There are two guys I know, that have played chess at the patisserie for years. They are earnest in their pursuit of the game. I’ve kibitzed, as someone who only has the faintest idea how to play the game. They tolerate me and my banter. I am fond of them and their eternal championship, because that is how they play it.
Their manner of play is diametrically opposite. Like the poles of a bar magnet, always repelling and yet essential, hold the dynamic system of the game together. One player is methodical, contemplative, and moves slowly. The other has honed his skills on 100,000 one-minute games. That’s about 1,667 hours or 69 days. Their approach to the game reflects their personalities. They are the perfect match for a never-ending contest.
When I sit down at my table and see them focused on that checkered, 64-squared universe, I feel at ease. All is right with the world. I know that their moves, like the ticking of a cosmic clock, keeps the planets in their orbits and the sun on its galactic path.
I am comforted by the spiritual nature of the moment’s ordinariness. Two people, locked in a metaphysical struggle while piloting ancient pieces across a wooden plane. How many millions have spent countless hours in meditation, pondering the millions of possible moves with their possible outcomes?
Humans have gamed for at least 5,000 years. And over that time they’ve developed numerous categories of board, card, and theme games. They all capture, to some degree, the essence of what I see with these chess players. But, there are four types of games that are the foundation for all others.
Race Games, who can get around the board the quickest and often played with dice or something analogous. Examples are Pasha (Pachisi) from about 1100 BCE.
Space Games, a familiar example is Tic-Tac-Toe or Noughts and Crosses. Evidence of the game has been found in Egypt, dating to at least 1300 BCE.
Chase Games, which, for some reason, escapes me. An early version is Hnefatafl, played by the Nordic and the Sámi peoples in Scandinavia.
Displacement Games, such as Chess and Go are abstract strategy games where there are no artificial elements of chance introduced by dice or hidden information. Modern Chess, based on a 7th century Indian game, Chaturanga, began developing in Europe in the 16th century. Go, on the other hand, has been played in its original form, since 4000 BCE. No other game can claim such a heritage.
So, as I sit watching friends, match wits, oblivious to the world around them, I see a profoundly spiritual moment, created from the most ordinary experience, playing a game.
The photo was taken with my iPhone 8+ and processed using Topaz Studio and Photoshop.
Chess and the Photo The Eternal Championship is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.