holding a chess tournament, and requested that they send their best player to Constantinople to determine the champion of the known world. Owing to Talib's chess skills, he was quickly selected and sent off with a delegation to Constantinople.
Talib and his delegation were present during the opening banquet, and Bess noted that he was easily the oldest of the attending players, but saw that Talib was also highly respected.
At the drawing for the tournament the following day, Talib's name was selected for the fifth matchup, in which he would be facing against Gilbert Giles of England.
Before their match, Giles conferred with Roger Ascham on strategies to outmatch Talib, with the English player quickly deducing that since Talib was set in old techniques, he could best the Baghdad player with newer strategies, though Ascham warned Giles to also watch out for delaying tactics.
Once their first match had begun, Talib set many traps for his opponent, sometimes catching Giles unaware, and soon the pair were matched as two victories each. However, in the subsequent two matches, Giles utilised several unorthodox tactics that threw Talib off his game and caused him to make several fatal errors, losing both matches. Having lost the majority of the seven matches against his opponent, Talib was thus eliminated from the Championship.
Skills[]
- Expert Chess Player: Talib is a highly-skilled chess player, one who through his years of playing had earned the title aliyat. As such, his skills were considered the best, even outside of Baghdad, though he championed classic methods in matches rather than attempted new strategies. His skills and reputation got Talib chosen to represent his homeland at the Invitational Chess Championship, though he was beaten in the first round by Giles, who used several new and unusual techniques to best him.
Trivia[]
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