, 1963. Chess is what is called, in the gaming world, an “abstract game,” a term usually used to refer to two-player games with thin or no theming, little or no luck (dice rolls, card deals, wheel spins), and no hidden information.1 And yet, despite its lack of functional narrative or emotional elements, it’s an irredeemably human game, driven by huge and volatile personalities, a vessel, at least in the Cold War, for the the ambitions of entire empires. Though only a rough approximation of a...

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