On making one’s way through chess

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the relation between thinking and making in the context of chess. Historically, this relation has been examined through an intellectualist tradition, which reduces chess to a series of calculations, connected up and isolated to the mind of a master. Here, we speak to this tradition through the voice of a theorist, and suggest it is to put thinking ahead of making. What, though, if this relation was re-imagined? What if master chess players did their thinking, not before a move was made, but in the midst of its making? In response to these questions, we explore the conditions and potentials of chess spoken through the voice of a craftsperson. To do so, chess is first grounded, not intellectually, but ecologically. Then, weaving in Tim Ingold’s perspectives of making, we propose that the unfolding form of a game is attributed, not to the computations of a detached master, but to the attentive responsiveness of players attuned to the ebb and flow of a game, anticipating a way forward by looking, along with listening and feeling. This is to put thinking, not ahead of making, but in its midst. We round out by considering the attentive, corresponsive and temporal characteristics of chess situated as a crafted endeavour.