GEOPOLITICAL CHESSBOARD

Abstract

Sport has long been the means of solving the problems in world politics. One of the first games that showed the possibility of combining different spheres of human activity was chess. The article examines the history of the development of chess, patterns and features of this intellectual game through the prism of geopolitical interests. The author draws an analogy between the mental efforts of the players and the activities of diplomats, finds common features in the strategy of the game and in international politics in defending state interests. It is proposed to consider the field of the chess game as a battlefield or geopolitical map of influence, the rules of the game on which are established by the strongest countries. Opponents demonstrate strength, endurance, and character that are necessary for any sport. The importance of anticipating a variety of options in this rivalry is easily extrapolated to socio-political realities. Chess reflects the images of spatial and social organization that are important to a person, and the rules of the game have much in common with the strategy of behavior of the main actors. Chess was highly valued during times of social transformations; this was manifested in the desire not to ban the game as a legacy of the past, but on the contrary, to make it a symbol of the ongoing changes. This policy was followed by the French revolutionaries of the 18th century and the Russian Bolsheviks at the beginning of the 20th century. Despite the open appearance of confrontation, chess games are well reminiscent of diplomacy, which consists of closeness and seclusion. According to some political scientists, we can easily compare the chess game can with the strategic management of geopolitical interests.