Chess is like wine or cigarettes; it has enormous cultural weight and history.
The ‘Game of Kings’ appears in many stories, maybe because like in a film it can be used as a metaphor. Chess is a dual, a shift in the balance of power between two people and perhaps is a good way to describe what was once called ‘idiot savant’ i.e. that they are failures in every field but chess.
Some of the most original and surreal uses can be found in Lewis Carroll’s books, when the chess pawns become characters. The real question is what we can learn from these games, which are a story within a story especially in the adult world, for instance, today the games we play are so complex that they leave very little room for imagination.
What interests me in the books that we are going to read this week is the fact that our writers and their characters are in going through a transition. Could chess be a key to connect the old world and the new and not just a battle of wits? I believe that the books we’ll read will show that this talent is not merely about wits – but a ‘psychological’ understanding, (no matter how obscene this word may sound).