A message from Garry Kasparov:
When I won the World Chess Championship in 1985, chess was my life. It was everything I had known and I loved it without reservation. Now, in 2006, after I have retired from professional chess, I have found that this love is for life.
The Joys and benefits of chess are as limitless as the game itself. It provides competition and entertainment for children and adults. It is an international language that knows no barriers. The rules are as universal as the pleasure the game brings to everyone who learns it. Chess expands the mind, teaches us the value of concentration and preparation, and allows us to enter into the rich world of chessplayers past and present. [...]
"What is a game of chess?" Is it a sport? Or is it an art? Or a science? It has the struggle and competitive spirit of a sport. After all, the goal is to win. It has the creativity and imaginative fantasy of art. Surely the objective is to produce something beautiful. And it possesses the logic and calculation of a science.
Our aim should be to play with absolute accuracy. We must therefore conclude it is all three wrapped into one. Its rich and inexhaustible nature makes the gameof chess a gift for life. This chess set will also last a lifetime. May it bring you all the happiness chess has brought me.
Garry Kasparov, Mosow, 2006