The esoteric wisdom of Chess

Gnostic culture teaches the doctrine of the Heart, which is based on the faculty of intuition, so that we can learn to see beyond mere forms. This enables us to extract the conscious values of each event for our personal learning. In the same way, it teaches us the esoteric wisdom of chess, the most popular science game in the world.

There are so many board games, but no other one has a history of more than 1,500 years and is so topical today that it is considered a science-sport.

“Life is a chessboard, where each of our actions is a move. If our moves are good, intelligent and timely, the result will be success, health and longevity. If, on the other hand, our moves are in bad faith, selfish and mistimed, the result will be failure, sickness and death.” Samael Aun Weor.

The benefits of playing chess

The multiple cognitive-emotional benefits of learning and playing chess have been widely studied. Among many other things, it improves analytical skills, trains the memory, stimulates creativity, helps develop patience and respect for the opponent. It also improves the ability to understand rules and to accept the consequences of actions.

I see in the battle of chess an astonishingly accurate model of human life, with its daily grind, its crises and its ceaseless ups and downs. G. Kasparov

Playing chess entails a training that improves planning, organisation, solving problems, attention, visual-spatial ability, discipline and emotional intelligence.

Esoteric chess

• • The board: Symbolises the dual nature of life itself, the positive and the negative.
  • The pawns: These are the soldiers of the king’s army, the simplest pieces, the details of life which conquer the virtues of the queen and mother, the eight Virtues of the Divine Mother Devi-Kundalini, which are: Comprehension, Will, the Word, Right-thinking, Right-feeling, Right way of earning a living, that there may be Peace and Love. If a pawn manages to reach the last row of the board it can be crowned and exchanged for another piece of greater movement and value, which teaches us esoterically the value of perseverance and the ability to overcome obstacles in our path..
  • The Castles: In the ancient mystery schools the neophyte was given the Chisel and Hammer to polish the two columns of the Temple, the White and the Black, or rather, the Doric and the Ionic; this physical construction, usually in stone, is the building of the inner temple, chiselled with the sublimation of our own sexual energy.
  • The Knights: They represent boldness and the courage to eliminate Fear. Their movements describe the square and the compass, so important in Masonic studies, their L-shaped movements (exclusive to the knight), allow us to jump over other pieces, inviting us to reflect on resilience and overcoming obstacles in life, to be able to move forward.
  • The Bishops: In medieval courts, the Bishops were the closest to the King. The Bishops represent the Lance, the Urania Venus of the Greeks. The straightness and range of their movement symbolises the uprightness we should have in our actions.

• • The Lady Queen: On the chessboard of life and in the game of chess, the feminine element cannot be absent; the universal principle of life, which shines in every creation. God Himself is the King unfolded in Woman, the Eternal Love that ebbs and flows in all creation.  As her children we long for her tenderness because she is the other half of our BEING. Without the Queen in a game of Chess, we feel lost without her supreme power.
• • If we undertake a Transcendental study of different cultures, we can see that she has been represented by the Priestess of the Mystery temples in Egypt. The Priestess of Thebes, who, from within the flames, spoke to the multitudes. Also as a vestal at Delphi, under the name of Pythia. The liberty of movement of the queen on a chessboard shows us her importance in the game as well as in life. Thanks to her moves we can lose or win the game.

• • The King: Symbolises wisdom, the Hierarch, our real BEING, the Inner Master, the inner star that has always smiled upon us. The whole game of Chess consists in getting the king into such a position that he cannot move. It is only then that he is put to death, or Checkmate. We know that once a game of Chess is over, you can start another one, but the King is still the King. He does not change, he is our Real BEING, he is what was, what is and what will be

The philosophical teaching of the scientific game

One of the fundamental values of Chess is Time, that is, speed in carrying out the strategy of the game, in time and space, and avoiding errors. So also in life, we are confronted with innumerable problems, and each person needs to know how to solve them intelligently.

Every chess player knows that the solution lies in the problem itself, as long as there is calm and equilibrium between mind, emotion and movement.

We can be certain that all human beings are pieces on the chessboard of life; and above us there are higher beings, who sometimes give support to the black pieces and sometimes to the white ones.

Each of us is now replaying the same game of our previous life, plus the consequences, good or bad, under the effects of the Law of Karma. We are unconscious players who have not learned to play intelligently; who do not allow our destiny be guided by a single purpose, but are led by our unbridled whims and disorganised cravings, in other words, the ego.

All human beings, without the benefit of some superior teaching, are like a game of Chess without Pawns, short on intelligence and with many limitations. We are ignorant that within us there are great possibilities which, if properly developed, would lead us to the final victory.

Through the beautiful symbolism of this scientific game, we see the necessity of becoming truly intelligent players. We must become aware of our own game of life in order to awaken within ourselves all the higher values that will make us real.

Gnostic wisdom invites you to deepen your knowledge on this and other subjects through our free courses of self-knowledge.