Chess compared to Social Truth
Although board games may appear to be merely a means of recreation and a trivial factor of American culture, they actually represent much more. One specific game worthy of study is chess, which serves a much more fundamental purpose than that for which it is generally given credit. Chess not only has historically formed one of the chief means employed by societies to draw its collective bonds closer, but it also conveys many truths of politics and gamesmanship, while shining a light on economic solutions as well as foreign relations. In Making Your Move: The Educational Significance of the American Board Game, 1832 to 1904, by David Wallace Adams and Victor Edmonds, there is given a preliminary explanation of how board games, in a general sense, have the capability of bringing to the surface social mores. One such more demonstrated in the game of chess involves traditional protestant values such as "hard work, piety, frugality, and perseverance, then success was just around the corner" (Adams and Edmonds 363). Chess, unlike many games, stresses such qualities as perseverance and frugality. It is not essentially a game won with bold, romantic moves in the opening, but rather with careful patience in the end game. Chess involve
Much like in the intricate process of volleying to get ahead in American society, chess can not be won in the opening, but it can be lost. Classic openings such as the Ruy Lopez, the King's Gambit, the Sicilian Defense, the Caro Kann opening, and the Scotch Game all are opening sequences that encompass a careful guardianship of the center squares. Although the object of the game is to checkmate the king, it is first mandatory to acquire board position that allows this end result to be possible. This sort of strategy, which is common among excellent chess players, is analogous to the type of societal pressures that encourage individuals to become educated, most specifically through higher education, before attempting to attain the end result of making money. "In the game of chess, you know your destination, but by thinking about it constantly, you're doomed. The task at hand is the means by which the player must focus and, hence, position himself to gain the victory" (Nimzovitch 122). This quote by 19th grandmaster Aron Nimzovitch summarizes the situational irony of chess that is prevalent in our society--that the task at hand is essentially more worthy of consideration than the overall destination. However, this is not to say that the end which is the target of the means is to be forgotten. If a player gets too caught up in position, he is likely to not spot opportunities for checkmate. He then defeats his purpose, much like someone overly concerned with making money and does not recognize its inherent function as a means to happiness. If a player gains a reputation for exchanging queens in a game, an especially weakening example of such an equilibrium, this can certainly affect a person's reputation, which can have dramatic effects on the opponent's strategy. Banking on a player to play consistently on reputation
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Approximate Word count = 1234
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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