There is something archetypal about the game of chess. This means that it has engaged and continues to engage Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and atheists worldwide. The whole thing is a mystery unless one seeks the ‘history within history’ of its success – why is it so? The connections to India and Hindu culture are well known. Most now acknowledge that chess can be traced back to India around 500 AD or at the same time as the Tantra movement in the Hindu religion. This phenomenon was made very clear in the logo of the Chess World Championship in London in the fall of 2018, where the chessboard was integrated into a typical tantra position, to the delight of many and the outrage of others.
Think of chess pieces as symbols of who you are. Your personality, which is how you usually act, feel, and think, is mostly due to your genes from your family. These genes are chosen randomly when your mom and dad had you. Your interests and talents are also due to these genes when you were just a fetus. Imagine life as a game of chess, what if you behaved or thought like a particular chess piece? Let’s explore this SGL-idea some more.
