What is Chess? World Champions Try to Answer that Question

Chess is fun for everyone!

Monday night is chess night in Livingston County. Stop on by our friendly chess club for a game or lessons.

What is Chess? This question is always followed up with "Is it a sport, a game, an art or a science?"

It's been called one or the other or any combination of those four by thousands of people.

So let us see what some of the best players that have ever lived thought the game of chess actually was. They should know as they came closer to mastering it than any of us mere mortals.

William Steinitz: “Chess is intellectual gymnastics.”

Emmanuel Lasker: “Chess is a struggle on 64 squares.”

Jose Capablanca: “Chess is an intellectual diversion which has artistic qualities and scientific elements."

Alexander Alekhine: “Chess for me is not a game, it is art.”

Dr. Max Euwe: “Chess is none of those, It’s a struggle.

Mikhail Botvinnik: “Chess is an art which expresses the science of logic.”

Vassily Smyslov: “I consider chess an art.”

Mikhail Tal: “Chess is first of all art.”

Tigran Petrosian: “Chess is a game by its form, and art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery to it.”

Boris Spassky: “The place of chess in the society is closely related to the attitude of young people towards our game.”

Bobby Fischer: “I feel that chess….is a science in the form of a game.”

Anatoly Karpov: “Chess is a very tough game. It is art, science and sport.”

Gary Kasparov: “For me, chess is a language….and it’s not my native tongue.”

Viswanathan Anand: “Chess is a sport requires a lot of mental stamina.”

Vladimir Krannik” “Chess is an infinitely complex game.”

My favorite: Bobby Fischer (again): “Chess is life.”