The Art & Science of Chess
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“Chess is everything—art, science, and sport.”––Anatoly Karpov
“Check,” he said. So, I moved my king.
“Check.”
I knew it was over. It was a move I did not see coming, but I moved my king again.
“Checkmate.”
Sure, I could have tipped my king over early on, but chess requires a systematic approach, and if you are still building out your strategy, it can be good to play out the game until it is over.
As with most things life, in chess, knowledge and experience are cumulative and can be acquired in small, steady doses. Chess forces you to think both critically AND creatively, and with practice, you end up exercising both your critical mind as well as your creative mind.
Yes, I said it, there is an artistic side to the game of chess. There is the obvious beauty in each piece but also, a visual pattern that changes with each move. In this way, the game builds on the artistic eye, requiring just as much visualization as calculation.
Most important of all, chess teaches you that you need to create your own opportunities – and to “never wait too long to make a move, because the perfect time may never come or come too late.”