Author A. A. Milne claimed that chess differed from other sports not in the degree of physical exercise involved — he drew attention to the need to retrieve fallen pieces — but in etiquette. In other sports, it is usual to commiserate with your opponent’s misfortunes, but in chess this is most unusual.

Milne argued that all misfortunes in chess are in fact the result of deliberate actions, and any kind of commiseration would be out of place. Consequently, no one who wins at chess is ever magnanimous about it, and the triumphant note in the cry of ‘Check mate!’ is enough to end Milne’s enthusiasm after about a month.

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