The Thinker's Game: Decoding the Chess Universe

This book is written for beginners who are interested in the game and would like to learn more about its various aspects.

It covers the technical aspects of chess: the use of algebraic notation (Chapter 3), chess evaluation (Chapter 4), the opening phase (Chapter 5), the middle game (Chapter 6), the endgame (Chapter 7), and the chess rating system (Chapter 8). It introduces a number of chess problems, formulated with a chess board and chess pieces and presupposing a working knowledge of chess (Chapter 9).

It offers an account of variants of chess such as Fischer random chess (Chapter 10). It also covers the cultural aspects of chess: its history (Chapter 2) and status as an immortal game that might enable it to play a role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (Chapter 11). Wherever possible, chess diagrams are provided to help chess beginners make sense of certain points about chess. Algebraic notation will also guide them in understanding certain chess-based lines of reasoning.

Whenever you are ready, let us begin this odyssey of chess!

Dr. Melvin Chen is a philosopher, poet, and (amateur) programmer at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His research spans topics such as logic, ethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of artificial intelligence, and what he calls "big philosophy." His work has been published in prestigious academic journals, including IEEE Intelligent Systems, The Lancet Regional Health, Ethics & Information Technology, Philosophy & Technology, AI & Society, Hypatia, Philosophy & Literature, Philosophical Psychology, Pacific Conservation Biology, and The Southern Journal of Philosophy. In addition to this chess-related book, Dr. Chen has authored Philosophy & Art in Southeast Asia (Bloomsbury, 2024) and the forthcoming Art-Making as Problem-Solving (under contract with Palgrave Macmillan). His poetry has been featured in BlazeVOX, LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, Eunoia Review, and Tipton Poetry Journal. His visual art has appeared in Heartbeat Literary Journal. Inspired by the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 match between GM Ding Liren and GM Gukesh Dommaraju, held in his home country of Singapore, Melvin embarked on creating his own chess engine, Sapientia.