What chess games and chess problems tell us about digital games and art

This article examines the relationship between chess games and chess problems (compositions) in order to describe the chess problem as art. Arguing that the chess problem is a manipulation of game form guided by human aesthetic principles (e.g. Schiller's beauty and Wimsatt's human condition), the article draws a parallel between art derived from games and art derived from nature. This parallel has important implications in circumstances where a natural world is replaced by a virtual world and nature is, in some sense, lost to the artist. The article argues that, in such circumstances, the interactive and concreative nature of digital media particularly digital games allows for unabated aesthetic production.