Archive for October, 2011
chess is not politics

So is chess politics or not? Hmm…I think chess is very much politics, ever since the the time of Korchnoi, and the musical based on it (Chess) and later the chess genius Bobby Fischer and his (in some aspects, self made) trouble with his own home country due to political pressure and prestige. Due to the fact of being the most prestigious game of mankind, it does have a symbolic value unmatched by no other game or sport. So it is doomed to be political, I am afraid, but it makes chess chess, I guess. Even when I myself first started to play it, it was very much a game for a rebel (me) against his bad step “father” but it became just a game later on, for which I am happy. It should just be a game as any other but I guess for me to get better at it, motivatedly, it has to be charged with a value again and that won’t happen again, I think! But one should never say never. Chess also got crushed by AI (Artificial intelligence research) the other life interest of mine. AI will play a bigger role in politics and our lifes then chess ever did – I foresee. So better to put my professional energy on that! What are your thoughts about politics as a factor in chess?
My own motivation for chess

- my chessbio and about chesslessons for the needy: http://hedlerfog.com/?page_id=131
(For those who check and compare my Elo rating – don’t! I don’t care about rating and never did, which reflects in my Elo ratingI do care about winning a game of chess but even more so to play it as creatively as possible and beautifully as possible. And I did win against very strong players in my life and played very even games against very professional players too. I would truthfully and some may say optmistically estimate my own (agreeingly uneven but proven) playing strength to something in between 1800-2500 ELO depending on my current mood and shape – On my best days, you better watch out :). Why I can not be a more even chess player is simply due to the fact that I am a moody artistic player since I am an artist/philosopher in soul. I sometimes sacrifice exactness and logical play for artistic and ideal values in the game. Just plain winning is not everything for me, or rather has never been the goal for me in chess since I quit playing actively.)