Chess Mantra Archives - chessbazaar Blog

I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about motivation. Why do you play chess? That will most likely be based upon how you view the game – as a sport, a science, an art, or just a game. If you see it as a sport, naturally you’ll put your focus on winning and on improvement as a concomitant part of that.

Probably a majority of players view it that way. But for that to be fulfilling, you have to have the skill and knowledge to keep progressing. Otherwise, you will probably ultimately plateau, become discouraged by your losses and inability to go beyond that level, and lose interest in the game, as has happened to a number of players that I know of from club players to Experts.

From my viewpoint that would be disappointing since you’d then lose out on the pleasure, intellectual satisfaction and other benefits that the game provides.

I personally have evolved through that particular motivation to view the game as more of a science or an art. Then I’m not disappointed if I don’t reach a higher skill level and can focus on the benefits that my viewpoint provides, e.g. the joy that comes from solving a problem on the board, since a game is basically a series of those.

Working on independent chess problems brings the same pleasure as well. I won’t solve them all, but there’ll be intellectual satisfaction from any that I do solve and a continuing challenge to work on more.

I also see the game as an art, and from that viewpoint can view a relatively error-free game or one with a clever tactical coup as aesthetically pleasing. And it doesn’t even have to be in a winning effort. Both players can find satisfaction in contributing to the creation of a work of art. It’s a joint effort.

Conrad Conero with chessbazaar’s 1849 Reproduction

The loser Kieseritzky shares the glory equally with the victor Anderssen in the creation of the “Immortal Game”.

And if one is playing just for fun, since it is a game after all, why that’s perfectly fine as well and can provide more than enough pleasure.

So I see all of this in its totality as another of the joys of chess, that you can choose whatever aspect brings you the most pleasure and focus on that, including collecting its accouterments, such as various chess sets, thereby ensuring that you don’t lose the opportunity to continue participating in this wonderful game.”

More to Read: Play Chess with a Touch of Royalty and Luxury

We categories the activities into three categories — Painting as art, Physics as science, Football as sport— but if we talk about chess, then it can be plausibly be seen as all three, each with its own conventions. Chess action can be striking, systematic, or strategic. The former world champion Anatoly Karpov claimed in an oft-quoted remark that “chess is everything— art, science, and sport.”

Let’s see to what extent is this quote valid!

Chess as ART: Chess has got its own style, beautiful moves, and combinations. As the art of beautiful poetry creates magic all around, a Chessmaster also possesses the equal creativity. The way the chess masters moves his chess pieces and turns the game in his favor is absolutely artistic. Best chess games are not only limited to the stage, where it is performed but it is saved as lifetime memory in the minds of the player as well as the audience. Great chess games are breathtaking work of art and where much beauty is found in the elegance of a perfect and inescapable solution to a complex problem. Solving such problems making beautiful combinations is deeply gratifying and reveals aesthetic satisfaction. Combinations are the poetry of the game; they are to Chess what melody is to music. And these combinations can be purely regarded as art.

Chess as SCIENCE: About half of the greatest chess players in the world had mathematical or scientific backgrounds. Some people assert that there is always the best chess move in every position. Finding that perfect move involves a powerful logic behind it and that shows about its scientific approach. In the chess world, as in science, knowledge is acquired socially. As games are won and lost, newly “correct” and “objective” approaches to the game are discovered, and advice is reframed. This model suggests that chess theory is metaphorically likened to a science with experimental tests. Advancement depends on challenges over the board. Players participate in local and extended networks of knowledge but always based on the recognition of community. Innovation is necessary for grandmasters to dethrone their predecessors; the tactical and strategic approach considers chess as Science.

Chess as SPORTS: Anatoly Karpov remarked, “Chess is a cruel type of sport. In it, the weight of victory and defeat lies on the shoulders of one man. . . . When you play well and lose, it’s terrible.” Sports means competition. Like the world of Sports, chess games are also competitive. Why is chess so competitive? It is because of the various competitions organized by chess clubs and various chess tournaments held in different parts of the world. Players in tournaments can gain or lose rating points that measure their skill in comparison to other players. Ratings range from zero (novices start with an assumed rating of 600 but can lose rating points) to over 2800 for a top grandmaster. A rating locates one in a competitive hierarchy and determines in which tournaments one can participate and in which division one can play. Chess is famously an activity of the mind, with only the slightest movement of light wood pieces. But when we have lengthy games then bodily stress is also involved and the person needs to be physically sound as in other Sports activities.

With all these points mentioned above, we can say that the quote “chess is everything— art, science, and sport” by former world champion Anatoly Karpov proves to be valid.

Related:

Chess Mantra

Why do you play chess? By Conrad Conero

“Chess as Art, Science, and Sport” Quote in Brief