El Ajedrez: Un Estudio sobre el Impacto Cultural del Ajedrez Durante la Guerra Fría y su Simbolismo Ideológico en Chile

Keywords

Abstract

The article examines the ideological positions of the Chilean governments of Allende and Pinochet in the face of the Cold War, through chess and three key historical sources: the “Manual de Ajedrez” by Quimantú (1972), the story “La partida inconclusa” by Floridor Pérez (1980), and a photograph of the 25th Chess Olympiad in Lucerne (1982). These reveal how the sport symbolized geopolitical tensions, from socialist collective education to cultural resistance and dictatorial diplomacy. The relevance of the topic lies in its usefulness for unraveling the revealed preferences of the State and society, according to Samuelson’s theory (Samuelson 1948), enriched with other authors in a Latin American context. Thus, chess acts as a mirror of ideological alignments: massification under Allende and repressive escape with Western projection in the dictatorship. In summary, the documents highlight contradictions and similarities in the state’s use of chess for international prestige, inviting reflection on contemporary cultural preferences in the face of global dilemmas.

PDF Preview