The Greatest Battle

Chess has been represented, or should I say misrepresented as a game - that is, a thing which could not well serve a serious purpose, solely created for the enjoyment of an empty hour.  If it were a game only, chess would never have survived the serious trials to which it has, during the long time of its existence, been often subjected. By some ardent enthusiasts chess has been elevated into a science or an art. It is neither, but its principal characteristic seems to be - what human nature mostly delights in - a fight. Not a fight, indeed such as would tickle the nerves of coarser natures, where blood flows and the blows delivered leave their visible traces on the bodies of the combatants, but a fight in which the scientific, the artistic, the purely intellectual element holds undivided sway.

Emanuel Lasker, World Chess Champion (1894 - 1921)