Cover Osteuropa 10/2009

In Osteuropa 10/2009

Chess Composition in the Cold War
Contact Zone between East and West

Andreas Nievergelt


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

Unlike the game of chess, chess composition remained unpoliticised on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Even the competition in the development of computer technology did not change this. In basic research, chess was an important field of experimentation for artificial intelligence. The chess composition scene integrated new technology into its work and promoted exchange, because it shared these goals. Even such a specific scene as chess composition was affected and shaped by technical change despite the Iron Curtain.

(Osteuropa 10/2009, pp. 153–166)