On top of all this, machines have been able to play chess since the ’90s, beating world champions along the way.
The standard way of writing out chess moves currently used is even called algebraic notation. Flip through any chess book, with symbols like O-O and Qxa1, and it certainly seems that chess has the same sharp, crystalline beauty of mathematical proofs. That’s because the greatest chess stories understand that trying to master chess is like trying to master the infinite, and the psychological consequences can be transcendent or terrifying.Ĭhess is often associated with reason and, by extension, with intelligence, especially of the mathematical variety. And while not every story that involves chess does this successfully, there are a select few that triumph in a way that works of another medium never could. It is therefore uniquely qualified to explore the nature of chess itself. It probably doesn’t get more overt than Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, where a man plays a game of chess in which his life is on the line, and his opponent is Death.įiction, on the other hand, has the unparalleled ability to grant us insight into a character’s psyche. Often, it is used as a blunt metaphor for a literal conflict, like when Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty discuss the moves they’ve made in the battle on and off the board, or when Professor X and Magneto play chess in at least three X-Men films, all the while discussing the real conflict at hand.
Whether a king is playing against a beggar or a nuclear physicist against a kindergartener, all that matters are the choices you make.Ĭhess is somewhat underserved by artistic mediums outside of literature.
And it is a particular kind of conflict that is utterly devoid of chance. The most obvious explanation why fiction is so replete with chess players is that, at their core, chess and stories are about the same thing-conflict. What about chess commands our respect as “the immortal game” or “the royal game,” whereas most of its peers are seen as harmless time-wasters? The game has a profound hold on our collective imagination. After all, people from all over the world have been playing this game for thousands of years. If stories teach us what it means to be human, then it’s no surprise that chess crops up again and again in literature.
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