Chess has long been assumed to be a struggle of intellect, patience, and control-traits that most of its all-time greats have elaborated on, as much off the board as on. Grandmasters through the years have given their comments on might, strategy, as well as what is above and behind chess and how the latter reflects true reality struggles, commends, and decision-making.
To one of the all-time great chess players, Garry Kasparov, the game is impossible to separate from politics and human psychology. He called it "mental torture," a mirror to the brutal inner struggles that exist at the highest level. His epic battle with AI, and especially with IBM's Deep Blue, fueled debates regarding human versus machine intelligence.
Bobby Fischer, the unpredictable genius master, once said, "Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent's mind." His belligerent, nearly militant approach to the game reflected his own complicated personality, as well as Cold War politics of the time, in which he encountered Boris Spassky in 1972.
Meanwhile, Judit Polgár, the greatest female chess player in history, has employed chess to upend gender expectations. She was famously quoted as saying, “(...) our goal must be that women and men compete with one another on an equal footing.” She is characteristic of the wider struggle for equality in an historically masculine environment. All these views indicate how chess is not merely a game - it’s a battleground for warfare of the mind, social revolution, and personal defiance.