For most of us, chess is a leisurely activity – a source of amusement and mental distraction. But as we speak it is being played out at the highest levels in the World Chess Championship between Russian Grand Master Ian Nepomniachtchi and his Chinese counterpart Ding Liren. A game, innocent though it may seem, is often tied up with a variety of social, political and religious issues. Even within the Catholic Church, chess has been surrounded by controversy.
One of the earliest mentions of chess in the Catholic world comes in 900 AD when the Bishop of Asorga was introduced to the game, which originally hails from ancient Persia or India (accounts vary). after he was canonised as a saint, the bishop’s disciples referred to his chess-playing as “an approximation to God”. Roughly one hundred years later, in 1061, a letter was sent to the pope-elect Alexander II, complaining that priests were playing chess in public! The letter was signed by the Italian cardinal-bishop of Ostia, St Peter Damian (1007-1072), who – by all accounts – wasn’t very knowledgeable about the game himself.
In the period after Damian’s letter there was much condemnation of chess within the Church. For example, in 1125 Bishop Guy of Paris banned chess in his diocese and went so far as to excommunicate some priests who were caught playing the game. St Bernard of Clairvaux was also prejudiced against chess, and various local councils forbade the game. The condemnations were largely directed at clergy. But such denunciations indicate a general disapproval of the game – even if their necessity suggests that it was also very popular.
One might wonder why such a seemingly blameless pastime came under such harsh injunctions from ecclesial authorities. One reason indicated by the letter of Peter Damiani is that the game was deemed frivolous and led the mind away from God. The justification given was that the game has no direct end in itself other than outwitting an opponent. Further, condemnations seem to suggest that the game is based on luck. In 1420, Werner von Orseln, the Grand Master of the Knights of the Teutonic Order, ended the prohibition of chess by arguing that it was a proper amusement for a knight precisely because it was not based on luck, but rather on skill. Even games of chance have an ambiguous history within the Church.
Whilst the condemnations miss the point, they accurately point out the essence of the game: chess has no end in itself, but in that very lack of an outside telos it has a virtue. Games, as the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer has argued, have an existence of their own, and are even independent of those who play it. Play is central to life, and carries an intrinsic value. It is a world in and of itself where a realm of possibilities avails itself, unaffected by the limited horizon of those who play it.
The work of another German thinker, the late Thomist Josef Pieper, might help to elucidate the point. In his book Leisure: The Basis of Christian Culture Pieper convincingly shows that leisure is neither idleness nor a momentary respite in a life of workaholism. Leisure, instead, is an end in itself where we rest in God. It is not the lack of activity, but another kind of activity, in which we direct our minds to something other than our ordinary worries, while filling our soul with spiritual nourishment.
Chess has been considered as an exercise that distracts from this spiritual nourishment, but when activities like games are undertaken in moderation we see their benefits, as long as these activities are not intrinsically disordered such as wilfully harming others or taking their property. In the recent Netflix Series The Queens Gambit, which follows the career of a fictional child prodigy and rising chess grand master, Beth Harmon, the star becomes obsessed with the game in which she excels and forgets about real life, alienating those around her who care deeply about her success. The game is shown to have a life of its own, and Harmon is proven to be a mere pawn (pardon the pun). But as long as the game is allowed to be what it is – a game, and nothing more – then it is harmless and provides a source of joy. It even did for Harmon when she was first introduced to chess by the friendly janitor in the orphanage in which she was raised.
As the World Chess Championship proceeds, we see that the game can take on heightened proportions, as the world looks on in amazement to see who will be crowned global champion. Looming in his absence is the former World Champion, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who has boycotted the game this year due to disagreements with the organisers. And yet the chess world is still holding its breath as the pieces are moved across the board. The game becomes a spectacle, but at the heart of the matter is a pastime that has provided entertainment for thousands of people for over a thousand years. If it remains within its proper boundaries, it could nourish our souls for many centuries to come.
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