Chess Theor Vs. Music Theory

Hello,
Is chess theory similar to music theory? In school I was taught how to keep the rules of music theory, then later I could have been taught how to break the rules.

Robbie Carrobie asked a chess question on December 5, 2013 at 4:39
It may have been about a Fischer game and asking why chess theory
seemed to be not followed.

Do the chess masters learn how to break the rules after they learn to follow them? Or do they always follow chess theory unless doing so would lose them a game or an advantage?

KingOnPoint

Originally posted by KingOnPoint
Hello,
Is chess theory similar to music theory? In school I was taught how to keep the rules of music theory, then later I could have been taught how to break the rules.

Robbie Carrobie asked a chess question on December 5, 2013 at 4:39
It may have been about a Fischer game and asking why chess theory
seemed to be not followed. ...[text shortened]... lways follow chess theory unless doing so would lose them a game or an advantage?

KingOnPoint

Robbie's question wasn't really about chess theory, but general principles.

The term 'theory' usually applies to openings and endgames. In openings, professional players make every effort to find new moves outside of current theory to surprise the opposition. In endgames, the theory is more set in stone. You generally cannot go against endgame theory and do well. Your only hope is finding a mistake in someone's previous analysis, assuming they made one.

My personally (totaly lame) answer to your question is. math. OH YES !
Chess - an invented game - following invented rules - which can be described in a mathematical way (I guess, probably. I mean if you dont need to have numbers but instead have pieces - then you can postulate like. 1. Night - moves like this. 2. Pawns - moves like this. 3. Kings - moves like this - specially moves - 2 (the rockade)).

What started this quite lame thought was this.

Music - after all it is just particles of air moving - then they happen to be able to vibrate in harmony with eachother.

Music - The normal major and the 3 minor scales ( is that the correct word? does not matter ) ARE INVENTED !! I am a musician and happen to have heard this fact from people more knowledgable than me ( they of course could be wrong). They say this. From childhood we hear these patterns. And commit them to memory - they becomes like walking or eating or whatever. - Which means that the MAJOR SCALE becomes the RIGHT SCALE. But! This is because WE HAVE LEARNED THAT. this is the way it should be. // the viking.

Originally posted by bikingviking
...that the MAJOR SCALE becomes the RIGHT SCALE. But! This is because WE HAVE LEARNED THAT. this is the way it should be. // the viking.

Very true. This is why music from cultures that use different scales, such as Arabic music, sounds odd to Western ears.

In terms of chess, totally agree with the original point that there are certain rules of thumb that you learn when you are starting out, but soon you learn that sometimes you have to break the rules in certain positions. Knowing when it's ok to break the general rules is one of the hardest things to learn. I certainly haven't got there yet.