Chess as an art

The art of chess The game of chess often perceived as just a game of strategy and intellect, has had a great impact in human perception of art. Chess has a fascinating competitive nature that has captivated humans since its invention 1500 years ago, this game reflects the complexity of human creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills that make them stand out from all of the other species. This essay will explain and analyze the relationship between art as people know it and the game of chess. Chess is a board game played all around the world by people of various ages, it was created thousands of years ago in the 6th century and the earliest form of chess was called chaturanga which means “four divisions”. It was invented in India and it was played in a square board with 8 by 8 squares, and 32 pieces, each player had 8 pieces. Compared to modern chess, chaturanga was played with 4 people, chaturanga spread everywhere through trade and conquests evolving as it did. The westward spread through Iran, the Middle East and Europe is how chaturanga became chess. In the Renaissance times chess began to acquire its rules and the pieces got their respective power, years later, in the Enlightenment era brought with it an increase in chess interest with many notable figures, such as Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte, being highly skillful players. In the 19th century modern chess was born, this years were the “golden age” for chess, having the first official world chess championship that was held in 1886, becoming exponentially popular and more competitive. To proceed, there is the 20th century era of chess. The 20th century witnessed the rise of chess as a global sport, strong national chess federations were established and international tournaments became more common. The Cold War between United States of America and the Soviet Union served as “fuel” to the Golden era of chess with many legendary players such as Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, one of the best players in the history of chess. With the end of the golden era of chess, came the digital age of chess, which brought online gaming and powerful chess engines such as Stockfish and AlphaZero, that surpassed any human abilities at the game. Chess has became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring many series, books and movies. To express chess as an art, it is necessary to explain what art is. Art is a way of communicating what humans feel such as ideas, emotions and experiences through various media, such as paintings, sculpture, music, poetry, theatre, dance and many more, however, chess is not one of them. That statement can create many confusion, because can be used as a form of expression, this peculiar game requires creativity and a very deep intellect, it has a strong emotional impact and it is highly significant for many cultures. These are just a few reasons of why chess can be considered art. Apart from meeting certain "requirements" to be considered an art, chess has many benefits, some of them are: • It enhances memory, attention span, concentration, discipline, learning abilities and comprehension. • It helps develop mathematical abilities such as addition, subtraction, multiplying and dividing. • It helps to develop logical thinking and strategical abilities. • Chess can help to develop social abilities, such as tolerance, patience and creativity. • Chess can help to prevent mental deterioration diseases, such as Alzheimer's and dementia. In addition to the analysis that was done, chess cannot be seen as just an art in a logical and intellectual way, many famous artists take the complexity of chess boards, or real games as inspiration for many abstract and ordinary masterpieces. The famous artist and chess player, Marcel Duchamp states that “Not all of the artists are chess players, but all of the chess players are artists”. In a personal point of view, chess can be perceived as an art, taking into account the depth of a real chess game which contains stages that give the game a sense of progression. Other words that Marcel Duchamp has said are “Today I’m content to play. I’m still a chess victim. It has all the beauty of art and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is purer than art in its social position. The chess pieces are the capital letters of the alphabet that shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, even composing a visual design on the board, express their beauty in an abstract way, like a poem”. In this words, the artist wanted to express, that chess is a higher form of art, because it is not a traditional form of art as many people know it. It transcends cultural and linguistic barriers that may appear in real situations, he linked chess with language in a very abstract way. Marcel Duchamp is not the only famous person that has perceived chess as a form of art in a serious way, there was also José Raúl Capablanca, a Cuban world chess champion from 1921 to 1927, he stated that “Chess is more than a game, it is intellectually fun and has some art and a lot of science”. With this information and different opinions on how chess is an art, it is possible to proceed with the question, which part of a chess match it is considered more “artistic”, and why art the match stages considered artistic? These questions will be further analyzed and answered. A chess match has three stages, each stage of the game contains different artistic elements that give a chess game more complexity: • Opening: The opening in a game of chess is the beginning of everything that occurs in a chess match, openings in chess can be considered artistic because they are series of moves that help develop the strongest pieces, this stage of the game may vary depending on what opening is used. The openings are considered art, because there exists approximately 2500 openings (openings can be called systems, gambits and just openings), each one created by a human that used critical thinking and creative skills to develop such series of movements that help millions of players win their matches. • Defense: A defense is the same as an opening, but for black pieces, (white pieces use openings and black pieces use defenses). A defense requires tactical thinking skills and creative thinking skills to be performed effectively, some examples of defenses are the Scandinavian defence, the Petrov defense and the Caro-Kann defense, there exists approximately 1,327 defenses in the world, each one of them considered works of art. • Middlegame: It is the stage in between the opening and the endgame, this is the most complex part of the match, and it often decides which player will get the victory at the end. The middlegame is considered artistic, because it requires the most creativity, concentration and critical thinking, that can sometimes lead to brilliant moves, this means that the move played was strong, and it can sometimes decide the future of the chess match. Brillant moves often involve strong sacrifices of a piece or convenient exchanges. • Endgame: The endgame is the final stage of a chess match, when there are few pieces left on the board. There exists two main goals in a chess endgame, promoting a pawn, and bringing the king to the center. This part is considered artistic because, it is necessary to calculate opponent’s moves in a highly precise way to achieve a successful victory or a stalemate, this part of the game is a tense moment for the players, this can provoke many strong emotions that give chess an artistic touch. In the other hand, there are checkmates, a checkmate occurs when an enemy piece checks the king and it cannot escape from the check. There existed checkmates that were so iconic in their respective eras, that gave that specific type of mate their name. Checkmates are artistic, because the combination of specific moves needed to accomplish them can range from easy to highly complex. Some types of checkmates are:  Back rank mate  Arabian mate  Smothered mate  Anderssen’s mate  Balestra mate  Scholars mate  Hook mate  Opera mate In conclusion, the board game of chess has evolved through many years of change in the ways it was played, as well as in the rules and the attention it received during the hardest times for humanity. A chess match can be considered as art by many famous figures and ordinary players, when the matches are played, strong feelings and emotions are provoked in the players during the different stages of the game, giving chess the feeling of art, as well as the intellect and creativity in addition to the depth of the thoughts that are necessary to perform a high level chess match are truly artistic.