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Chess: More Than Just a Game
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10367 |
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Section : |
Life
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1986 |
2,616 Words |
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Larry Eldridge, Jr.
Larry Eldridge, Jr., a sports publicist for ABC in New York,
learned to play chess at the age of five. One year later, he
played in the International Grand Masters Tournament against
Samuel Reshnevsky. |
"Chess holds its master in its own bonds--fetters and in some ways shapes the spirit, so that under it the inner freedom of even the very strongest must suffer."
-Albert Einstein
The game of chess is a curious activity. Reduced to its simplest level, modern chess is a war game, with two opposing armies of royal hierarchies arrayed on a battleground of black-and-white squares.
For millions of people around the globe, chess is a simple pleasure, a leisurely diversion played with friends on sunny afternoons in the park, in small outdoor cafes, in neighborhood clubs. More games of chess have been played than any other game.
However, for some, chess is not simply a friendly pastime or even just an absorbing hobby. This group succumbs more completely to the siren call of Chaissa,, the goddess of chess, and is composed of those who willingly devote their entire lives to the unique attraction of chess.
But chess is more than a game. It is really a cerebral sport, stoking competitive fires. At the tournament level, chess can require many of the same preparatory devices employed to achieve success in physical sports: training, practice, strategic sessions, and even physical exercise.
Some may scoff at the labeling of chess as a sport, but in the Soviet Union, where chess probably is the national pastime, the Soviet Chess Federation is a branch of the Department of
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