Chess & Tragedy: How Tragic Events In Human History Changed Chess Forever
“Everyone has a thousand wishes before a tragedy, but just one afterward.”
- Fredrik Backman
Tragedy. A violent, unexpected thing. One that envelops us in darkness and makes us turn to and wish for a way to reverse time. A way to revert tragedy and return to what was once ours. The deaths of many or the loss of a loved one are all tragic events that take us from what we know to a whole new place. The same is true for all of human history as events unfold taking the lives of hundreds, thousands, millions, and more. Yet despite it, humanity prevails and so has chess. Despite the challenges brought forth we have faced them and grown. So with that, one question remains, How have these tragic events changed chess as we know it today?
Table of Contents
World War I or the First World War was the first ever global conflict fought between two major powers the Allies and the Central Powers enveloping six of the seven continents lasting nearly over 4 years. It involved a complex web of alliances between multiple European and global powers. The primary conflict between the Central Powers (primarily Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) against the Allies (primarily France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and later the United States). So how exactly was chess affected by the war?
Photograph taken of some participants of the Mannheim 1914 Chess Tournament.
To begin with, the start of the conflict interrupted international affairs, stopping nearly all international chess tournaments as countries began distancing themselves from each other with the development of the war. One famous instance was the Mannheim 1914 chess tournament which involved a series of tournaments taking place in Germany. However nearly two weeks into the development of the tournament, Germany would declare war on Russia and France seizing eleven “Russian” players including Alexander Alekhine, Efim Bogolijbov, Ilya Rabinovich, and more. While captured Bogolijubov and Alekhine are said to have played a blindfolded game of chess later published by De Telegraaf in 1940.
However, the development of World War I would serve as a nightmare for other chess players. Many chess players began being used as part of propaganda spewed from countries to demonstrate dominance in the game of chess and signify dominance in war to some extent. As drafting began throughout the different countries, chess players were not found exempted from the process. Falling victim to war many chess players found themselves on the battlefield acting as the pawns for their countries rather than playing the game themselves. Not much information is given on chess players who lost their lives during the war but players such as Frank Marshall served in the war and as such were affected by it as well.
Not all was negative though about chess during World War I. Many soldiers found chess as a leisure activity and particularly in POW (prisoner of war) camps it became rather common for POWs to create makeshift chess boards/pieces to play with others. In fact, for some, it became a mental exercise or a method to cope with the anxiety/stress of war.
Ultimately, World War I would greatly change chess as we know it through the loss of promising players, the increase in popularity of chess, the growing significance of chess as a form of diplomacy, and more. (If you are interested in further reads I highly recommend, these two blogs)
The Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a war between two intercolliding ideas on government (communism and socialism). Lasting nearly a year, its impacts with greatly shape and form Russia and the chess world. With the eventual end of Lenin’s Bolshevik government came the Soviet Union. The Russian Revolution itself at first did did not quite impact chess that much. The outcome of it, would be the changing factor. The victory of the newly found Soviets would end up changing the chess world forever.
The new government greatly valued the arts. Huge investments regarding arts such as chess, took place in the Soviet Union and largely contributed to the grand domination of the Soviets in the chess world. The Soviets began to train promising young chess players. Many players such as the likes of Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian, Alexander Alekhine, and Vasily Smyslov, were only some of the great players resulting from the Soviet Union.
Furthermore, an even more interesting story of a chess arises from the forgotten story of the chess master Bernstein.
Ossip Samoliovich Bernstein born September 20th, 1882 was a Ukranian-French chess player and is often forgotten for his incredible excellence in chess. In fact an entire article has been published regarding the memory of his incredible chess feats. Often hating on draws, his competitive style would lead him to finish quite close to grand players like Mikhail Chigorin, Jose Raul Capablana.
In one tournament the veteran master Burn, who was a good friend of mine, offered me a draw on the 12th move. I refused, played for a win and ended up in a completely lost position. For the fun of it, I then offered Burn a draw myself. With his eyes flashing slyly at me through his glasses, he replied frowningly: 'Had you accepted my offer then, I would accept yours now,' upon which I resigned.
- Ossip Samoliovich Bernstein
However, it wasn’t until the Russian Revolution of 1917 that perhaps the most interesting story about Bernstein occurred. Along with being a successful chess player, Bernstein was a lawyer and a rather quite successful businessman. However, as the development of the revolution took place Bernstein would find himself in greater and greater danger eventually being sentenced to death only to escape by defeating the executor in a match of chess!
Ultimately the transition of governmental powers resulting from the Russian Revolution, as great of a tragedy as it was, would end up changing the chess world forever.
Image depicting the two major warring countries of the Cold War.
Although the Cold War is not considered as one of the greater tragedies of chess, its significance changed chess in many ways. The Cold War was a time of great geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Despite the lack of large-scale fighting between the two countries, the Cold War brought fear to all throughout the world as the threat of nuclear war engulfed the world. As the war went on, chess began playing an increasingly important role in determining the victor. Chess served as a literal and figurative tool in the diplomacy between the US and USSR. Increasingly, chess and politics would become more and more entwined with each other leading to the eventual match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky (Chess World Championship 1972).
The World Championship match was arguably one of the most important matches of all time due to its high anticipation and significance.
Many know the story of Bobby Fischer. If not I highly recommend reading Rodgy’s blog about how he lost his mind. To keep it short, the stress placed on him by the political signficiance of his chess would play a huge role in the insanity he fell into. In fact, after the loss of the match, Spaskkiy declared self-exile, leaving the country for France perhaps to escape the consequences of his loss. With the clear goal of victory as described by Fischer, the match would play a significant role on both the outcome of the war and the chess world itself.
Too many times, people don’t try their best. They don’t have the keen spirit; the winning spirit. And once you make it you’ve got to guard your reputation – every day go in like an unknown to prove yourself. That’s why I don’t clown around. I don’t believe in wasting time. My goal is to win the World Chess Championship; to beat the Russians. I take this very seriously.
― Bobby Fischer
A piece of artwork depicting the immense size of the Titanic.The Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic, a luxury British ship considered to have been one of the largest ships of its time ended in the tragic deaths of over 1,500. The Titanic was a ship built alongside its sister vessels, the Olympic and the Britannic. The stunningly majestic ship featured four elevators, a swimming pool, a dining salon, a gymnasium, three different classes, and more. Finally, on April 10th, 1912 the ship set sail only to strike an iceberg three days later and sink into the sea becoming a memory of the past.
The sounds of people drowning are something that I can not describe to you, and neither can anyone else. Its the most dreadful sound and there is a terrible silence that follows it.
- Eva Hart, Titanic Survivor
As great as the tragedy of the Titanic is and as many questions as we do have, one prominent one surfaces for the chess community. What was chess-like on the Titanic?
Many believe that the Titanic featured several chess boards and pieces on the ship for passengers to play chess. Chess sets could even be rented out for second-class passengers. Furthermore, the Titanic featured the ability to use ocean liners to play chess with others a feature that had been used before in a match between the Carapathic and the Baltic. The Titanic’s sister ship, the Olympic would at a later date end up hosting famous chess players Jose Capablanca and Emanuel Lasker.
One of the first-class passengers abroad the ship was a man by the name of Peter Dennis Daly who had an unusual habit of playing chess with opponents overseas with another victim by the name of Jacques Furtelle being well known as an American writer for his popular chess and detective stories. Despite not having much of an impact on the chess world, the Titanic will still go down in history as an absolutely tragic event.
Thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoyed this blog! This was arguably one of my most procrastinated blogs so I hope you enjoyed it! Although I doubt this submission will win in my match against Astro, I hope it will fare somewhat interestingly with the judges Bye and see you next time - @Xhive24
