Reason, intelligence and chess

By Errol Tiwari On In Chess with Errol |
Garry Kasparov, the 13th world chess champion, being interviewed by world-famous grandmaster commentator Maurice Ashley recently at the New York Athletic Club. Kasparov was hosting a gala reception to mark the 15th anniversary of the renowned Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF). The KCF curriculum programme provides public, private and home schoolers with instructional books to assist with mastering the game. The three-volume book set is in use by more than 3,500 schools across the 50 states in the US, as well as in a number of other countries. (Photo: Derrick Bryant)
Garry Kasparov, the 13th world chess champion, being interviewed by world-famous grandmaster commentator Maurice Ashley recently at the New York Athletic Club. Kasparov was hosting a gala reception to mark the 15th anniversary of the renowned Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF). The KCF curriculum programme provides public, private and home schoolers with instructional books to assist with mastering the game. The three-volume book set is in use by more than 3,500 schools across the 50 states in the US, as well as in a number of other countries. (Photo: Derrick Bryant)

Chess is associated with reason and intelligence. It is bonded to logic and order. When chess is described as a violent game, it is done so artistically. We have been playing the game for thousands of years likening it to an art, science and sport, though not necessarily in that order. Take your pick.

Often, the question is asked: Is chess an art, science or sport? The literature which surrounds the nature of chess likens it to an art. Fiction is abundant with chess players. From James Bond to the X-Men films, from the pens of Nabakov’s The Luzhin Defense and Cozens’ The King-Hunt, it’s all there.