Written By Major Castleberry

Chess is an art. If you have ever felt the satisfaction of creating something—whether it be poetry, photography, graphics, scuplting, or even a person, then you can understand why I am so in love with this game. I first learned chess at the age of nine, attracted at first by its elements of competitive strategy. Now that I’m older, I find something different draws me to it. Don’t get me wrong, I still very much enjoy the competitive and strategic aspects but I’ve recently discovered something new—or perhaps something I’ve always known but was never able to identify: the creative aspect.

One of the first things you are taught when learning chess is that no two games are alike. Sure there are some stark similarities between the progressions of different games, but chess in its essence is so fluid and dynamic that invariably the pieces end up in unique positions. This is what I mean when I refer to the creative aspect of chess: every move you make you are creating something new. Has there ever been a time that you were dreaming, and as you dreamt you became aware that you were simultaneously creating and perceiving the dream? If so, then I’m sure you remember how amazing and empowering a sensation that realization was! Chess is just like that: you’ll see something in the position and make one seemingly harmless move, which can blossom into a surprise combination attack that leaves your opponent crippled or defeated—oftentimes leaving you in awe of how you were even able to do it.

In every game, you become a composer and every move you make is a note of your masterpiece. You will find that elements of your personality manifest themselves in your play: some favor grinding, slow, positional games and others like me, are relentless attackers; constantly looking for a way to break the game wide-open and unleash an onslaught against the opposing king—even if that means sacrificing pieces to do so.

If I had to name an activity chess is most similar to, I would say meditation. I know it seems an odd choice: chess is a strategy game against an opponent in which the mind is very much active, whereas meditation is usually practiced alone in silence—and the objective is to focus on emptying the mind. However chess is not so much about playing the opponent as much as it involves playing yourself, and it is this that makes chess and meditation so similar. True, your opponents pieces do not move themselves but try and think of it this way—your opponent’s moves are irrelevant as long as you are able to find the correct response and gain the tempo; that is, the initiative to move forward with your plan of divide-and-conquer. If you are able to rid yourself of the idea that you are playing against someone and just focus on the game itself, chess becomes a competition of you against yourself, and you will perform better for it. This is virtually the same goal sought when practicing meditation.

Chess is for everyone. If you have ever felt the spark of curiosity for chess, act on it and go learn! Don’t be discouraged by the things you may have heard about it! You may have heard chess is too difficult to learn, or you have to be a so-called ‘intellectual’ to have fun and success with it, but these assumptions aren’t true. The challenges of learning chess are comparable to those of learning a new language, except the structure is far less intricate. It’s even universally shareable, like a language. They say age has no meaning on the board—you don’t have to look far within a chess community to find an 8-year old with the ability to spank the average adult.

Whether you win or lose, every game has valuable lessons that can be applied to future games. Learn to annotate and record a journal of your games! Much like you re-read a favorite book, you can read back and play through these games over and over to discover things that you hadn’t noticed; further improving your game and your thinking process!

Maybe I’m just a chess-crazed zealot, but it is my firm belief that chess is wonderfully beneficial to the cognitive development of children and should be taught in school, much in the same way art is part of the core curriculum. But I digress: chess is a wonderful activity that provides fulfillment to partakers of any age! Go on and try it yourself, I’m betting you’ll like what you see.