Shelby Lyman on Chess: A Misleading Mystique
Sunday, November 17, 2013
(Published in print: Sunday, November 17, 2013)
People are intimidated by chess. “I don’t play,” more than one adult has told me. “I think the game is too difficult.”
I am not sure why this is so — probably part of a traditional mystique in which chess was seen as a game of wise old men and intellectuals, of courtiers and king.
Before 1972 — when Bobby Fischer played Boris Spassky for the World Championship — this trepidation was particularly widespread.
According to a Harris Poll only 20 percent of Americans over 18 knew how to play the moves.
In fact, the basic moves and rules are quickly learned.
And anyone, who has the vaguest sense of position and strategy in other sports or warfare, will readily understand the rudiments of chess strategy.
A 2003 study by Fluent Software found that “chess is wildly popular … if there’s one barrier to getting everyone to play chess, it’s the perceived difficulty in learning how to play.”
Not merely learning the rules, but becoming a capable player is not an issue in a supportive environment.
Good scholastic chess programs, for example, seem to consistently produce strong players, as generations of children come and go.
Source: http://www.vnews.com
Legend.