This scholarly essay in intellectual progress over the chess board shows how the pessimists who thought chess played out - destined to become victim to the death of a thousand draws - were refuted by the dynamic risky games of Alexander Alekhine, whose legacy lived on in the games of Soviet and Russian champions such as Mikhail Tal. With computers taking an ever increasing role in modern chess and challenging the modern champions Kasparov and Kramnik, the author's thoughts on the inexhaustible creative potential of chess assume even greater significance.