The Queen’s Gambit

In an interview with Jesús J. Boyero for MARCA Sport Weekend of October 31, 2021, all-time No. 1 woman Judit Polgár said that chess has changed much “especially since the last decade, and even more during the pandemic. It’s the only sport that can actually be played online. The Champions Chess Tour and other online super-tournaments have made a fantastic contribution, especially for pros. The Internet gave chess a completely new dimension”. There is no doubt the Internet saved many lives — quite possibly millions — from the worst effects of the pandemic responses. Furthermore, it was also the only way to avoid a global draconian media dictatorship, even if probably not enough to free mankind from its New Normal. Quite definitely but less importantly, it changed the nature and direction of most (if not all) abstract strategy games, which — luckily — weren’t Olympic sports, but sinusoidal mindwaves to be surfed on the screen. Hence chess is not the only one, but only one out of the many possible strategy games capable to augment its reality with holographic projections generated by a computer — chess and/or chess960, 围棋 (Go), Checkers and/or Draughts, 象棋 (Xiàngqí), 将棋 (Shōgi), Reversi, and so on till another game is suggested. Just beware of the Squid Game, so as not to confirm what they always say that reality overcomes fiction.