On Concepts of Architecture and Beauty in Chess
(CHESS) DESIGN = FORM + FUNCTION + BEAUTY
As a chess player, your job is like one of an architect. You deal with Form (Structure), Function (Purpose) and Beauty (Aesthetics).
When you play a game of chess it is like designing something or constructing a mechanism of some kind by which you win or lose. —Marcel Duchamp
To design is to decide upon the look (or form) and the functioning of a building, car, or software. As Duchamp faithfully put it above, it is exactly what you do when you move your chessmen across the board.
During a game of chess, you are building up position in order to set up your pieces harmoniously and purposefully.
The legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright famously said, Form is Function, and Function is Form. The two are parts of an integral whole. They are one, joined in a spiritual union. (Wright's third - and final - wife was Olga Ivanova (Olgivanna) Lazovic Wright, daughter of Montenegro's first Chief Justice and granddaughter of the legendary, historical figure of my ancestral nation, writer and general Marko Miljanov.)
“Just to be with her uplifts my heart and strengthens my spirits."
Frank Lloyd Wright and Olga who proved to be the partner and stabilizing influence he needed in order to refocus on “the cause of architecture”
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In chess, the famous Wright's maxim translates into this,
Your position (read form, board structure, arrangement, make-up, composition, configuration of pieces) dictates the best possible plan and course of action. On the other hand, if you have a promising plan, you change/adjust position so as to best serve your strategy.
Successful chess design is an efficient arrangement of forces that will bring stability to your position. On the one hand, its strength will oppose external, disruptive forces your opponent is amassing against you. On the other hand, positional advantages will likely be accumulating (typically by use of “small tactics,” =the building blocks of strategy) to the critical point when positional superiority becomes decisive, and “big tactics” is typically called to settle the matters in the firework of glowing combinative sparks.
This process of constructing the board position is a domain of strategy, of building up, of looking ahead, while having in mind the purpose and function (and possibly beauty) of the "final product.". It resembles making finest design — you are to be a successful designer, a great architect, if you aspire to play good chess.
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Chess design leads to planning for a harmonious arrangement of pieces, “the main principle throughout” (Capablanca), in such a way as to best accomplish a particular intended purpose you set out on the board.
All this discussion reminds us of how architecture, design and chess are closely related. One may say architecture is static, while chess is dynamic. Yet, architectural forms emerge from the interplay of various social, economic and cultural forces. Even pedestrian movement, or navigating interiors of our homes, attribute to decision-making processes of urban and home planning and design. For example, the density of pedestrian movement flow can be seen as a result of urban locations that potentially become attractors to us humans because of their form, use, or beauty. In this light, it becomes clear there is a close link between the configuration and function of urban or chess space and movement choices.
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Urban and chess planning both consider form, function and beauty (Skyline chess set)
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As much as chess design is a great art, it is a kind of mysterious gift from Caissa. It is not easy to understand a quest for harmony, unity and beauty. And design is not science, something you can study and learn. Had every designer understood more about the math of attraction, and what's pleasing to the eye, all design, from houses and cars to chess positions, would have all looked great and be good for us to use. But there are few Wrights and Capablancas.
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BEAUTY IN CHESS
Design form and function are highly related to beauty. Designing always requires two components: the functional and aesthetic dimensions of the design object and design process. As a (chess) architect, you should (possibly
) arrive at a solution that is not only safe and operational, but also delightful and beautiful.
Some two thousand years ago, Vitruvius, the Roman author, architect, and military engineer put it this way, architecture is a package-deal combining firmness, commodity and delight. He was also talking Structure, Function and Beauty!
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Nature is not just functional. It is also unquestionably beautiful. Every human being possesses an innate sense of beauty. Beauty literally moves us. Our innate sense of good and bad and our innate sense of beauty are inseparably tied to each other.
Here is Bronstein's view on the beautiful in chess. He had a keen sense of beauty and harmony of pieces as he has amply demonstrated in his own games. Once he said:
Even those who don’t understand chess can tell whether the player’s position is good or bad. How could that be possible? Very simple, it’s about how pleasing to the eye the chess pieces on the board are really set up. — David Bronstein
Here are a couple of positions to put your sense of beauty to the test. Can you tell which side is winning just by looking at the positions? Let your senses decide which side has a more aesthetically attractive piece set up which tends to be a winning one.
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TEST YOURSELF
In all positions, the side looking more attractive and more pleasing to the eye reached the critical point where tactics may be used to launch a decisive attack, where great design, its beauty and functionality all shine together as one sparkling light. A place where chess magic works.
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