The first written documentation of the existence of chess is in Persian documents from around 600 A.D. The story goes that chess came to Persia as a gift from the Hindu monarch of India. The historical consensus is that western chess originated in India and they still build the best chess sets (see the picture above) and provide the world with some of its best players. Around 800, the Moslem empire conquered Persia, and in the process, the Arabic world discovered and widely adopted chess. With the Moslem conquests into eastern and southern Europe, chess came too and Medieval Europe also embraced “The Kings’ Game.”

The chess that first came to Europe was very different from our modern chess. Particularly, early chess lacked the checkerboard playing board. The pieces have remained remarkably unchanged since the very early years of the game. By 1400 A.D. chess was widely established in Europe, the checkerboard playing board had been established and discussions about rules could be had. Standardized rules about piece moves were largely established with special emphasis on clarifying the rules on pawn movement. In the 19^th Century we developed international chess organizations which enabled a ranking system and a canonical set of rules for international competition. Today, millions play chess and it remains the only board game you can play and win serious prize money if you’re good.

How has this one game maintained its hold on the human imagination so long and so powerfully? Chess at its basics is a battlefield simulation. The pawns are the foot soldiers and the back pieces are commanders of units on the battlefield. Its form hearkens back to the days when armies lined up against each other and duked it out. There is an inherent drama about a chess game. Many of the pieces won’t survive. Some pieces will be sacrificed and others will be lost due to mistakes. A king will be captured, a kingdom lost. It is a competition, a contest between two people. It is the subject of endless study and thought. It has a certain magic.

My relationship with chess began the summer I was 15. I had been sent to a military boarding school for the summer to do remedial algebra and drivers ed. This was Texas in the summer and we had no TV or air conditioning. We couldn’t get to sleep until it got cool enough. I had brought my chess set. I was playing avidly by then. Without TV, we played cards and chess at night. I must have played hundreds of games, and I was good enough that it gave my ego a boost.

In those hundreds of games I played that summer, I came to appreciate the depth and complexity of chess – how no two games are the same and every player approaches the game differently. Chess is an immersive world and sometimes a mind needs to be immersed in something captivating.

During the Age of Enlightenment, chess was viewed as a means of self-improvement. Benjamin Franklin, in his article “The Morals of Chess” (1750), wrote:

The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn:

1. Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action
2. Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: – the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations …
3. Caution, not to make our moves too hastily …

Wikipedia

Now in my senior years, I have to find ways to stimulate my mind and keep my thinking sharp. Chess is perfect for this. There are computer games that can do a similar thing, but I need to get away from the computer screens. The best is when I can play another person face-to-face. When that’s not available I play a chess computer or I play myself on my big, formal chess set.

The essential characteristic of a great game is immersion. When you can immerse yourself in a game and shut the world out, that’s a great game. That’s the kind of game that people build their lives around. When a game can transport you into its own world and leave everything else behind, it’s like a blessing, like a good drug. Microsoft Flight Simulator is that way. I’m sure that many people get that effect with the professional sports, and I have to admit that there’s not much of anything more wonderful than a beautiful summer night at the ball park. Chess has that total immersion effect. I’ve played the game my whole life and the moves are instinctive now, so it’s easy to slip into that mythical world of Kings, Queens, Knights and castles.

The thing we never talk about is the winning. It feels really good to win against a well-matched adversary. It’s good for the ego. The other alternative is losing. I never have liked losing very well. In fact, I hate it. I’m a bad sport. It pisses me off to lose. I don’t act bad and I keep it to myself, but inside I’m boiling and spoiling for revenge. I like to win and I win a lot in chess. At times, I’ve had great chess partners with whom I played hundreds of games. My old buddy, Dewey Walker, was that way. He played me hard, and I him, and I didn’t win a bunch of those games, but it was great fun and I came out of it a better player. When I did win, it felt great. There’s nothing wrong with winning. People need to learn how to win.

Chess reflects reality. There are winners and losers. Some are sacrificed and some are lost. It’s the battle, the contest that we all face. Chess is like real life: you make certain moves and they have consequences, and you don’t get do-overs. You need to have a plan and be able to adapt when it goes south. Kingdoms are lost and won. It really has it all. The drama is eternal.

Syd Weedon
2/21/2024