He examined the chess problem and set out the pieces. It was a tricky ending, involving a couple of knights.' White to play and mate in two moves.' Winston looked up at the portrait of Big Brother. White always mates, he thought with a sort of cloudy mysticism. Always, without exception, it is so arranged. In no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won. Did it not symbolize the eternal, unvarying triumph of Good over Evil? The huge face gazed back at him, full of calm power. White always mates. . George Orwell
About This Quote

In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston Smith plays a game of chess with the great Big Brother. In this scene, Winston is approached by a fellow inmate named Syme who tells him of an important piece of information: “In the telescreen you can hear all that is said in the room next door. In white there’s a bishop that attacks black’s king.” Winston then sets out to analyze the position and sets up the pieces to win at chess. In this way, he is able to get a glimpse into what is happening in his own world.

The piece of information he learns from Syme only confirms what he already knows: that it is always so arranged that in no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won. It seems as though defeat at the hands of an opponent is an eternal part of life in Orwell’s dystopia ruled by Big Brother and his shadowy, faceless minions.

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