It is said that the game of Chess is an excellent way for developing: concentration, logic, patience, iq levels, and much more. Close scrutiny would show that chess would be an excellent tool for magical training, just as concentration and visualisation are.

I'm willing to suggest that an hour of chess per day can enhance the levels of the mind to an extraordinary level, and extremely prudent for magical growth. Creativity, logic, concentration, comparison, etc.

What do you believe? Any chess players here?

This post has been edited by NecroReaper: Jan 28 2007, 03:14 AM

The Japanese say the same thing about Go.

To me it really doesn't matter. I like chess, I can beat most social players, but haven't found it helps at all with magic or the skills associated with it. Chess, Go, and games like it are games of skill. They don't require superior mental ability as such, they simply require training and practise.

Magic is more of an art to me. Unlike games of skill where everything can be learned, arts require a certain amount of innate talent to be proficient. Anyone can be a copyist but few can create masterpieces...

True, but with greater magical ability come more keen minds, and better concentration, as well as memory; all of which are essential for the better Chess players.

Remember, the Mind is everything, and the more it's used, the more advantage there is.

I see what you're saying. However, I've seen magic crack and shatter minds as well as build them. Chess doesn't really do that--if people become *too* obsessed with it, they're kicked out of chess clubs and tournaments and generally get a wakeup call. Games of skill generally don't make weak minds delusional. Magic can, in the wrong hands, and in some exceptionally screwed up people, it rips them apart by giving them a sense of power that they don't actually possess.

Just my $3.

Greetings,

Ah, Chess...the perfect game, the eternal battle of Darkness and Light atop the 64 squares that represent the three-dimensional manifestation in the fourth Kabbalistic world of Asiyah (4^3). Chess has only become profane with modernity; its origins are undoubtedly sacred and like the Tarot is intrinsically tied to the magical principles of the universe. There exists much material written on Chess symbolism, I offer this rather short article:

The Symbolism of Chess



Oh, I beg to differ. We need only to look at Bobby Fisher to see how a brilliant mind was shattered by this "game".

This post has been edited by Faustopheles: Jan 29 2007, 04:17 AM

Greetingst Faustopheles, and thank you for the great link, and even greater analysis of Chess. I do agree that Chess is one of the most - if not the most - profound board game(s) in all of history. I also never thought that Chess could have been used for divination or other magical purposes.

I truly am a big fan of quaint things.

If i remember correctly a chess board has been used to figure out many encoded and secret messages and deciphers. It has always had huge association with government cults like the cia. At the least it has an interesting history and makes you think. But i feel theres alot more to it than that.

Greetings 'NecroReaper',

I love chess. I think it could help develop some parts of the brain which are accessed through magick.

I have played on yahoo with some people from this forum but basically yahoo chess sucks a big one as half the time you get kicked out of the middle of a game.

Anyone know a better place to play?

Any challengers?

Peace

i play chess on yahoo too
my username is : jingwulian

i believe that when you are thinking the possibles moves to counter your opponent or planning
you are training visualising skills

This post has been edited by forceiswithme: Jan 29 2007, 06:53 PM

They say Chess significantly raises the IQ (Intelligence), and it teaches to concentrate on one thing the entire time. I believe Aleister Crowley himself was a Chess player, as well as most geniuses, famous philosophers, scientists, and even inventors.

But I'm not too sure about the significance it has in secretive CIA etc.

Chess isn't about shattering minds?! C'mon now that's like saying there's only one way to interpret a book!! Chess is all about shattering minds, namely your opponents! As an example I present that last world chess championship played by champion Vladimir Kramnik and challenger Veselin Topalov. After the first two games Kramnik had already one two games. A huge mountain to climb given the rarity of vicorties when two of the top of the top meet. At the time of the games many people believed Topalov, who for the past two years been playing like a man possessed would pretty easily dispatch Vlad, who was coming back from a crippling artheritic injury. So Topalov suddenely found himself down 2-0 after just two games, he was definitely going to unravel and get slaughtered when he allowed his manager Silvio Danilov to accuse Kramnik of cheating, sued the arberitrators who were favorable to his camp to close down many agreed upon arrangements in the match. Kramnik protested and refused to play the next game and was forced to forfeit a game to Topalov's side. This not only gave Topalov a free win, but gave him the necessary time to recover his wits and confidence.

What most people don't know is this: in professional or tournament chess games can last for as long as seven or eights hours. In amateur tournaments you often play two of these games in one day. In this regard magic is very similiar to chess, you spend six or seven hours of intense concentration, one goal in mind, and with one slip all your work could be washed down the drain. What's more you could play perfectly and might only come away with a draw. At this level chess is also a game of acting and psychologically destroying your opponent so that he barely has the nerve to make the right move, in this way chess at the very highest level is most definitely an art form. As some players are attackers, some are defenders and so on and so forth.

As for where to play chess, the top pay sites are the Internet Chess Club, and Playchess. Both offer excellent graphics good content and a fair share of professional chess players playing against each other for your viewing pleasure. The best free internet service to my knowledge is the FICS Free Internet Chess Service, people from around the world and I believe a few professionals as well. I personally play on playchess and have a blitz rating ranging from around 1900-2050, usually I play 3 or 5 min blitz games.

Of course playing blitz games isn't all that great for concentration and focus though it does build memory, if you reallly want to excel and get the most from chess you need to play a minimum time length of 45 min a piece. If you did that once a week with maybe some blitz in between you would definitely see an increase in awareness and concentration.

Edupanna PM sent!

Greetings'Bb3',

I did not get your PM brother.

I sent like three pms lol, overkill baby, anyway tell me if your not getting it. I think I have your email saved from awhile ago and I'll go that route.

Anybody can learn what the chess pieces do and the rules to the game. Simply playing the game doesn't enhance one's brain anymore than monopoly makes economist out of people. If you want chess to improve your cognitive faculties you've got to challenge your mind beyond the limmits of just knowing how to play the game. Its easy to manouver pieces on the board and nagotiate trades with your opponet. But it takes skill and cunning to really lure one into check mate - stragety, adaptability, knowledge of the game, and deception are all some skills one should utilize to be good at chess.

Chess and magick go together pretty well I think. Like cheese on a burger. Or hops and barley. Chess can be used to enhance the flavor of one's magickal reasoning. Timed chess forces one to develope quicker wit. The game itself can be used as a form of deep contemplation.

^Well said. To me, though, magic and chess are completely different skill sets. There's some common ground, but not a lot IMO.

@Bb3: there's a difference between psyching someone out and making them doubt their abilities, and sending them to the psych ward with permanent psychosis. Chess does the former (Bobby Fischer being a notable exception, but the guy was never stable anyway), and I've seen magic do the latter quite a few times.

This post has been edited by Darkmage: Jan 31 2007, 07:08 PM

Darkmage I would argue that your nitpicking, going to the psycho ward is just an exaggeration of doubting yourself and being psyched out. For another thing it's generally not magic that's doing people harm, it's obsession, ignorance and recklessness. Things that chess generally helps to counteract when played thoughtfully. Also, magic itself does as much healing of the psyche as it does hurting as I hope you have not forgotten. I would definitely agree that chess and magic most often aren't identical beings, but magic requires a clear and patient mind to name just a couple of things. If you're telling me those things aren't valuable in the world of magic, if not being magical unto themselves then obviously IYHO chess and magic would be completely different and that's fine; however, the majority of chess players who practice mysticism would disagree. In summary I would say that chess is one of the most excellent foundations for students of magic with which to build upon. The ability to find the right strategy as well as to learn the ability to act with a quiet ambtion and drive are abilities that will reward a person far greater than most spells, rituals or amulets that you will ever come across in the world. What a person does with all that is his/her own decision, but chess is only one of three games besides life itself where I will give a person an unquestioned amount of respect if they have learned to play skillfully.

This post has been edited by Bb3: Jan 31 2007, 09:00 PM

I've always been interested in chess as it has, like Go, simple rules but complicated outcomes, also interested in how our brains prioritise and make decisions when restricted to chess moves compared to how a computer program handles the same task. I've always meant to look into Enochian chess too.

There is certainly a occult element to the design of the board, pieces, and rules - along with the mindset that goes along with them.



The word zugzwang is itself a chess term - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/zugzwang

If you trace how you move a knight about the board you will find that it unfolds in a geometric pattern that you'll find in nearly all books on freemasonry.

I am playing at gameknot.com. Basically I like the longer time limit, which allows me to finish the game when ever I have the free time to do so. My username is : vaso.

Regarding chess, I agree with what Acid said above. Anybody can move the pieces by the rules, but to manipulate your opponent to make a certain move that you need him to make, or to distract him, so he won't realise what your intentions are until it is to late for him, is another thing...

Yes, gameknot is a good place to play chess...
my usernam is reprobus, but I'm not a great player (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

64 squares, just like the 64 simbols of the I Ching... black and whinte... yin and yang

I whole heartedly agree. Thank you very much for posting this; I had never thought of chess in that way, but ti makes a lot of sense.

I used to play chess, but haven't in quite a long time.

[quote name='NecroReaper' date='Jan 28 2007, 02:12 AM' post='26485']
It is said that the game of Chess is an excellent way for developing: concentration, logic, patience, iq levels, and much more. Close scrutiny would show that chess would be an excellent tool for magical training, just as concentration and visualisation are.

I Absolutely concur, for what is chess but the interplay of archetypal symbologies upon the consciousness of man, I suggest it is also fulyl feasible to create sacred magics based upon perfectly orchestrated games of chess, where in each piece represents a factor, a power being woven into a specific end.