The Game of Chess

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

The centuries-old game of Chess is still one of the most popular games in the world. It is played by millions of people across all cultures. During this time, Chess has captured the imaginations, not just of players, but of artists, technologists, anthropologists and other students of human behavior as well, making it a “boundary object” common to many disciplines. Thus, Chess can be viewed through many different lenses and can serve as the locus of interdisciplinary investigation, critique, and insight.In this course we will analyze the game of Chess from many of these perspectives. After brief introductions to the history and rules of Chess, we will study the game in the context of Game Design and Games Studies, two related academic disciplines that provide a wealth of background for the study of games and simulation more generally, and have useful application in areas such as user experience (UX), cultural studies, and information science.Building on the topics in game design, we will then explore Chess as a designed artifact — examining stylistic differences in the creation of Chess pieces and boards themselves as well as the techniques and materials used to create them. Finally, we explore the intersection of Chess and technological culture from the famous Mechanical Turk, to Deep Blue, to Alpha Go in an attempt to understand why this game has become so intimately connected to progress in artificial intelligence.In addition to weekly reading and bi-weekly assignments and exercises, students will complete a final project that represents a deep dive into some aspect of the game and course in the medium of a student’s choosing. For example, students may wish to write a term paper investigating a cultural aspect of the game, implement a Chess-playing program, or design their own Chess set in a particular style.NOTE: Although playing Chess will be an important part of the course (you cannot properly study a game without playing it) this is not a course where you will be taught chess tactics or strategies (unless you want to investigate these as part of your final project).