Similarities between chess and dance?

Hi everyone,

I have been assigned a paper where the objective is to compare two things and show how they are more related than most think. I was assigned chess and dance, however I do not think I know enough about chess to write confidently on this topic. Going off my little knowledge of the subject the points i'm raising are: how both chess and dance are reactionary, you're playing off the other person across from you, and how both how you dance and how you play chess are a form of self expression.

I was considering mentioning how there are choreographed dances, just like there are planned moves in chess (I've heard people refer to openings this way correct me if I'm wrong).

If you have any thoughts or suggestions I would love to hear them!

Practicing slow play can help one to play quickly. Perhaps reacting to a chess opponent has some similarity to a dancer reacting to music. In a game, a chess player might combine ideas that have been learned individually. Some degree of creativity and spontaneity is desirable. An introductory chess book might suggest ideas.

Journey to the Chess Kingdom

https://www.chess.com/blog/Natalia_Pogonina/book-review-quotjourney-to-the-chess-kingdomquot

A COMPLETE CHESS COURSE by Antonio Gude
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/A_Complete_Chess_Course.pdf

Lasker's Manual of Chess.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104828/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review658.pdf

Learn Chess

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233922/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review252.pdf

Thanks!

Perhaps there is some similarity between life as a professional dancer and life as a professional chess player. The above Lasker book was by a very successful player who nevertheless had a difficult life. Possibly of interest:
https://www.chess.com/article/view/can-anyone-be-an-im-or-gm
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/kids-fight-stereotypes-using-chess-in-rural-mississippi/
http://brooklyncastle.com/
https://www.chess.com/blog/smurfo/book-review-insanity-passion-and-addiction
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/26/books/books-of-the-times-when-the-child-chess-genius-becomes-the-pawn.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2017/05/05/making-a-living-in-chess-is-tough-but-the-internet-is-making-it-easier/#4284e4814850

https://www.chess.com/news/view/is-there-good-money-in-chess-1838
"... Many aspiring young chess players dream of one day becoming a grandmaster and a professional. ... But ... a profession must bring in at least a certain regular income even if one is not too demanding. ... The usual prize money in Open tournaments is meagre. ... The higher the prizes, the greater the competition. ... With a possibly not very high and irregular income for several decades the amount of money one can save for old age remains really modest. ... Anyone who wants to reach his maximum must concentrate totally on chess. That involves important compromises with or giving up on his education. ... it is a question of personal life planning and when deciding it is necessary to be fully conscious of the various possibilities, limitations and risks. ... a future professional must really love chess and ... be prepared to work very hard for it. ... It is all too frequent that a wrong evaluation is made of what a talented player can achieve. ... Most players have the potential for a certain level; once they have reached it they can only make further progress with a great effort. ... anyone who is unlikely to attain a high playing strength should on no account turn professional. ... Anyone who does not meet these top criteria can only try to earn his living with public appearances, chess publishing or activity as a trainer. But there is a lack of offers and these are not particularly well paid. For jobs which involve appearing in public, moreover, certain non-chess qualities are required. ... a relevant 'stage presence' and required sociability. ... All these jobs and existences, moreover, have hanging above them the sword of Damocles of general economic conditions. ... around [age] 40 chess players ... find that their performances are noticeably tailing off. ..." - from a 12 page chapter on becoming a chess professional in the book, Luther's Chess Reformation by GM Thomas Luther (2016)
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/LuthersChessReformation-excerpt.pdf

The Genius and the Misery of Chess

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101906/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review661.pdf

Sometimes (not often), a game might cause one to think of a dance leader and follower.

A few decades ago, there was a chess musical that included a giant chess board with human pieces dancing across it.

One can find some indication of changing chess fashions in The Development of Chess Style.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708095110/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/chestyle.txt

Has there been a Russian dance influence comparable to the Russian chess influence?

I've been doing a little Tai Chi recently. It's what I've come to think is a form of dancing, perhaps disconnected from what I perceive as the more carnal nature of 'dance'. I like the movement and flow of Tai Chi. I've generally thought of dance as either effeminate or done with a single purpose - to get near the girls etc

So perhaps chess can be compared to dance in terms of the spectrum of 'energies' involved and evoked. Chess can be primitive and troglodyte cf the 'rematch threads' or beautiful. This game Schlecter v John  for example. I played through it earlier:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1003034

Not sure if I have any input that's already been given, but I would love to see your paper when you're done! I've been involved with chess and dance for several years now and am very interested in what you come up with!  

The only thing I can think of, because there are so few similarities, is that both are done for entertainment. Very, very few people are good enough at either one to be professional. They are hobbies or interests that appeal to the performer because of the creative, stimulating, or other personal reason. It might be like comparing rock climbing to backgammon.

Here's a quote by Siegbert Tarrasch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegbert_Tarrasch) that you may be able to use:

Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.

• The Game of Chess (1931), Preface

The purpose of both is to mate.

Haha, great answer!

One night in bangkok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaD1BuigS3g

 Fjh11, 

It was a good idea to post this on a chess forum as you will surely gain insight from chess players (insight that would likely benefit a paper). However, to fully give relevant insight other information would help such as: 

1) When the timeframe for your data collection ends (so responses may elaborate, or avoid elaborating, based on your deadline.

2) What the paper is for/level, essentially the target audience. Chess.com members could be in elementary school, college, or even retired from work. So is this paper for a 5th grade class, an English 101 class, an academic paper for the school as an organization, a paper for yourself? You get the idea, as each scenario requires different criterion to be met.

However, as an "in general" answer I see many similarities between chess and dance. Both chess, and dance have by many been considered art forms (and both have sometimes been criticized for not being art forms). Additionally, both use terms in other languages to best describe "moves": dance this includes ballet terms as well as named choreographed motions, while for chess it may be terms such as "en passant" (in passing/French) or "zugswang" (compulsion to move/German). Chess and dance both have world-renowned participants, and international competitions.

I hope that my post is seen as helpful to you, given the limited information that I have been given.

(Lastly, if this is some sort of synthesis essay make sure to site chess.com in the bibliography. If you need a minimum number of sources, perhaps one reason that you came to chess.com forums, then cite each username from posts responding to you as this is an effective way to expand the bibliography quickly - if this is not a variant of a synthesis essay then this insight is still relevant, but maybe of lesser emphasis)

I would like to hear how this comes out, best of luck

It's in the area of chess problem composition that you're most likely to find some similarities with dance. In some problems, the solution shows matching play between White and Black, and when such a theme emphasises the visual aspect, it can suggest a dance. Here are two examples.

In the main line, the BR follows the WR to the same file for the first 7 moves.

The second problem is a helpmate, where Black and White cooperate to enable White to mate. In the solution, every white move matches the black one in length and direction (except that ...Bh7 is a bit longer than Bh5!).