Mind Sports & Art
“Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic”
Mikhail Botvinnik
“Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make people happy”
Siegbert Tarrasch
The game of chess (in all its forms: International Chess, Xiangqi, Weiqi) found itself closely connected to arts in general since immemorial times. Ages ago, the first representations of people playing this game were done by artists. Ever since, the game and its complex designs was used as a motif in many artistic productions (paintings, engravings, drawings, photography, motion pictures, musical tracks, advertisements, etc). Evidently, the more extensive popularity of chess in its international form has led to the latter's more active presence in artworks across centuries. But there's another reason why chess motifs were adopted in art: the game itself has its sense of beauty and artistry. Chess players learnt to appreciate not just the mechanical technique of play, but they also learnt to appreciate the artistry of a combination and the creativity behind it: many books have been written and many anthologies have been put together not only about the millions of chess combinations possible on the chess board, but also about the most beautiful of them, the most artistic. The ones which through their iron-like logic and special geometry delighted both the eye and the mind of entire generations of enthusiasts since Middle Ages onwards. A chess player contemplates a famous chess combination in the same way in which a student in painting contemplates a famous painting or a student in music listens again and again a piece of Beethoven. Furthermore, this artistic side of chess has founds its own forms of association: across the world there are many associations, societies and federations that promote the art of chess problems. A good example of such an organization is British Chess Problem Society , the world's oldest problem society (founded in 1918). Chess problems are experienced not only as puzzles but also as objects of beauty.This section of our NYPS Chess Club's website will bring you news, links and materials related to chess (in all its forms) in arts. We'll also organize contests in which chess & art join hands and make a small contribution to the sense of beauty we're looking for in both realms. News & Links:
Links to world' best museums:
