Chess as a Symbol

Chess as a symbol of war, chess as a symbol of peace. Two photos on the short list for this month's featured Flickr photo used a chess game to convey opposing messages.

Top: Chess match USSR (Russia) vs USA © Flickr user Ted under Creative Commons
Bottom: Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev and Astronaut Woody Hoburg play chess © Flickr user NASA Johnson under Creative Commons

The top photo, which had 16 views and one fave (mine), carried no other information beyond a link to an album titled, 2023 National Museum of the United States Air Force. The bottom photo, which had 6054 views and 22 faves (the most recent was mine) had a description that said,

From left, Expedition 69 Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg of NASA each contemplate their next move during an orbital game of chess inside the International Space Station's [ISS] cupola. The orbital lab was soaring 259 miles above the Colombia - Venezuela border at the time of this photograph.

Chess as a symbol of war was widespread during the 1972 Fischer - Spassky Title Match (m-w.com). See, for example, last year's post, Cold Warriors of Chess (August 2022; 'Before the match started, [media] focus was on aspects of the cold war between two nuclear superpowers, the USA and the USSR.').

Chess as a symbol of peace has been seen before on this blog using the same Flickr source; see At the Cosmonaut Hotel (April 2020). I frequently use the phrase, 'Chess is a game of war'. Maybe I also need to say, 'Chess is a game of peace'.