How Chess Survived The Winter - A Timeless Treasure

When asked what does chess mean to me, I like to say that chess is simply a game, but that alone doesn't quite hit the palate, does it? After all, we are talking about one of the world's most prestigious board games, one of the very few that still hold up to this modern era. Chess is like a dinosaur that survived the extinction.

How did chess survive the winters of time?

The truth behind this perhaps fascinating question is simpler than we like to think.

Chess survived the eras as much as painting did. It survived because of its inherent simplicity. The sheer absence of a bloated format allowed for this game to develop into an art, unrestrained. The game requires no language, no cultural background, no psychology and therefore no social bindings. It is a game that requires nothing more but the innate ability to think, and it does this by being simple and pure.

Simplicity is the great mirror, the canvas; undress before it and paint up a mess, yourself, your thoughts. Chess is not a complex game, it's just a board. WE humans are the complex element in all of this, chess simply facilitates our curious nature, the prime essencia.

This is the secret behind chess and its seeming immortality; in simplicity we find ourselves dazzled by own ability to explore.

 Thank you for taking the time.

Time well spent my friend

A most interesting perspective -paradoxically, both simple and complex in itself- beautifully expressed. 

Thank you. That means a lot to me.

Enjoyed your incite

Well done!  Obviously, you appreciate the fact that chess is so much more than a simple board game and yet it is its simplicity that makes it a thing of pure beauty.  For me, I realize that perfection is unattainable and yet pursuit of perfection is an enjoyable process.  Chess trains one's mind to analyze and think.

Thank you everyone.

"For me, I realize that perfection is unattainable and yet pursuit of perfection is an enjoyable process."

If more and more people knew these words, they wouldn't give up.

+1

Beautifully written!