The Concept of Beauty in Chess

by

Glenn Statile – St. John’s University

 (1)    What’s in a Game?

The game of chess is the source of a treasure trove of verbal wit, which unfortunately would be lost upon all those who have not assimilated the secrets of this ancient game.  For example,  former world chess champion Boris Spassky once described his incompatibility to his first wife in terms of bishops of opposite color. The humor in this analogy would not be perceived by anyone who does not know that bishops are pieces whose movement is restricted to either wholly white or wholly black diagonals on the chessboard.  Hence, like mismatched spouses whose viewpoints never coincide, bishops of opposite color are doomed never to cross paths.   Appreciation of chess humor is thus not innate but requires the learning curve of experience and prior knowledge.