The Societal Impact of Chess, Part 5: Changing the World!

By far the most surprising and noteworthy discovery for me in my intense journey throughout the chess world was the potential for transformative social impact associated with the game. I simply didn’t see that coming at all.  

When I began this project, I had a solid awareness of the game’s principles, a keen appreciation of its internal beauty and a good sense of its basic history. I knew, of course, of its far-reaching impact on art, literature, and science, which naturally motivated me to embark on this journey in the first place, even though I had grossly underestimated just how broad and deep its cultural impact actually was.

I had even heard about the existence of other chess-like games, like shogi and xiangqi, together with a number of different “chess variants”, and so had some sense—albeit, again, a very preliminary one—of chess’ remarkable degree of diversity over both time and space.

But the idea that chess—a game I had been playing, on and off, throughout my entire life—could actually be harnessed towards the cause of personal empowerment and reducing inequality of opportunity, had never entered my head. But it most certainly can. And is.  

How, on earth, did that happen? you might well ask. And why chess? Well, nobody knows for certain, of course, but I’m now convinced that chess’ unique capability for social impact springs from a conjunction of three key factors:

1. INTERNATIONALISM

It’s safe to say that chess is one of the most internationally-recognized games in the world. If you were to sit down at a table anywhere on earth and begin setting up the pieces, chances are that any random passerby would know exactly what you are doing, a statement that does not hold true for any other chess-like game (i.e. shogi outside of Japan, xiangqi outside of China and Vietnam, Capablanca chess, Fischer Random chess, etc.).

But that’s only the beginning. Because there’s a good chance that, if you were to do something similar with backgammon, or checkers, or tic-tac-toe, there would be an equal level of global recognition.

2. STATUS

Chess, though, offers something else: status.  You’re unlikely to deeply impress your friends by methodically beating them at those other games, but if you are an acknowledged expert at chess, that will inevitably command respect. 

Now, it must be said that, as you have likely noticed by now, I am often particularly leery of our societal fixation with status, particularly when it is used, as it increasingly is these days, to justify some sort of inappropriate appeal to authority, like listening to what some famous actor (or chess player) has to say about a complex geopolitical issue. But when limited to its proper domain—when famous actors are recognized for their acting skills, or scientists for their scientific accomplishments or chess players for their chess—the acquisition of status is both completely appropriate and unequivocally positive.  

A great chess player should be recognized for her chess accomplishments, just as a great tennis player should be recognized for his tennis, particularly when it’s explicitly appreciated that the secret to becoming a great chess or tennis player is the phenomenal amount of hard work and dedication associated with that feat (which is the principal reason—other than the fact that it is so obviously untrue—why I am so vigorously opposed to the “chess players are born geniuses” trope that we are so regularly bombarded with from both within and beyond the chess world).

3. ACCESSIBILITY

But just like chess is distinguished from xiangqi by its internationalism, and distinguished from checkers by its status, it is distinguished from tennis by its accessibility. Because no matter how dedicated or naturally talented you might be, if you are mired below the poverty line, or a refugee, or even a legal immigrant somewhere, it’s simply inconceivable that you will have the opportunity to become a great tennis player.  

But you can become a great chess player—particularly these days, when the only thing required to fully immerse yourself in the chess world and appropriately develop your skills is an internet connection.   

These three factors—internationalism, status and accessibility—combine to make chess one of the most singularly effective tools for social empowerment that currently exist.

And it gets even better.  

Because chess not only provides a unique potential-achieving vehicle for people like Tani Adewumi that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to, it also offers a concrete avenue for the fortunate many to concretely involve themselves in actively leveling the playing field for others.

We all know what it’s like to feel a despairing sense of futility at the flagrant unfairness of our world. We turn on the TV and see unconscionably long lines of bedraggled refugees fleeing war-torn countries; we see politicians increasingly grandstanding on the backs of the poor and unfortunate who have nobody to represent their interests; we see injustice and inequality and barbarism on a daily basis, and we feel completely ineffectual. But chess can help there too: through chess, you too can easily do something significant to help make the world a better place.

Take Russ Makofksy, the charismatic and engaging founder of the registered charity, The Gift of Chess. From welcoming refugees to global outreach to helping convicts better reintegrate into society, Russ’ social chess ambit is seemingly limitless. I had never heard of him when I started  this project, but to me he now represents nothing less than the glittering potential for all of us to change lives through both giving and receiving the singular opportunity that chess provides; and through my experience of meeting him, and others like him, the documentary Through the Mirror of Chess: A Cultural Exploration came to a much different sort of conclusion than I had originally thought it might.

Russ is not a rich philanthropist. He is not a grandmaster. He is not a celebrity. He is simply a guy with a big heart and a tremendous amount of passion and energy who is steadily transforming hundreds of lives both within and beyond his local neighborhood through chess.   

And you can too.  

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This is, in all likelihood, my last piece for this chess.com blog. I’m moving on to other projects now: four chess films, one book of chessays and 10 blog posts later, you’ll doubtless be happy to learn that I’m finally at the point where I have nothing more to say about chess.   

I’d like to thank chess.com for giving me this platform and the readers who engaged with me throughout. I hope you found it interesting, and I hope to continue receiving your feedback on Through the Mirror of Chess: A Cultural Exploration, Chessays: Travels Through the World of Chess and these blog posts in the weeks and months ahead—well, the civil and thoughtful sort of feedback, that is.   

A BIT OF BACKGROUND:  

My name is Howard Burton and I am a documentary filmmaker and author. I produced a recently released 4-part documentary, THROUGH THE MIRROR OF CHESS: A CULTURAL EXPLORATION, about the remarkable impact of chess on culture, art, science and sport. I also wrote a book, CHESSAYS: TRAVELS THROUGH THE WORLD OF CHESS, about all sorts of chess-related issues that I encountered during my time spent as a tourist in the chess world. Visit our website for more details HERE.