"Finally, it’s totally deterministic. There’s no randomness or element of chance, which makes this a, uh, slightly less than perfect simulacrum of the world."<p>Yes, the game itself is deterministic, unlike say backgammon or poker. But there is an element of randomness in the quality of moves produced by the two player. As a chess master, I try to beat a lower-rated player by giving them enough chances to go wrong. Whether they do is outside my control. So good chess players, like players of non-deterministic games, are trying to maximize expectancy.