Chess is not an art

Sort:
Avatar of TheGrobe
theoreticalboy wrote:
TheGrobe wrote:

But the question is what isn't chess, not what chess isn't.


And now we're dealing with the latter!


D'oh.

Well played sir.  Well played. 

Avatar of trysts
theoreticalboy wrote:

True, but why restrict yourself?  Chess is also none of the following;

- a felony

- a pasta-based meatball dish

- a Bauhaus-inspired coffee cup design

- a yo-yo that belonged to Louis XIV

- a Japanese form of popular music, as sung by Kahimi Karie


Laughing

Chess doesn't appear to be:

-a fresco painted by pepsi

-a tip that the father left, but the grandmother picked up

-a teacher admitting they're not helping

-a ken burns documentary that joseph goebbels wouldn't admire

-a beaver going to church

-someone to do the dishes

Avatar of mrguy888
trysts wrote:

Chess doesn't appear to be:

-a fresco painted by pepsi

-a tip that the father left, but the grandmother picked up

-a teacher admitting they're not helping

-a ken burns documentary that joseph goebbels wouldn't admire

-a beaver going to church

-someone to do the dishes

Now my life can have meaning. Thank you for opening my eyes!

Avatar of trysts
mrguy888 wrote:

Now my life can have meaning. Thank you for opening my eyes!


my pleasureWink

Avatar of saipranav

"Life is art.

Our aim is to make a piece which makes everyone around us happy."

Avatar of ilikeflags

i couldn't care any less if chess is an "art" or not, but thank goodness for thomas nast:

Avatar of theoreticalboy
saipranav wrote:

"Life is art.

Our aim is to make a piece which makes everyone around us happy."


This is so far away from my goal...

Avatar of ilikeflags

hater

Avatar of Ricardo_Morro

From the perspective of an artist: I am a poet and playwright. I get a similar feeling of satisfaction from finishing a beautifully played game of chess as from the completion of a good poem or well-plotted play. Poetry and drama are arts that combine the logical with the creative. For me, chess is one of several arts I participate in. Like the drama, it is dramatic, since it involves conflict. Like poetry, it has rhythm, since the sides move alternately, and its moves, like words, carry emotion, since they involve menace, and retreat, and defiance, and fear. Like music, it involves abstract patterns of beauty, since its geometric forms evolve, something like a kaliedescope. In may other ways, it is artistic. That is why it was so attractive to a literary light like Vladimir Nabakov, one of many to celebrate its artistic side.

How can static geometric forms in two dimensions be art when it is hard-edge abstractionism, and the flowing, interlocking, changing of surprising geometric patterns on the chessboard not be art?

Avatar of guitarzan

I believe that chess can sometimes rise to the level of art, but that doesn't mean that is an art. Just as someone putting paint on a brush and applying it to a canvas doesn't automatically qualify it as art, neither does moving the chess pieces around an 8x8 board constitute an art form. BUT! Sometimes you come across a game where you realize someone is playing inspired chess! Check out the recent "Personal Mona Lisa" series of columns right here at chess.com by GM Gregory Serper for some great examples!

Avatar of ilikeflags

every 14 year old girl with a journal is a poet.

Avatar of ilikeflags

the definition of "poet" is not agreed on by all

Avatar of TheGrobe
ilikeflags wrote:

the definition of "poet" is not agreed on by all


That's beautiful man. 

Avatar of ivandh

Art in its multivaried forms gives us great pleasure just to experience. We strive to immerse ourselves in it for its own purity and essence.

Science we don't give a damn about until it gives us flying cars.

Avatar of Conquistador

Chess is not a John Denver Christmas Special.

Avatar of ivandh
Conquistador wrote:

Chess is not a John Denver Christmas Special.


That is not agreed on by all.

Avatar of goldendog
ilikeflags wrote:

every 14 year old girl with a journal is a poet.


Especially if there's a butterfly on the cover. A unicorn would also be dynamite.

Avatar of ilikeflags

how come you are always judging me because i only believe in science?

Avatar of Writch

All this talk of the creating/creative aspect making it art... and comparisons to music.

And yet no one has mentioned the obvious comparison out of the fact that it takes two participants - even if one is artificial - to carry out the act.

Thus chess, has very much qualities of dance, which is undeniably an art form.

Avatar of trysts
Writch wrote:

All this talk of the creating/creative aspect making it art... and comparisons to music.

And yet no one has mentioned the obvious comparison out of the fact that it takes two participants - even if one is artificial - to carry out the act.

Thus chess, has very much qualities of dance, which is undeniably an art form.


I think I'm a dance denier! But I LOVED "The Red Shoes"!