What chess is all about

Originally posted by ceders
Hmmm....pushing wood about - would need a pretty good a motive to be able to spend so much time doing that!

Well, to me chess is about two minds working together to create someting beautiful. Both players want to lay claim to the final work of art and can only do so by proving they put more into it, you allways get what you put into chess. Which is where my competation comes from.

But if I lose then I guess the game wasn't worth having 😛

ceders you are so right
and it is here that Bobby fischer had it wrong
when he said Chess is like boxing -- knowing how to punch and when to duck
here in a chess game we have two fighters who are also creators
and, perhaps, riders of the storm that erupts on the chessboard

Often I have a game where I cannot point to a single wrong move made by the opponent, nor a single really strong move that I've made, yet, just by riding out the position, a work of art, as well as a work of victory, evolves.

Originally posted by Heroic Metool
I like the way this guy thinks.

Pawn pushing sucks... 😞

One of my favorite quotes was former Yankee manager Joe Torre regarding how you deal with a game that is going badly - say you're down by 6 runs - Joe would tell the team - "just get on base - just score one run" - basically - don't get depressed over how bad its going, don't try to score 10 runs all at once - just go up there and have a good at bat - get some people on base - score a run or two - have fun - and maybe something good will happen.

the same applies to chess - while you are indeed "playing to win the game" (to quote another former New York coach) - I believe the best approach in chess (and other games and sports) is to think of the game as a series of problems where you "need to find the best move" or "make the best play" -- while forgetting about whether you're in a good or a bad position and getting all excited or depressed over it.

Real life "chess problems" are much more fun than the contrived things put together by the creators of chess problems - the biggest difference being that in real life games, no one's going to announce that "you have a mate in three" or that it's "you to move and win a piece" - you have to recognize when (if) these moments arise and find those moves when they do. And real life "chess problems" don't involve the extremely unlikely positions you see in the typical chess problem.

Originally posted by JonathanB of London
Petrovitch said (in another thread)
[b]The game of chess is not about checkmate or attacking the king; it's about finding the beauty of solving complex problems.

I find this statement very interesting but with due respect cannot agree.


Chess, it seems to me, is about winning and losing. It's a game afterall.

Anything else, ...[text shortened]... else. No context in which this 'beauty' may arise.

So I think anyway.

Any thoughts?[/b]

I think you are generally correct. I would point out however, that there are many who like composing and solving chess problems as much or more than competing. There are also many who involve themselves in chess from the position of administrator or tournament director. For these people it's not about the compitition. 😏

The intent is to checkmate, but it rarely happens because of resignation. So, chess is about attacking for checkmate and when you find a mistake and capitalize on it you force your opponent into a inferior position or a material disadvantage. it is a game of fun and frustration and is very humbling.