the psychology of chessplayers ocr
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
1/87
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
2/87
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
3/87
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
4/87
he sychology of thehess layer
(formely tied: Pschoanati Obevaoon Che a e Me)
by Reuben Fine
Wh Nw Adx Tw L y
Eest Jons
Dvr Publicai I.
Nw Yrk
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
5/87
opyright © 5 by te National Psycholol
siation or Psyhoanalyss, In.opyrght © by Reuen FineAll rights eserved under Pan Ameran and n·
tationa Copyright Conventions
Published in Canada by Geneal Publihing Company Ltd 0 smill oad Don Mls Toronto
OntarioPublshed in he Unied Kingdom by onstabeand opany td 0 ange Steet London
is Doer editon pubished in is annabridgd reublication of the work ogialy pubised i 5 as Volue o Pchoanalysi, theJournal o Psyhoanytic Psyhology It is eprintedby erissio of soaa and the Po·ana)t Rvew.
his ediion also ontains a revied selecton oportraits and new ppedix onssting o twoletrs by Ees ones
Sadard Book Numbr: 486-2151Lba of Cg aaog ard 9
anuactud in the nited tat o meraDoer Publiatns n.
0 Varic StretNe Yor N Y
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
6/87
CONTE N S
REVEW F E LIEAUE . Page
GENERA REMAKS N HE .. Page 6
HE WRD AMPNS Page 26
4. PY E AMN ES PAYERS Page
SUMMY: EY CESS··-·· Pag
APPENX W EE BY ENEJNE . . . .. .. Page 7
APHY
Pg
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
7/87
Reuben Fine
Howard Staunon
Adolf Andes
Wilhelm iz
ILLUSTRATION
Fotfacing pg
30
Pau Mpy
30
30
3
31
Emae Laske
Js al Capalaca
Aeane Aein .....
Max Eue
Mial Bovini
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
8/87
I
REVIEW OF THE LITEAUR
JN PYOAL iterature, the csica paper on cheis the one by est Jones entited "The Problem of Pau
Morphy ( 23) fist read to the British syhoanayia So
iety n 1930 and pubished in 1931
Most of th profound paper is devoted to a pathogaphy
of au Morphy who wi be dcued ater. With regad tothe ore genera question of the pyhoogy of hs Jones
as he foowing poin: Quite obviousy he s a ay
subitute for the art of war he uncosious otive atuating
the payer not the ere ove of pugnacity charactertic of
a copetive ga but the ger one of fathe-urder
he athematica uty of the ge gives he a ecuiar
anasadistic quaty The sense of overhemng mastery on the
one side athes that of inesapabe hepsnes on the oher
It s ths na-sadtc feature that akes the ge we
adapted to gatify at the sae ie boh he hoosxua and
the tagonstic aspects of the faheron contt
Other pape by Karpan 4) Coria 8), Menninger
( 31 ) and Feming 17 do not add substatiay to ones' hess A agree that a obnation of hoosxua and hte
ipuses are submated in chs
his kd of approach focu on the ibidina confits
Whie iuinates eran feaures of he gae it eav any
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
9/87
Th sh f h Ch
ohes untouched. After a, the hotie-ende conict wth the
athe s pa of evey encounte between two men Because
of the ubqty o the undelying idna conicts mode ychoanays has ecay in the past thty years concen
tated more and more on the ego It s the ppoe of this
pape to appoac the ueston of wha i eentate the chess
payer from other men from the point of view of the ego as
we a fom that o the d
he psychooca teatue contan evera inteestng studies which can be biefy summazed hee
A the internatioa chs tournament at Mocow n 1925,
thee pofessos of psychooy, Djakow Petowski and Rd
gave tweve o the partcpants a e of psychoogica test
incuding the oschach They do not state why ony tweve
wee chosen no ae the ubjects idented he eut wee
pubhed and a Gema trasaton i avalabe (1).
he t gven wee varos psychometic devices deged
to meaure the foowng:
1 Memo
a Memory and grap (Auahmvm) of
the chs boadb) Abity to emember postions of che piece
c) Memory numbe
d) Memory f geometic designs
2 Attenton
e Scope of attenon
) Abiity to cocentate attenion on the chs
boad
g tributon of attention abiity to note
evea dieent thin simutaneouy
h Dynmc of attention (abity to ay atten
ion to succsive impon)
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
10/87
Review f the Leture
3) Combinatoy and itllctual nctons
) Svn Qns on th ch board1
j) Nmber sri (logical qncs)
k Spd of ntlcta procs abstract
stmls)
I ) Spd o ntlctal proc concrt
tmls)
4 5 Imagation and psychoogcal ty (th Ro
chach tst)
On th psychomtic tsts, t chs mast wr vastly
pior to t control (not thr crid) n al taks
lating to th chss board and pc ch as mmbng
postion. Bt in th oth tts oty wa ond in only
wo tak: th ability to pay attntio to sval dirnt things
smltanoy (Aufmeksameteelung and in abstract
thinkng mbr srs) Th ida that chs playr in gn
ral ar o mch highr intignc, hav a bttr mmoy
concntrat btr, was not bstantatd h tt d wr
howv, o cd by prnt-day standard and th mthodo
ogy o poor that littl val can b attachd to th conclion
Rorschach yldd th ollowng man lt nm
br o rpo rangd rom -88 whol rspon -30 wlabov avrag) nanimat obct 160%, color rpon 07
(6 subct with no coor), movmnt rpon 1-4 (9 sbc
wth no movmn)
h pychogram o th orhach wa not hr intr
ptd by th Rssian pycholoit n spt o th absnc o
mor data, it clar at h modal ponality po is thato a contrctin Roschach' tminoloyoartatd ind
Ths is a pblem in wc one s rqued t l ev Quensn hess ard sh a way ha nne a cpu fhe ohs.
3
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
11/87
h h th Ch
vidual (no coor, no moement). Rochach's comment on this
pe heps to epain some of he Rssia findng e say
(34:
The cotated type and i igficant meae
ao the coatative types2 ae chaacteized by he
etem emphais o those tendencies which can be
heightened by the appication o conscios attention
he coarated and the coatative is in the fit paceone who is ogcay dscipined h s atained how
eve by an extensive atophy of the intoeive nd
extaesive tendencies: by a scifice of capaciy
fo epeence
Rochach's commen expan the two iffeence which
did appea: shapened attention to seve diffeent simtaneos ee, and abtact nmeica thking At the same
tme since this is acheved at the pene of ohe facets of the
peonaty it cannot be said whethe he ow sco on othe
meses ae due to a ack of innate abity, ack of movation
o aophy emotiona distbance
When Sme Reshevsky, now champion of the westewod was boy wonde of nine (he eached mste stength
by he age of ive he sbmitted to a sei of psychometc
tes y the ws ychoogst Fana Bamgaten () H
ea itegece was beow aveage, and his gene deveop
ment was not p to hat of a five-yea od boy in ei In
ony oe test wa he ottanding: a memoy test with nume
e concsion is thus sima to that of the Rian ychoogists Again howeve he methodoog w faty, and d no
aow fo the fact tht the boy had een so absobed in ch
2 ( v s ne in hh ee m c e mem n.-R F
4
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
12/87
eew o e ieratue
for years tha he had neve atteed school regularly. Reshevsky
laer fiished colege i he United Sates, showg at any
rae above-average inteligence
A study by Butenweer 5) atempted to evaluate hedegree to which che skll deeriorates wih age in he chs
maer He foud ha here no o of sill beore fify, afer
fifty relatively litle and that o the whole the strnger he
paye the he lo A wll be seen beow psychos alo
does ot affec ches abity materially It would appear ha
oce the ski reaches a ceta level i can remain therendefiely
n 1938 the Duch psycholog A de Gro (10) who
is ao a ch maer aalyzed the hought poces of a num
ber o che masers and some amates Perhaps his most
seful findng is he cofrmaon ha he che payer in aalyz
ig a posiio go through muh the sme kind of prces hat
the reseach worer goe thogh i solvig a problem The
ce payer a state of conual tension ad uncerainty
until he ids the righ move ad in many s cano be
sure wha he ght move is
t would be easy enogh for conemprry yhologi
with their mstery of psychomer technques ad fator aal
s to gve a baery of tess to chs expet and faco ou hoeabies which correlae w wih chess skil In the absene
of such a study the above fdgs ca only be onsidere to
be of suggestve value
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
13/87
2
GENAL RMARKS ON CHESS
CHES IS the oldt games in wester civiizaion Htorias usualy date it rom about 600 or 700 D ad
place i origin in India ( 2 It was inoduced ito urope inthe 13th centuy
However, it is only in approximately the past hundred yearshat ch ha become a uveally popular game The firt
iternaiona touamen was held in odon in 18 Since
that time international cotests have bee regular featur B'
cause the game is played in sutanialy the same form i aciviied countries, it has become a truly cosopotan medium
of communicatio
he teratue o chs, conssting o collectons o gampayed by the masters and intructional books teaching how
a playe may improve h ge ha by now grown to such
proportos that it is aid to be large tha the lterature o
al other gam combined
At the prent ime chs has acheved i greatt pu
larity in the Soiet Unon where it is vitualy a naoal spo
For many chess players the game come to eert a pcuar
fascinatio uig the pay evethig else may be orgotten:
wie, riends family busin he becom a world o i
own Ges can be continued or hours, at time eve
days with l thought of the otide world put to one ide
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
14/87
r mr o
In any css clus r a as on an wo as gn
u ring ls in lf for gaa an wo a inks
and ss c Sois is a rofssional and ks ou
a ag ling a ; o ofn no, u always a an
wi fanaical doion
So nicing s is osc of aandoning ·wold fo
cs a any n alisically cogniz dang fosak
ga nily and co ack o i only wn o
concns a ou of way
An unknown cclsiasic of 7 cnuy a nnda id dsciion of kind of aal a css H
cal E of Css ( 20) :
I I is a ga i-was How any cious
ous (wic can n calld a I o
fusly sn in is ga!
II I a ad wi a ascinaing oy ;
I a n wicd y i wn I a gun
I a no ad ow o gi o
III I a no don wi wn I a don
wi i I a followd ino y sudy, ino y
uli; wn I a n aying o acing, I a
(in y hougs) n laying a css; an I aad, as i w a css-oad fo ys
IV I a causd o ak any son
soluons ; nay ows and oiss Sois I a
oligd yslf, in os soln ann o lay
u so any as a a i o wi any on son
and anon I a okn s oligaions and
oss
V I a woundd y conscinc and okn
y ac I a ad sad flcions uon i wn
I a n os sious I fid if I w now o di,
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
15/87
Th h f h Ch
the remembrance of game would geatly touleme and tae me in the fae. I have read in the life
of the famous Joh Hu, how he w gratly troubledfor h uing of thi game, a tte before h dea
V My using of it ha ocsioned muh i
pason trfe idle (if not ying) word, in myl
and my antagonist or both hath aued the neglectof many dutie both to God and men .
n marked ontrat to the fnation which the game haf the devotee is the atitde of the uinteted ouider e
is apt to loo upon it a old dull oig highy ntelletual
a ind of high-la ssword puzzle d will be ompletely
nable to empathze with the tom of emotion hat it do
aroue
Ches played prmarily by men While no exat tai
are available, the ratio of men to women player i probay
in the neghbohood of one hundred to one Even in Ruia,
where hes i a naiona pime, women how much s in
trt in it han men Only one woman Vera Menhi h
ever progreed to the point whee she ould ompete mong
men in mter touamens n ridge he tuation quite
the oppte Here women feuenly pay and reah theature of mster life mter ad member of word hampionhip team
A tain degee of inteetual deveopment is needed to
play he It is dificult for a child younger han about eightto acuire ufiient ill to enjoy the game nd uually it i
not fore ten that boy realy tae it.
The ommon imprion prevai that i at he ui
a high order of inteligence Wile i not orne out y
the Ruian tudie or he t done on hevy it would not
e jutiable to give up h ommonene obeaon wth
out a more arel inuiy De Groot' 10 hitoa uey
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
16/87
Gn Rem n Ce
point to a reat deal of ahevemen by he exper oher
felds we.
. Intert i he s requenly concentraed ean peods
o he ndvdual's e he irs wave com sly n he
pre-pbety peod, abou e o welve years o age Then
aga n eay adolesence s common to fd boys ve
devoed o he game For example hgh shoo the he
lb s o ten the lagt or one o he larges whle oleg
s muh le mpotan nally men pst mdde age
many aes come back o che ate a lae o may yearAl oever agree hat from the payer's pont o v
he belongs o he "paonae gmes Many boys and men
who ake t p reat it thogh t wee one o les major
conerns hey sudy, by book play day and gh om
mnae with other he playes by m or eve ado At
h me he grea go s to mpove and beat he ohe felow,
an al eos ae bent n ha dreon he trll dered
rm pag a ompettor i oen s eat s ha nvolved
geng a hgh mark in shoo o a ob pomoon long
as he poe onnes, he player emais aorbed Soone
o late howeve he eahes a platea and or one reon o
another is nable to go he A hs po many men e
nees nd ehe c down the time devoed to or ive p alogeher Oy a ll gop emans coiteny atahed
o o an ene eme
n the poplar mnd, he ocp a speca oe among
games s eered o s he oyal ge, the gme o
kings' the kng o gaes. s he ony game whh may
legaly be layed on he pe o he Hose o Paament
in Great Britan Some w h ad that h i too dfi
o be a ge and oo eas o be a scence he enjoyment
deved rom hes goe n a beond that oter pasties
Ch om need, mch closer o and siee
9
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
17/87
Te Pycoy y
Ch is a contet between two men n whch thee i n
deable ego-involvement In ome way it etanly ouche
pon te conc sondng aggeion, homoseality ma
tration and nam whch become patiay pominent
in the anapallc phaes of development. Fom the tandpont
of d phology Jon' oberaon an theefoe be con
e, even enlaged pon. Genetall h moe often than
not taght to the boy b hs fathe, o a athe-titte, and
th become a mean o woking ot he on-athe valThe symbolism of hess len itelf to th val in a mot
nsal way Cental to i s the fge of the Kng3 The Kng
ocpie a cca ole n the game n all p t is the
pee whh gve the game its name; fo, h is deved fom
the Pesan sa meanng King and i moe o s he ame
in all ngage n fact the hee nveal wods in he
ae che check and Kng, all o whih deve fom . All
othe pee have vang dgnaions n diffeent langag.
hs, Qeen in Rsan i F ez, whh has ntng do wth
woman Bishop Fou o jete n Fench e o nne
in Geman.
Exept fo the Kng i a imple ogcal contution
on the bod Thee i one pee whch mov along diagoal(the hop) one whih move aong ank and ils (the Roo)
one piece whih move on fowad (he awn, and when
i no longe move owad t into anothe piece whih
allows t mobit (pomotion) one piee whih move any
nmbe of sqaes in y staight-le diecion (the Qeen)
one piece whch moves one sqae n deton (the Kng)
and a piee whih combne the vetal-diagonal movement
wth the powe to mp ove ohe pie (the Knight t
wold be posble to dev new pe o to divde the powe,
3 n hs au e ms f he, nd I h ee h e
0
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
18/87
General Rmaks on Ches
and thi has been done from tme to me; fo eample a iece combinng he movement of Knght d Queen hs een sug
gested. Or one coud have two kinds of ooks, simiar to the two kind of Bishops, one that mov aong ranks and nother that moves aong iles. A of these alteations would be diect tensions o the �es we now have they woud not ate the bc chaacte of the game
Board games essentay cont of pacng te piec on
a board in such a way that one can capture the enemy's men s in checkes o get ones men to a prdetemined posion as in chine checke Once ti is accompihed the ge is won. Here the unque f ea tu re of chess com in: the goa s to checkmae the King A competey new set of uls is dawn up govg the mann in which ths checkmate may or may not be efected nd the ules e the on that give ch
is dsnctive cast Of course, the catue of the enemys men is s thee ut unike other games one can capture amost al the enemys men and stl os
he ng is thus ind pensabe nd a-important It is aso irepaceabe heoreticay it is poibe to have nine Queens ten ooks ten Knghts or ten Bisho, as a rut of Pawn pomotion but ony one King
these quaities of indspnsabity, a-imporance and irrepaceabiity make one think of the supee uers of heOrient Here howver, entes a vita difference: the King s a piece weak powes ae geaty imited Appoimate equivaens can be set up for he other piecs fo exampe theePawns are woth a piece, two pieces are woth a ook and
a Pawn, etc Becaus of the natue of the King it has no rea equivaen oughy howev, he Kng is a tte stonge than a Pawn ut not as strong ny of he piec a
4 Stt ak, he Kng o odd a "e a a Inth nca en a of h is (aj nd )nd he Kn.
11
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
19/87
The Psychlgy f th Chss ayr
rut th King must de (csting) dug most of te game.
He can ay fort only whn many excngs have takn
pac, particary whn he Quns ar gon Dpit the fact
that e i -mportant, h otr piec av to protect him
not e the other
ar s I hav bn abl to asceain, 26 no othr
boad game has a pic whch radcay at it tir
natur n cck, for xample, th King is mpy an e
tnsion of th power of the mn, and ca be capturd justk h othrs It s the Kng wic mak che teray uque
Cosquenty King bcoms th cntra g in he
smbosm of the game To recapiuate brefy: the Kng s
indspensabe, aimpotant epaceabe yt weak and r
qung protecon These quait ad to he overdetmna
tion o its symboc maning Frst of a it stand or the
boy's pnis in he phac tage and hence re-arous the cs
tration aety charactrt of that perod Second it desribes
cran eenal charactrscs of a se-mage ad hnc woudappea to tos men who hav a pictur o themseves as in
ipnsabe, a-important and irpacable n tis way it afor an addtiona opptuny for the ayer to wor out con
icts centering around narciism hrd, it h ah pulddown to the boys siz Unconsciousy it gives te boy achance to say to he ather To the outde word you may b
big and strong but whn w get ight down to it youre just
wa am nd you need protction jst s mch s do
Games inherenty invove a evigo procs; on te
track on te baba diamond on te cheboard a mn are
equa n he however tere is an addiional actor which
dffeentaes t rom oer games: there is a pic which is
diernt n vau rom a th ot and around whch t
gam revov he etnce o the King aows an idntfica
tion proce which goes far beyond tat permitted in othr
12
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
20/87
Rmks Ch
gam.5 n th way chs alw r a strong ssetn f
ndvdualty
Rk, Bihp, Knght and Pawn requenty ymbolzethe pens n addtn they may have ther meanng ne
player the hp wa lbdned a a upereg fgure-the
name w taen lteraly The Knght may ymble a hrse,
whch t al mem caed
he Pawns ymblze chdren partclarly lttle by
hey can grw up (prmte) when they reach the eghthran but t agan gncant that they may nt becme
"ng Symblcally, rtrct n Pawn prmtn mean
that the dtrucve pect the rvalry wth the ather
mphed whle the cntructve de whch wld llw
he by t bcme le te aher s dcuraged We wud
therere antcpate n the ne hand a very ctcal atttude
twards authty in the chess player, and n the ther an nably r unwllngne t lw n the ame dectn a h
ather6 he cntt between the mghty Kng and he lwly
Pawn aga cm t mblze the mbvalence nherent n
the ch player' elmage, an ambvalence whch s al ap
parent n the gre the ing mel
he Qeen wll a mght be expected tnd hewman r the mtergre It ws nt nl the ntrductn
chess nt Erpe n the thrteenth centur that the Quen
became the pwer gure he s tday s evdently a
drect relecn the erng atttude tward wmen n
eat ad wst Jn cmmens hat pychanaly wll nt be
5 Dr Theoo Re a o ou ha he ond e ng ae y a o an o he a aboo ondnge eas. Se seo he aboo o Re n oS Fed T Tb
6 I a e obseao ha e fw exe hae onho a ao ong he ae; nonouly fahr doe no ee cao o ae ae
3
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
21/87
T s f C ar
surpsed to la that in he attac on he Kg (fathr), th
most owrfu suppot rovdd by the Queen.
Put togthr, the h bord s a who may radiymboiz he famiy situaon his woud xpin th f ana-
tion o th gam Lost in hought, the paye can work out in
ftsy what he ha nver been ab to do in eit
f w tu now to the ego of the ches layer, we note
to bgn with that he uses mry tetu defss. n
chess, hought rac aon
conasted wih othr sortssuh boxing, there no hyc ontat whaovr Thr
is not ven the intrmdiate form of contact fnd in tens
or andb, n which both men hit th same objet The h
aye is rmitted to touh his opponent's piec oy for
puposes of a catur, when, aoding to the ues, the iee
mut be emoved fm the oad
the ay beom more xr, the taboo on touh-ing bcom even strongr n mster che h ru o "touh
move s oberved f a payer ouch a piece he mst move
t f he tohs it by adent he must say adob, wich
means I adjust in Fench hose who ay by th u ar
quird to say thi in renh
n one fom of th game known as corresondene h,the distane btwn the two mn ared even further, in
that the oponens nve see one another h entire gm is
payed by mai Her it rmiib to touh the pies but
of couse th ayes nev meet
In view of the prof ue phai symboism of the gme
the taboo on touching has unonciosy two meanin or, t
anohr way, th go wds of two heat One is msturba-
tion do not touch your nis; do not touh your pes, and
yo do have us ready he other treat is homo-
seuaity, o body cotact betwen th two men, ay
mu mstrbation
4
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
22/87
General Rma n Che
In addtion o purely defeve characer, nellea-
zaon n h ha many oher menng. To e onlooker,
nderence o he osde world s he ouandng eare ofhe he player A sere of croon one chs club depc
wo playe who begn a game when hey re boy and end
up as graybeards
The players hemelves are aware of he endeny o be
come lo n hogh h s uch a grea dnger ha n ourna
men play h been ound neesary o s tme lm onmov Snce abou 880 all oamen have been payed
wh h lo A humorous ncden s relaed of a game
beween Paulen and Morphy played before he day of clock
They a a he board or eleven hos whou sayng a word
o ng a move A he end of ha me Morphy who wa
herocally pae looed p a h opponen raher qualy
aulsn hen sad "Oh my move?
Whe he player may hn for hou a a me, f he
h he moe wh lghnng rapdy "peed or "rapd
rans ournamens, frequenly een, are payed wh a me
lm of en econd per move ae omem even play
b hs n whch hey are obged o move nane
ouly n lss han one eond Wh hese me m poble o play doens, occonally hundres, of games n one
evenng The lowe game n he world become he fase
Sch mared conra are que characerc of he entre
hng proce n hes In ournamen he ual me l
s 40 moves n 2Y hor Ths means ha he player may
budge h me any way he peas, o ong a he ompe
he 0 mov whn he prescrbed 2Y hours I ofen happens
ha he ae wo hou and 28 mnu ay, or 5 move
He s hen reqred o mae he remang 15 mov n wo
mnus h nown a me prsure. Under h exreme
pressure, he player who wa prevuly nable o bdge wll
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
23/87
h syhl f th hss y
often mae the nece$ary moves with time to spare, and with
emarkabe acuracy. What one mght we k was he thinking
about befor? If it s poible to fnd a good move n ten
seod why te hf an hour?
The nwer to ths quton ies n the ontinua uncer
tainty which bets the che payer he positions reached dur
ing a game are most often quite ompe In many ca it
easy to fnd the rght move but in the majoty is not
so Hou of arefu anaysis someim days may be takento ehaust a te posbities and dede on the best move
In ove-the-boad pay few peope c eve be sure that they
have found the ght souo ; most rey on "positon jdg
ment o "intuiton The ayman's dea that the chs master
can ook ahead moves is argey a myth, athough the
expert can of couse cacuate the future much more acuratey
than the novie
In ths situaton the payer goes aong constnty unure
o hsef compeed to do so he ca ut the Gordian knot
and try something; if not he prefers to tst and sift his ideas
ut he h come as nea s poibe to he right answer
De Groot ikens this prOC$ to rearch in whih various
hypothes are expored by eperimenta methods here is,however this fndamenta diference he ch pay can
ony test hs hypothese in his magination once he arriv at
a decsion he mst stake everything on it He thus under
much greater tension than a eseacher in hemstry for e
ampe who can pick one hunch and if that ty another
When t is not hs tu to move the payer often hs
much te at hs dposaive ten miut somemes hf
an hour or even a hour urng th perod one ight epect
him to study the posion That happens rarey. Most o the
tie he daydrem, and his daydreams foow the usua cours
whih have nothing to do with che At the same me the
6
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
24/87
Ga Rmak ss
tesion pesit becau he neve knows when he will be caled back to make a move.
There thus again a maked contast-fevesh ncetainty and intese seaching when move-idle daydeaming when it is not Thoughout, a state of connual tension pesists Smal wonde that so many playes complanthat the game ma them "neous �nd my gie it up because they find he stain unbeaabe o not woh the
effotWith egad to converaton the a paadox
While as a le o most playes thee is no talng a ciouseception is ond amng some who in offhand games go tothe opposit exteme and neve stop talkng Some ecte vefom Lewis Caoll Some bild p a special nd of noeselangage which hs no meaning even o the peson himselfOne man would say wheneve he gave check: Shinkuskrachs typhus mit plakes schm schum Anothe wouday et u go to Vea uz with fo aitch he onething that is neve found s odina langage It is as tosay any ind of physical activity that is pemied mt bekept at an infanle level f coue the disociation of wods
fom thei oignal meanng is chaactestic of oeonathinking
hse vao polaties help to claify the thinking poceThe ego s ntellectua means and fantai to hande teconlict But t does not aow this prcs to go too a Becaus of the natue of the gam the playe is always boght bac to eaity hoght eplaces action but action aso inteupts he unimpeded low of thought n epc the chplaye dfes say fom the daydeame o schizd who unde no extenal compulsion to gve up h evei
he thinking pocs ief alteates beween one whichmak dands of a very high ode compaabe in me ways
17
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
25/87
yhpy f Ch yr
to problem n cienfc rearch, and one which smpy an
expreon of obve ambvalence. The hft from acton tothought can hen ether be an oulet for the ntellectual abl
of an nvdual, or a deeive maneuver to wd of the
varou anxete aroued by action, or an termediate com
bation
Che mut tre certan apect of ntellgence more tha
othe What are they? he Ruan tudy done n 1925 at
tempted to anwer th quetion, but the metodolog wa toocrude, by preent-day tandard We can only tentately put
ort cetan dea
Four apect of ntelligence eem to redominate n che:
memory vulzaton, organation and imagnation7
o play che well t necear to remember hunded
probably thouan, of prevou poton he memo o theche epert becom o hghly pecaled ad o adept that
he often peform feat wch em ncredble to the layman
A mater can play ffty or y board multaneouy; he go
from one board o another makng a move at each f the
poton on any board i altered n the ot ivil manner uch
a moving a Pawn up one quare he wll recoe the change
mmedately lthough he not concou of t, clearly hecarr around ome memor trace, hghly accurate of al ty
board
Viualation enial becaue the player not per
mted to move the pece around ecept for an actual move
It nteretng o note tat Hadma ( 19) n tud of
mathemaical creaiity found that viualaton lay a minor7 D n th Wh B (9) n
1952 nt vn r O th th t t h : ztn gn nng n nt n Th h h t pt ngn n g nn Htmnn' n1 ).
8
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
26/87
General Remarks o Chess
role; the mathematician tends to thin more aractly. Ths
may be one detemining factor in the choice of mathemacs
or chs
The ntinual visuiation develops the chs mster's
ability to lay without sght of the board or pieces ("blnd
ld) Every chs master can play one game blindfold with
out too much dfficulty and mny can pay far more he
word's record today, held by Najdorf, is forty-ve simulte
ously To handle such a number the single player mst be ableto ca in hi mnd fortyfve connualy varying picturs of
the chss boar must be able to aoiate the correct pictre
with its nmber nd mst be able to vualie eve pictre
accuratly and at will wih lighning calculato 4 ths
capacity i largely conned to blindfd che bu that doe
not exclde the poibility hat if te individal had erler
bult up an eqal bacgound in sme othr fied that he
capaity or visal retention could not have been developed
there Memory plays a maor role here too; a ule after
a blindfol ehibition the single payer s able repeat ver
batim the correct moves, in the proper order of eve game
played
Organzation which is one spect of general reoing iao eential The che player mst be able to coordinate nd
unfy the actions of the pieces in such a way that they acuiremamum effectivne In thi sene ch srategy is simiar
to militay stratey and miltary schools like Wet Point have
accordngly traditonally made ches a reured subject
Te imagiation ed in chs is rlated to viuliation,
bt i to some etent independnt of it Ch itself is ai
ficial creation Lie msic and terature it can become a
wold of i own divorced fom practical conces and devoid
of any application to veday afairs. t is particlarly the
oportunity or imanative expreion which link che with
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
27/87
T yco h ayr
the wld f art. The opportunity for dencatn (wth e
Kng an other pece) provdes anothr nk.
o put these ntellectual ablti to ue and t be able
t nd the ibdina eneres n th way te ego must poes
a consderae dee of trent Unke the ompotence
the amler or the card-player, the defe f the chess player
come frm a relatvely late stage of pernalty deveopment
hus wle at first siht the replacement of acton by thought
seem t be a simple nstance f te we-own obsenalmansm to apply ths to che a whole a gos over
mpfication 8 Unlike the true obsesona the ches payer
nterupts s fantase by actn he cm ut f h fantsy
world and he ues real abtes whch requre a hgh deree
of eo development or ther deplyment
For the averae ch player the tellectual appeal f te
ame s que cnscous an s n fact ts majr et n
eys f aked why he plays he says t s a game of skl n
whch bran matche against bran
By cntrat te aggn s deeply repreed mot
t comes as a surprs to lean that ch s n utlet for hstle
feelns A the natre f the game serves t cnceal t
ncreiny ben wth n blows real or smulated areatualy truck he usual al of caturn an enemy's men
as we have mentone turns nto the mre ubte ne of check
mate All he che ieces may be cature except te ng
he Kng must be checkmated: that meas that t mut be
under attack and have no egal move It nt uffcent to re
duce t to a state where t has no egal move that wd be
talemate and te ame woud e drawn t mt be under
attackwhch o any other pece wld be the lt step bore
a capturand yet may not be captured
Such a compcated sate f affa whch as we have sad
dstnuhes ce rm l other am must e ful f un
0
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
28/87
Geneal Rmak on C
conscous connoatios. If we apply he hree symbolc mean
gs of he Kng, checkmae would sfy rs casraon sec
ond, he exposure of he conceale weakns and hrd herucon of he faher All hree o hese mus be kep om
conscousns; hence he chess player canno am o hs an
agonstc wshes
Even he waere-down blow of checkmae eced urher
no he backgoun as he playes become more exper Soon
a sae of skll s reached whee he aye ge up or resg
long before here s he remoes pobly of a checkmae;
hey subm o oewhelmng maeral frce Among mases a
game wll end n a checkmae only as a esul of a freak acc
en; do no happe more han once n a housand mes
Afer only a le eperence wh he game he aeage
man soon fnds ha hs greaes delghs come fom a rec
aack upon he Kng he becoms moe eper e begnso apprecae he sue nuance such as poson play Pawn
maneueng ope sraeg ec Once agan rec aggreson
fa more an more8
Whle on he one han he chess payer's ego reprses
an neecuazes h aggesson on he oher podes some
gacaon r he game elf Consequenly one woul
no expec e ches player o be a compleely psse-epeden
persn. Rahe he woul be capable of fnng numerous
avenue for s aggreson and hese aenu would agn be
along scally accepabe ln. From h cou be cpaed
ha chs epes co also show many acheem n oher
fes an, n fac such s he case
In h connecon a remark made b Dr Mlon Guz( 1 ) s mos penen He saes ha hs experence as a
8 Mny he crt eve gt ove th av mphass o the etattak, d urttl i th hes tate wt the ot ludcroomts. Pr of the reon ut e n th unconsco w t heth h t o the Od d f tem.
21
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
29/87
h syhogy o h hss ay
prson ychologit thoe prsones who learned che dung
ter ncceraon were let lkey to be recdss. They evove
better ways of handlg ther aggreon The ego trenghneeded to pay che must alo lay a roe here
In a situaton where two men are voluntaly together for
hour a a time wth no women rent the homual ml
catons mut necealy be condere Obvaon ndcats
that oer homoxualty almost unnown mong ch
paye Among te che mte of the present centuy I haveheard of only one cae. all the more striking in thatat, wt whom ch masters le to comare themlv
are o fequently homosexual
he rofue phallc ymbolm of chs rovide some fan
ty gafcaton of the homoeual wh culaly the de
re for mutual maturbation Ths s of core comletely re
reed Checmate may be sen as renderng the ther motent again art of the homea comle
In many reect he ego of the ove homoual s da
mercally opposte that o he ches plaer Bychowk ( 6)
a number o charactetc defee employed n homo
sel actng out: arcully the wea ego stcture based
on the narcsistc nd pre-narctc ioton the vulnerabty o the ego to the mact of lbdinal mulaton the im
siblty o renuncaton of rte gratfcaton wth orgnal
oject d the overwhelmng of the mental aaratus by n
stnctual charge All of thee are drecty antthetcal to what
we nd n the ch layer : there the ego trong: t capabe
o toleratng a geat del of lbdin stmulaon t can re
nounce prmitve gratcaton wth ognal objects nd t canneutralze the dve energe to a hgh degee
The anxey accompanying the gme i mot often ute
cocou Ch playes comlan tha they are "nervous or
tene hat the gme does not let them slee the ecs dce
22
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
30/87
Gral Remak n Ch
aroud in their head a defeat is a serious bow, and o.
We have metioned that the teio dug a game may be
geat, and yet outlet or it releae uch aggrive actions,or phyca cotact are blocked
The oigi of the aniety is readly apparent The aggrs
sio ad homexuaiy wle deepy repred, are sti beng
brought out dsgsd fom ; hce the constant far of pu
ishmet Since there ot the remott eemet of chace
a vctoy i the prodct of oe' own effors a os is he rut
of oe' ow mistake o win thereore to beat the father
to loe is to be beate by e father, or to ubmt to m
a reult the od conficts involved i e strugge with the
father are costanty presnt, ad the heat of thr becoming
actual lead to the all-pervading iety
Dpite a he axiety, in the at aays the payer a
ways ows hat it i a sham bate he severty of the blowi softeed by the act that it i ony a game after a he
rule ad practce surroudig heckmate ao eve to migate
much of the aniety At he same time o maer how much
it is contaned by he actua game for a geat may me co
iderable anxiety remns, d tensionanety tats could be
epcted to be one of the mt commo o a euroc yp
tos amog che payer
From the vatage point of the ego, a good deal of stng
must be pret to aow the player to toeate so much anxie
for such eteded periods I th rpect agn ere i a co
trat with the weak ego of the overt homexua, who fle
rom the ghtest niety into acting out his mpuses
Narcim is brought out by sever featur of the gameChs is a idvidua bate e fgre o he Kig lends ief
to he ready identificaton which we have desbed above
Hece a may brig out he gradioe eements of the sf
imag�, while a o may epoe the feeig of wea he
23
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
31/87
The Pschogy of th Ch Py
narcsm which s brought out here s prmarly that of the
phac stage, no the pma tpe characterstc of the ora
stage However the strength of the phac nacssm woudn tun be nfuenced b the degree of ora fixaton
he Kng aso bngs out another chaacterstc trat of
the chss paer he wohp Set apart fom a the others
the Kng can read smboze the hero of gend Whatever
fed s n the che paer w customar manage to fnd
some man whom he admres nordnate and w t to
pattern hmsef after hm Ths s of cour a dpacement from
the father e the abt to effect such a dspacement s on
te whoe a poste sset n a man's make-up. Agan by con
trst the ovet homosexua wi usua be unabe to ether
dentf wth hs father no fnd ome substute whom he
can ue to bid a macune ego-dea
Hanns Sachs ( 35) ws the frst o pont to the ransfeof narcim fom the f to the object as one factor n arttc
creativty Here s another n between chs and the word
of art
n xce of narcsm ma eas charactere the che
paer H becoms t mmeed n hmf and n hs o
achevment o thse of hs hero. The capact to acheve
true object eatons partuar to empathe wth women s
nderdeveoped Frequent he gets aong ute we wth men
ecaus of the repreon of both aggron and homoseuat
but fnds women a rea stumbng boc. eder feeng for
women ma be especa hard to ache a dffcut whch
may be ratonaed b coninng hs ocaton to men
On the other hand narcsm ao a heath aspect n that t heps the man to see through the convtona
and artfca and to produce somethng new and vauabe
eden 14 hs ponted out that heath nacm often
found n he creave ndvdua nne Roe ) n h ud
24
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
32/87
Geal Rma Ch
of nent scentts aso debes them as narct1c nd
vduas, who ae on the whole rather tarded in heir ycho
sexua deveopment.
Finay a wod must be ad about the voyeusm-e
hitom It s competey unconscious, and gratfied in
a two-man tuation. As a resut he che payer apt to ee
uney i crow ad s ooked upon as a raher withdrawn
type of dvdua Because of the added narcistc factor he
key to be ndifferent to oranzed roupsefore on on to a dscuson of actua pesonati I
woud ike to brefy recapituate the man pos of ths secton
The lbdna confct ratfed in chs center around thoe
common to a men at the aphac eve of deveopment
particuay aggion, narcism ad the attitude towards the
peis of the are ready symbozed i the ame; cena
to the ymboism is the fure of the Kn, whch is ovr-de
teined ad ha three dffrent mean : he boy's penis in
he phac stage the sef-mae of a ma who fees irrepace
abe indispsabe a-importat and yet weak d the father
cut dow to the boys se In he hsoca deveopment of
the payer chss pat of the ons stge to equa ad
surpas te faherThe eo shows cetan we-defned featu It s one
which pefe to u inteectua defense Yet whe tere
a reeat to fantasy the payer doe no oe hmef n it he
coms ot of the fanasy word we There s much axey
bu t can be toerated wel e dve enegie can b neu
trazed to aow r much achevement On the whoe he
eo shows coiderabe sengh especy in he ab to mae
use of nteectua ae and to dure dffcut stuaons e
eo weakns pimay a artc fxaton, which
makes t had for the man to emerge from the hoea to
the heterexa eve o deveopment.
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
33/87
3
E WORLD CAMPIONS
THE FOREGOING AALv1 rher gener nd heorelone Now would e o exmne he onle o ome
l h ler n more del o ee how he ndng
omre wh wh h been d hree quon n be
rohed w F, is here ome ore eonl on
eon ommon o le Seond wh role doe
he l e !e o n rur ndvdul? And hrd
wh onneon, n here beween eronly nd h
le
For he ue o eon I rooe o revew he lv
o e world hmon o he enu od o oue
be objeed ee men re no rerenve o he vergehe ler o ern exen h objeon m be vd
A be be onl ll vld wh ree o ern
r, bu no or l We would exe h mn o he
erene beween hmon nd n ordn ler le n
nve , nd h he eonl ure n mn re
e he me h hold rue or retve n oher
eld, o h ud o emnen ne uh eonrdo
vn Gogh, or o would ed muh gh on he her
rure o her eebred ollegu. Th here is lw
onneon beween le nd eronl regrdle o en
or rnng n mon mde or he jeve ehn
26
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
34/87
or po
o somha mo han a cny, oghly, h ch
old has bn scnly oganzd o spak o a old cham
pon ; h l sl has bn n s snc 1 870, hn Snzclamd on h bass o hs many sccs Bo Snz
h champons , nocally, Sanon ( 844-1 85 ) , An
dn ( 1 85 1 - 1858 and agan 1859- 866 ) nd Mophy ( 858-
1 859 ) Snc Snz ( 866-1 894 h chamons ha o
cally b Lask ( 1894- 192 1 ) , Capablanca ( 92 1927 ,
lkhn ( 927-1 935 ad 937- 1946 , E ( 1 935- 1937 ) andBonnk ( 1 948-psn )
1 ) H ( 1 8 10- 1874 ) achd gans
n boh lay ccsm and chss H s spposd o ha bn
h naal son o Fdc Hoad, h Eal o Calsl ( 3 )
Hs n as n h ha, and a a b nld
as an aco h bcam an mnn Shakspaan schola, o
o h ladng ahos n Engand H cam pon h chssscn a h laly la ag o hy, n 1 840 In 1 843 h
dad h Fnchman, S Aman, and as cognzd n
oclly as h bs play n h old Bcas o hs lay
bn h bgan a magazn cad T B Mcll d
C l Cocl Sanon o a nmb o book
hs Hbook ( 37 ) h ladng gd o h gam nlSnz pblshd T Md C Iucto ( 38 )
n 851 Sanon oganzd h oamn n Londn,
h s nnaonal cons o modn ms Andssn on
h op z, ahad o Sanon, ho cod hs da h
ngnos albs n 1853 a chalng as ssd on Sann's
bhal any lay n h old, b h saks w sch
ha Andssn, owad hom was maly dcd cold
n accp Sanon hn d om ch Som ya la
whn Mophy appad o challng hm, Sanon szd
o o a chss boad ncon by bal pyochncs
As a man, Sanon was an xmly agg pson
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
35/87
P t P
who loved nothing better than a good argument in print There
are countle reports of the violent literary battles he got him
self into A god eample thi passage from hi journal 5
A Barrister, Temple.Calls our attention to the
ridiculous alterations of the Laws of Chs, by G
Walker, in his New Treatise on Chess and sks Is
it ssible that suh absurdities are sanctined by the
Lndon Chs Club?' The only sanction given toWalker's puerilities by the committee is to laugh at
them His bks on chess are no authority ecept
mong the lowest class of players
Aggression, organization and narcsism are the obvious
hreads which run through taunton's life The shift from act
ing to writing is part of the replacement of action by thought.Then comes the shift from wrting to chs, a switch from
hought to action Later he changes back once more
In chess his actve career virtually stopped after h de
at at London The simple explanation that he could not
stand the narcissistic blow involved in losng is undoubtedly the
correct oneHi genius was such that he attained the heights in both
chess and literary crticism H status a hakespearean
scholar eaed him a notice in the Eccoed Btc
( 3 ) which states that in lterary criticm "he showed the
qualities of acutene and caution whch made him excel in
cess
taunton's interest in hakespea f in rady enough
with che : only the King of writes could attract his pen. He
had his hero. One of his lt papers mentioned by the E-
oed, i entitled "Unsuspected Corruptons of hakespear's
Text he had to deend the King from attack.
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
36/87
P P
who loved nothing better than a good agument in print There
are countle reprts of the violent literary battles he got him
self into A good eample this paage from his jounal 5
A Barister, Temple.Calls our attention to the
ridiculous alterations of the Laws of Chess, by G
Walker, in his New Treate on Che, and ks, Is
it posible that suh absurdities are sanctioned by the
London Chs Club?' The only sanction gien toWalker's puerilities by the committee is to laugh at
them His books on chess are no authority except
mong the lowest class of players.
Aggression, organization and narcssism are the obious
hreads which run through taunton's le The shit from act
ing to writing is part of the replacement of action by thoughtThen comes the shift from writing to ch, a switch rom
thought to action Later he changes back once moe
In chess his active career virtually stopped ater h de
eat at London The simple explanaton that he could not
stand the narcissistic bow inoed in losing is undoubtedly the
corect oneHs genius was such that he attaned the heights in bth
chess and literary criticism His status as a hakespearean
scholar eaed him a notice in the Eccloed Bc
( 3 ) , which states that in literary criticsm "he showed the
qualities of acutene and caution which made him excel in
chess
tauntons interest in hakespeare fis in readiy enugh
with chess : only the Kng of writers coud attract his pen He
had his her One of hs last papers, mentioned by the Ec-
loed, enttled "Unsuspected Corruptions of hakespeare's
Text he had to deend the Kng from attack
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
37/87
o pio
Beore dscussing hs che play it is neceary to clarify
the sense n which we can speak o a chess style
n extensive psychoanalytic literature has grown up de
picting the ntimate relationshp between the works o artsts
and ther neurotic conflicts It s to be expected that similar
unconscious forces woud be involved in chess both in the way
n which the game s interwoven nto the character structure
and in the style which he player adopts
t first sight it does not seem to matter how one wins atchess ; yet experence teaches that even within the same level
of strength extensive derences in the approach to the game
are revealed by careful analyss It was Reti in hs Mes of
the Chess Bod who first pointed ths out and documented it
n consderable detail 32 ) In fact just as any rtist has a
characterstically ndvdual style which permeates his artstic
works to such an extent that an expert can recognze that
such and such a panting is a Deg or a eonardo so too the
styles of the che masters assume a highly distinctive cast and
are readly identifable by the experts One finds howevr
this important difference. For techncal reons the uniqueness
of the che master com out only n certain games not in
every one For example in mode times the term grandasterdraw has come into vgue to describe the quick draws agreed
to by grandmasters of who the Intenational Che Federa
ton recognizes some 20 or 25 ) who do not wsh to rk any
thing against one another in an important contest qually if
a tremendous dsparity in strength exsts the anner of win
nng becmes too routnzed
With these quaificatons in mind there is first o all a
rough divsion of chess styles into attacking and defensive
Chess s sometmes sad to have a romantic attack and clas
scal defense school Besides ths crude dvson many more
subtle elements come out on closer eamination ome playe
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
38/87
P t P
like Botvinnik, can attack and defend equally we Other ike
Aekhne can ttck but defend poorly Stil other, like Re-shevsky, can defend but attack badly Usualy mater adhere
to certin openngs which fit in with their temperaments
The outstanding features of Stunton's ce stye were it
ececticsm and its placdity No brilliant games of his have
survived he won chefly because of his ability to expoit his
opponents mistakes. He avoided the bque gambits which
were so popular at the tie This utraconservatsm contrasmarkedly with h outspoken aggrson away from the chs
board Such aparent contradictons are not at all uncommon
The mild paive man can play brilliant che, let hs aggreon
out on te ches board the aggressive man can comenate
by laying quet che
2 ) A A ( 1 8 1 8 1 879 ) w in many respects the opposite of Staunton He was born in Breslau spent
severa year as a tutor in a private family then served as in
structor in German and mathematics at a gymnasium in Br
lau for the reminder of his ife He never married, though
t said that he could gve a gallant turn" to converatons
with women
His active che career began with hs victory at the Ln
dn 185 tournament After that he played whenever and
wherever he could though he often had to refuse invitations
because of his post as a teacer But when he w not in a
tournament he played offhand gam In fact so far as one
can see apart from his teaching hs only real nterest in lfe w
che Because of hs devotion t the game, and his extraordinary chievements, Brslau Unversity awarded him an
honorary doctorate in 1 865, a unique recognition by the aca-
demic world whch has not been duplicated since
Although he lost t both of hs great rival, Morphy and
Steinitz Anderen was never othered by defeat He oved to
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
39/87
Wilhem Stintz
Howard Sauntn
A dof Andessn
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
40/87
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
41/87
r mpi
lay, and it seemed to matter little whether he won or lost
It is clear enough what role chess layed in the lacid life
of a bchelor school teacher; it was his major lbidinal outlet
In shar antithess to Staunton he never engaged in quarrel,
and never made any enemies His only complaints frm the
London 1 85 1 tournament were about the scandalous high
prices there In his letters home some of which have been re
served, he goes into great detail as to how expensive everythng
wa He found al the ayers agreeable, the organizers courteous, the arrngements satsfactory Everhing else in life for
him was secure and wellregulated; it was only in chs that h
could really let himself go
His style accordingly the most romntic of all the cham
pions. Attac, sacrifice, with reason or without reason The
man who in re life could tolerate no change could not toler
at a quiet role in the fantasy world of chess Everything had
to be fluid, oen bold, dashing, adventurous Desairingly he
wrote of his successor that He who plays with Morphy must
abandon all hoe of catching him in a trap no matter hw
cunningly laid The poiblity of modifying his own style
did not occur to Anderssen ; psychologicaly he could not change
3 ) P M 837884) as attracted sychiatricattention because of his psychosis in later life He is the subject
of the tudy by Ernest Jones mentoned ealier 23 )
Morhy w born in New Oleans on Jun 22 837 his
father was o SpanshIrish descent, his mother of French ex
tracton When he was ten yeas old he learned che from
hs father By twelve he was abl t beat his uncle (father's
brother ) then che ing of New Orleans Until 1 857 he de
voted himself to hs studes In tat year he travelled to New
Yor where he easily gained first place in the American Cham
ionshi the first ever hed The next year he visted London
and Paris, where the worlds edng che masters were then
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
42/87
P P
concentrated, and defeated every opponent he played, nclud
ng Adof Anderen Ony Staunton reused to meet hm, nspte of all hs effort to arrange a match
He then returned to New Orleans, where he ssued a chal
lenge to pay anyone n the world at odds On recevg no
response to ths chalenge he declared h che career closed ;
t had lasted barely eghteen months, only sx of whch had
seen hm n pubc pay
After h retrement ( at te ge o twenty one ! ) he ok
up lawhs father was a udgebut was unsucceful at t
He gradually relapsed nto a state of secluson and eccentrcty
whch culmnated n unmstakable pranoa At he age of
oryseven he ded suddenly of congeston of the bran, pre
sumaby apoplexy, as had hs father before hm
About Morphys symptoms durng h later lness Jonesrepors the folowng. He magned hmself persecuted by people
who wshed t render hs le ntoerable Hs elusons centered
on the husband of hs elder ster, the admnstrator of hs
father estate, wh he beeved wa tryng to rob hm f hs
patrmony Morphy challenged hm to a duel, and then brought
a lawsut aganst hm, spendng hs tme for years n preparng
s case In court t was easy shown that hs accusatons werequte groundle He also thought that peope, partcularly hs
brothernlaw, were tryng to poson hm, and for a tme re
fused to tae ood except at the hands of hs mother or h
yonger unmarred sster Another deuson was tht hs
brothernaw and an ntmat frend, Bnder, were consprng
to destroy hs clothes, o whch he was very van, and to kllhm On one occason he caed at the atters offce and un
epectedy auted hm He was gven to stoppng and starng
a evey retty face n the street urng certan perod he
ad mana for stdng up and down the verandah declarng
th oowng words Il plantea a bannre de Castlle sur les
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
43/87
pi
murs de Madd u cr de Vlle agne, et le pett R s en
tout penaud
His mode of lfe to take a walk every day, punctually
at noon, and most scrupulously atted, afte whch h would
retire again untl the evenng when he woud set out fo th
opera never missing a sngle peformance He would see no
one except his mother, and grew angry f she ventured to n
vite even intmate frends to the houe Two years befoe
Morphys death he as approached for his permisson to nclude an account of hs lfe n a pojected bogaphcal wok
on famous Louisianans He sent an ndgnant reply, in which
he stated that hs father, Judge Alonzo Mophy, of the Hh
Court of Lusana, had left at his death the sum of
$46624 whle he hmself had folowed no professon and
had nothng to do with biography Hs talk was constantly of
hs fathes fortune, and the mere mention of chess was usually
suffcent to ·rtate hm
The queston naturally arses as to what connectn, f
any thee was between Mophys chess genius and hs psy
chosis Jones attibutes geatest signficance to Stauntons e
fusal to play Mophy Staunton was fo him the supeme fathr
mago, and Mophy ade the ovecoming of hm the test ofhis capacity to play chess and unconscously of uch ele b
sdes When Stauton nstead of eetng Mohy on the chess
boad, engaged in vcious and scurrlous attacks on hm, Mor
phys heat failed hi, and he abandone the wcked path"
of hs chess caeer It was as though the father had unmasked
hs evl ntntions and was now adoptng a smlarly hostle at
9 "H wi plant the flag of Castll o th wals of Madrd wthth cy of th cty w a the ltt Kn wll awa all abah. J6
tts that cat f th n of ths Hwv t s cll a
cr of vcto ovr th K, a rsv xpss ws f what
ul o o at Coma th cmmt cvsto
t prvou scto
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
44/87
P t P
tude toward Morphy in retaliation. Che, which had appeared
to be an innocent and laudable expreion o hs personaityw now revealed to be actuated by the most chidish ad i-
noble o wishes, the unconscious impulses to commit a sexua
aault on the ather and at the same time to maim him utterly
There is however one rather serious objection to on
theory about Morphy inenious it is In 1858 the unacknow-
eded world champion was no oner Staunton, but Anderssen
Che historians woud certainly rank Anderen above Staun-ton at that time. In 866 when Steinitz won the word cham-
pionsip, he did so by datin Anderssen And Morphy had
beaten Anderen, most decisively It s thus ot cear why he
should have been so disturbed by Stauntons reusal to meet
him.
More mportance must be attached to Morphys repeateddeclaration that he was not a roeional When he retued
to ew York rom his Eropean triumphs n 858, his rece-
tion w overwhelmn It w widely elt that this ws th irst
tme in hstory in whch an Amercan had proved himsel, not
merely the equal, but the superior o any representative in hs
ield drawn rom the older countries, so that Morphy had added
a cubit to the stature o American civlzation In the presenceo a reat assembly in one University he was presented with a
testimonial consstn o a chess board with motheropearl and
ebony squares and a set o men in old and silver; h also re
ceved a old watch on which colored che pieces took the
place o the numeras
At this presentaton Clonel Mead, charman o the reception committee alluded in his speech to che as a proin
and reerred to Morphy its most brilliant exonent Morphy
took stron exception to bein characterizd as a prossiona
player, even by mplicatin, and he expresse his resentment
n such a way that Colonel Mead withdrew rom the com
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
45/87
P t P
ude oward Morphy in realiaion Che which had appeared
o be an innocen and laudable exprion of his personaiy
was now revealed o be acuaed by he mos childish and i-
noble of wishes, he unconscious impulses o commi a seua
aaul on he faher and a he same ime o maim him uery
There i however one raher serious objecion o on
heory abou Morphy ineniou as i is In 1858 he unacnow-
edged world champion was no oner Saunon, bu Anderssen
Che hisorians woud cerainly n Anderen above Saunon a ha ime. In 1 866 when Seiniz won he word cham
pionsip he did so by dfain Anderssen And Morphy had
beaen Anderen, mos decisivey I is hus no cear why he
should have been so disurbed by Saunons refusa o mee
him
More imporance mus be aached o Morphys repeaeddecaraion ha he was no a profeiona. When he reued
o New or from his Eropean riumphs in 1858, his ree
ion was overwhelming I was widey fe ha h ws he fis
ime in hisory in which an American had prved hisef no
merey he equal bu he superior of any represenaive in h
field drawn from he oder counries, so ha Morphy had added
a cubi o he saure of American civilizaion In he preenceof a grea ssemby in one Universiy he was presened wih a
esimonia consising of a ches board wih moherofpear and
ebony square and a se f men in gold and silver ; he also re
ceived a gold wach, on which colored che pieces oo he
place of he numeras
A his presenaion, Colone Mead chairman of he recep-ion commiee, alluded in hi seech o che as a prof ion
and referred o Morphy as is mo brilian eponen. Morphy
ook srong excepion o being characerized as a professiona
payer, even by mplicaion and he epresse his resenmen
n such a way ha Colonel Mead wihdrew from he com
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
46/87
r mpi
mittee In hs speech on this occasion Morphy also made the
following remarks 23
It is not only the most delightul and scientiic
but the most moral o amusements nlike other
ga in which lucre is the end and aim of the con-
testants it recommends itself to the wise by the act
that its mimic battl are ought or no prie nor
honor It s eminently and emphaticly the philo
pher's game Let the chess board supersede th crd
table and a great improvement wi b vsible in the
morals o the community
Chess never has been and never can be aught
but a recretion It shoud not be induged in to the
detrimnt of other and more serious avocations
should not absorb or engro the thoughts of thosewho worship at its shrine but should be kept in the
background and restrained within its roper prov
inces As a mere game a relaation rom the severe
pursuits o ife it s deserving of high commendation
Now Morphy's reusal_to embrace chess as profion
was followed by hs refusal to mbrace ny profession Such
a dee refusal to take life seriously must have much deeper
root than the accident o Staunto's verba dyspepsia In act
the withdrawal rom life must have been prent very eary
and compensated by the overpowering interest in chess He
leed the game at the age o ten wa champion o Nw
Orlens at tweve champion of the S at twenty and champion of the word at twenty one These eat have in broad
outline been repeated by mny others since Morhy But they
cn only be achieved at the epense of enormous time and
efort In other words throughout hs adolescence Morphy
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
47/87
P P
mus have spen a major porion of hs ime paying che So
ar as is known, he never had any sexua experiences, or a
bes ony casua ones. Thus he usua compeivesexua ac-iviies of he adoescen boy were abandoned by Morphy, i
avor o chess. In effec, hs chess paying warded off h
pschosis
The acciden of naive genius caapued him ino a word-
famous ceebi word champion he coud no onge ake
che ighy o ook upon i as a mee game If che coudno b recreaion i os is deensive vaue, and hence a fuhe
regrsion ook pace ; he psychos previousy conceaed, broke
ou in ful force.
I woud so ike o ca aenion o one pecuiariy of
he Morphy ieraure. Some four hundred of h games are
preseed, incuding wenywo from his earier days, and more
han fif odds games. Of hese ony some fifyfive are ournamen or mach gam. Nowadays i s no cusomary for any
maser o keep recods of offhand gmes or games a odds
How s i ha so man of Morphy's games are recorded? Mos
of hem have no inrinsic vaue ; offhand games rarely do.
They mus have been preseed by Morphy ( o wih con-
sen) wih an uncocious exhbiionisic inen, o pubsh acoecion a som fuure dae. By becoming famous, is ex-
hibiionsic desie hreaened o be unasked in hs mind)
and ony a regreion coud escue him fom he danger
Aso he exisence of so many recorded offhand games
shows ha Morphy coud no ake chess ighy I was a deady
serious maer o him a he same ime a he had o go o
grea enghs o deny his repeaedy. When he became amous,his unconsciousy deemined proesaio ha che was a
mere game for him coud no onger convince ohers; here agai
a regression had o ensue
The analysis of Morphys sye is compicaed by an is
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
48/87
r pi
toric accidet Morphy w active i che for a period of a
little over a yea 85 858 a period i which the develop
met of chess was most rudimetay compared to ts presetstate Because of the creased stregth of the mters, the
bod, slashig stye which was so characteristic i hs day has
teded to recede ad give way to a much more subtle, refied
coservative type of game Chess critcs have lameted thi
tedecy ad have poited to Morphy as a exampe of the
great geius of combiatve play who would have defeated a
these frigteed moders blidfolded Ths s othig more
tha the usual myth about the past ad the como compait
of the older geeatio that my day there were real he
me bal players chess players prze fighters" ad so forth
If we cofie ourseves to the fiftyfive serious games that
are cluded i the Morphy collectio, oly a few ca by ay
stetc of the imagiatio be caled brillat May are quitestodgy What Morphy had that oppoets dd ot have
was frst the ability to see combiatos cleay which is a
matter of stregt ad ot of stye ; ad secod the itutive
ealzatio of te importace of postio play, whch was al
mos etirely ukow h day
I fact, if Morphy s compared stylstically wth such
mao oppoets as Adere ad Paulse, the chief dfferece
lay i his grp of the prcpl of developmet
I sme way tis must ave bee a expresso of te
deepes roots of hs persoality Posto play is piary te
ability to orgaze the che pieces the most effective ma
er We have see how overorgazed Morphy became his
sychossthe walk at oo the afteroo wth mother theopera at ght e are also famlar wth such exteme orga
zato other obseoal ad paaoid persoalts. Mor
phys developmet of posito ply thus arose out of his at
tempt to arrage hs world a more meagfu maer Its
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
49/87
P P
articular alication throgh che can however only be at
tributed to hi native geniu.
The theoretical dicuion o the reviou ection uihea ready exlanation o Morhy' ychotic ymtom. The
rivalry with the ather wa irt acted out in che and then
handled by a regreive ychotic identiication During hi
che career Morhy wa amou or hi gentlemanly quali
tie he rereed aggreon comletely. A urther rereion
took lace in the ychoi
unctuated only by the homoexual
ault on Binder the man who allegedly tk cloth ie
unmaked him The abence o anxiety which many ob
erve noted wa rather a ign o ego weakne than o
trength he had to retend to be ree o all human emotion.
Morhy' breakdown revealed trait which had reviouly been
ublimated in che : memory regreed to a ixation on hi chid
hood environment viualization broke down into voyeurimgratied by the oera by taring at women' ace nd by
another eccentric habit o aangng women' hoe in a emi
circle in hi room. When aked why he lked to arrange the
hoe in thi way he aid like to look at them. The con
nection between organization and aranod ytematizaton ha
been mentioned The aranoia wa alo a regreve exreion
o the ear o attack which had been ublimated in che n
tead o being able to accet the maginary che wod he
lot the ability to dierentate between antay and realty he
became hi ather thrugh a ychotic identication with him
n ite all th however the ego remained uiciently n
tact to allow him to be maintained outide a hoital.
4 W SZ ( 1 8361900 wa bo in Praguein 1836 and even a youngter w known a the bet ayer
in hi native cty. n chool he dtinguihed himel mathe
matic n 1858 he went to Venna to tudy at the Polytech
niche Antalt. Not long aterward however he gave u hi
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
50/87
or pio
formal schooling, and devoted the rest of hi life to che
1 862 he moved to England ( why he left Prage i not defi-
nitely known) , where he maintaned himself for some twentyyear By 1882 he had many enemi that he emigrated t
the US, where he remained with some interrpins ntil
h death
For Steinitz che was the great paion of his life Unlike
Morphy, he looked pon che as more than a game, and wa
prod of h achievements in it Bachmann, hi biographerqotes the following letter from Steinitz to him, written i
1896 whic gives a pictre of the man 1 )
Chss not for timid ls t demand a whole
man, who does not stick slavishly to what ha bee
handed down, bt attempts indepenently t probe
the depths of the game It tre that I am not easilyleased and crtical, bt sholdnt one become critica
if one so often has t ear serficial opnions abt
positions which can only be carified by a thorogh
investgation Shodnt one wry if one se how an-
tiqated methods are clng to a ependent way
merely to avoid having one's comfort distrbed
che is diffct, it emands work, seris reflection,
ony diligent investigaton can satisfy Only rthes
criticism can lead to the goal Bt for many nfor
tnately the critic is seen as an enemy rather than
as a gide to the trth Bt n one will ever draw
me away from the road to the trth
Steinitz, whose famiy is said to have wanted him to be-
cme a rabbi, became itead the archtect of mode che
Morphy was a brilliant comet; Steinitz, in the forty yars he
devoted to the game, tablihed it in its rent e
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
51/87
P P
clariied the concepts of position play, classified the openings,
established the cassica laws which are still valid today, such
as control of the center, and helped to raise the general levelof skill to a height never before seen
In sharp contrast to Morphys detachment, Steinitz was
a fighter every inch f the way So much s that, as Sergeant
remarks, Where Staunton's pen was dipped in gall Stenitz's
pen was dipped in vitriol."
Even before he took to che, Steinitz's love of argumentfor the sake of argument was quite manifest. Bachmann quotes
the following anecdote from the autobiography o Josef opper
( ) , th same opperLynkeus to whom Freud refers
One o my riends was the great chess player
Wilhelm Steinitz, who a also the greatest genius
I have ever known in my life. Up to that time this
extraordinarily sensitive young man had been an en
husiastic admirer of Mozart's, i.e., he agreed with
me, and suddenly he admiredWagner. Almost every
evening we spent many hours in arguments about
whether Wagner's music is really beautifl, whether
it is melodious, and then too whether it can stand sideby side with Mozarts. In site of al my efforts
Steinitz coud not be shaken from the opinion that
Wagner's music was particularly beautiful and Lo
hengrin especially wonderful, and that Mozart's
music was inferior.
In Steinitz again the intellectualized aggression s broughtout above all other qualities. He fought on the chess board he
fought in the chess columns, he argued endlely with hs
friends To his enemies he attributed antisemitism ( in tis there
was certainly some element of truth ) , and at one time began
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
52/87
pi
t write a bk n Jews in che, in rder as he said, t cn-
fund the antisemites
Naturally s much aggrein must be accmpanied by
great anxieties Ths in act turns ut t have been the ce
Steinitz is described as a kind f male hysterc, wh fr thity
years suffered frm recurrent nervus attacks, the ain symp
tms f which were verexcitability, nervusness and i-
na T vercme these attacks he rested t the neip
treatment, a frm f hydrtherapy which aparently invlvedcld baths ; there ws at that time a neip Sciety in New Yrk
and there were many firm believers in the ethd
The gratificatin derved fr being king f the ches
wrld gradually led t a kind f Messiah cmplex in him He
almst literally felt called upn t rescue the lst chess pay
frm the wilderness One anecdte frm early years relates that
in a Viennese chess club Steinitz used t play with a man named
Epstein, wh was then ne f the leading figures n the Vien-
nese Stck Exchange When a dispute between the tw nce
are Epste said t him Hw dar yu talk like tha? Dnt
yu knw wh I am?" T which Steinit relied Oh yes
yu are the Epstein f the Stck Exchange Here I am
Estein"As king f the chess wrld, Steint was abe t maintain
sufficent cntrl ver hs anxieti But when he lst he cham-
pinshi t Lasker in 894, and lst the return atch in Ms
cw n 896, he had a brif psychtic episde After his defeat
he was rying t write his bk n Jews in che as rapidly
10 ml to to o Rhv who h ly chvm bo won n oln n th t o r whn thGmn my occ h r. h Grmn nl n commn or th ch hnomnon (hn bot vn yr o ) to r borhm n ly wth hm. Unbh Rhvy wn o thenr n h, hr l mlhom h l chch o lywr; I ly ch
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
53/87
P P
ssib and or his purpos hird a youn Russian scrary
who was lun in boh Enish and Grman H dvlopd a
dio h h could lpho wihou wir or rcivr andh scrary on ound him waiin or n answr rom h
invisib phon H would o o h window alk and
n and xpc an aswr Th scrary rpord his o hAmrican consul, wo hn sutd ha h b conind to
h Morossow sanaorium This was on Fbrary 1 1 , 1 897 On
March 61897
h wro a Vinns physican who was a
chidhood rind ha ik a lunaics I imain ha h do-
ors ar crazir han I am" H was aso wl nouh o advis
h psychiariss Tra m lik a Jw and kick m o"
Siniz hn sixy y od Th dlusiona ida o
a wirl phon may hav bn a harmlss abrraion sinc
h was rld ar a w wks and spn our mor aciv
yars paricipain in ch ornamns In 1900, shorly bor hi dah h aain diplayd various dlusiona idas H
huh ha h old mi lcrical currns wih h hp
o which h could mov h chs pc a will On sory says
ha h clad o b in lcrica communicaion wih God
and ha h could iv God Pawn and mov H w briy
hospializd, and rlasd as harmlss A w wks lar h didWhhr or no h had a snil psychosi with som or
aic bis, h duons o hs old a may b inrprd as
wih compnsaons or hs da by askr Whn h a
rion wa no onr civ, a rrion took pac o th
arir malomanic vl
Th connction bwn Sinizs pronaliy and his ch
styl is airl simpl and airy dirc In his ouh h was abod ambi payr, who won by wild atacks and brllian
combinaions ironicaly his am rom his priod ar ypica
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
54/87
pi
f the way Morphy s supposed to have plaed but never did
t cler that he w dethroning the fther by brute force
e h was hampion he wa the fth and he hd to beatoff the attacks by the so Accordingly h style underwent radical transformation and he became an invincible defen-
sive player But just as he had pushed the attack to extrem
he ushed the defense in the same way He would get into
the most fantastically opsided positions from which only his
genis helped him to escape In one variatin which he lovedas Blac he would hold on to his awn at K4 against any
and every onslaght jst as in real life he wold stubbornly
stick to his point regarde of what others said
Defensiveness may often have a provocative quality and
teinitz cod extremey provocative One stoy says that
Blackburne an nglish master who was beaten innumerable
times by teinitz was once so angeed that he threw eminent oponent ot of the window Blackburnes main love in
ife apart from chess w the bottle and he was probably
drunk when the incident occrred but teinitz ma very ell
have helped to bring the attack down n hs head
In tentz's case we find a direct carryover from his be-
havio in real life to his behavior on the che board While
this happens ften eough it can by no means be taken as
an invariable rle5 . M K 868 94 presents still another
type of personality He was bo in Berlinchen in 868 We
are told that he learned the moves at the age of twelve from
hs brother Berthod wh became a fistcs master in his
own right though he devoted himself to hs medical professionmanuel dd not take up the game seriousy ntl he ws
fifteen He acquired the tite of Maste accordg to the Ger
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
55/87
P t P
man custom, by winning the Hauptturnier at Breslau in 1889
In 1 892 he pad a long visit to ngland, and after a numberof succses there went on to America to beat teinitz in 1894.
After winning the world championship he went n to some
outstanding touament vctories at t Peteburg 18996,
Nuremberg 1896, ondon 1899 and Paris 1900, by whch te
t ws clear that he was well above any f the ther chemasters of that day
He then withdrew from active competition for a while andtook a PhD in mathematics at rlangen in 1 900 Although he
could have taught mathematics, or been a profeional che
player, he preferred to look un hmself as a philosopher, andto devote himself independently to whatever pursuits interested
h at the moment. In spite of protestatios, he continued
t play from time to time and remaned among the best until
very lte In 1924, at fiftysix, he still won irst prize at the
New York touament, ahead of all hs leading rivals including
apablanca
In 1 908 he married a German wrter and at forty became,
as he put t, husband, father and grandfather in one stroke,
since his wife, who ws several years his senior, was already
a grandmother.In 1921 asker lost the title match to Capablanca, a match
in which he really showed little interest and resgned prema-turely rather than put up the fight which he had preached in
his book Kmf 29 in 1 907 everal years later he ssueda public declaration that the organization of the chess world
was inica to any chess aster who spired to be a creativeartist, and announced his official retirement from the game
o nine years he kept aloof from the game but the advent of
the Nazi regime destroyd his personal fortune and in 1 934
financial preure forced him to return to it At Moscow in
193 he was still goo enough to win third prze at the age
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
56/87
r pi
of sixtysvn a fat whih many ald a "bioloial miral
Aftr svral yars in Mosow h am to this ountry i 1 93
and did in 1941.
Laskr w primariy an idpndnt spirit and mst ofhis lif w spt a frla itlltual His itrsts wr
many and varid h tauht mathmatis wrot o philosophy
ivtd a kid of tak in World War I wrot a nylopdia
of Gams ad a book o board ams ad towards th nd
vn protd a sri of soial rforms i a work ald Thommunity of th Futur ( 30 .
As a prsoality Laskr w th dirt oposit of his prdssor tiitz. H was affabl ourtous a o th surfa
at last ompltly dvoid of any kind of hostility Thos who
knw him wr imprssd by hs rfusal to t into ay kind
of arumnt or to uttr a unkid word about aybody Hpridd himslf o his philosophial tmpramt
For svral yars i th arly 1930s Laskr was frindly
with istin ad th lattr otributd a forword to Laskrs
bioraphy Amo othr this insti rlats that th two
m had lon arumnts about th thory of rlativity Laskr
offrd th uuual obtio that it had ot b dmonstratd
that th spd of liht i a vauum is ifiit and that sinthis assmtion is a ornstn of th thory of rativity
isti w not ustifid in alyi th thory until th asmtion was ithr rovd r disrovd To this isti r
pi that on ould not wait idfinitly pialy sin no
asrtaiabl mthod of vrifiatio was availabl at th mo
mnt an add that Laskrs rsistt uwillins to rahay olusios am out of his hsslayi tmpramnt
whih di ot rqir that ayhin b sttld dfinitly saftr al it was ony a am Hr Lasrs obsssional ambial
n ot th bttr of him othrwi prhaps his fistas
mind miht hav mad som ontributio to physis
5
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
57/87
P P
What ole did he play in the fe of ths detached in-
tellectual? We would have to aume that it supplied a majouce of instinctual gatification in the only way that w a-
ceptable to him, namely the intellectual Hee and thee ase
gives us a glimpse of the pleasue he deived fom the game
a pleasue which s consciously denied Of aasch he once
wote : "He lacs the paion that whips the blood nd of
his celebated victoy ove Capablanca at St etesbug in
94, he wote 6 )
he spectatos had followed the final mov beath-lely hat Bla's position wa in uins was obvious
to the veest tyo And now Capablana tuned ove
his King om the seveal hunded spectato, thee
came suh applause I have neve exienced inall my ife as a che playe It was lie the wholly
spontaneous applause whch thundes foth in the
theate f whh he ndvdul alm unncu.1
In othe wods at times he could feel that the libidinal
gatifiation in hess wa too geat Hence he played less and
le even gave it up fo nine yeas and efused to plae thpope value on hs exploits in the che wold aticulaly
his aggession became subeed to an inceaing eaton
fomation He could neve finish many of hs othe pojects
beause to do so meant aying out an aggeive ation Ma-sochisti tends made thei appeaane and mingled with the
aggesion In the fist Wold Wa he wote a boo demon-
stating that ivilization would be uined if Gemany did not
win the wa His pematue esignation to Capablanca in the
92 math must have been mochstically detemined he
felt t "old yet in a numbe of subsequent encountes de
1 1 Italc mne.R F.
6
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
58/87
pi
fated is youger oppoet, te last tie late s 1935
1925 e "felt istreated by te ess world. Te pysiia
wo tteded i i s last illess ( a prostati afflitio assaid tat if e ad subitted to treatet sooer is life igt
ave bee prologed by a uber of years. Te itelletualiza
tio wet too far; e deied is body.
Laser's style is ore diffiult to defie ta tat of ay
of te oter apios, ad tis is i a way arateristi of
i as Eistei observed, e ould ot be pied dow .
wo features stad out oe is is tatial superiority ad te
oter is is sear for larity ad order.
Tat tatial superiority sould be uique to oe a
pio igt see odd; oe would epet all to ave it.
Laser's ase, owever, it was raised to te vel of a style, i
tat, ulie te oters, e would ot oit isef to ay
dotriaire poit of view. Steiitz was ofte ore axious toprove s teories ta to wi; Capablaa was out to si
plify; Aleie to atta.
Laser ould atta or defed. Toug e usualy preferredto defed, e ould play opeig, iddle gae ad edig
wit equal virtuosity. He was a wellrouded e artista
quality wi reflets te wis expressed i is ow life to eepert i ay differet areas He refused to be ped dow ;
o te ess board tis s a asset, sie a toroug eletiis
provides te greatest uer of vitories i te log ru. But
i oter areas it was a liability. Te wis to e everytig prob
ably otriuted to is early loe for ess; is oie staout as a otrast to tat of s equally gifted broter, wo
gave up serious ess ad devoted iself to edie e aretold tat s broter taugt i te ga, ad we are well
aware o te deep ipat of siblig rivalry o persoality
foratio.
Te oter feature of Laser's style is is sear for larty
-
8/17/2019 The Psychology of Chessplayers ocr
59/87
P P
ad rdr f book o h gam (h ly wro wo
wa ld Common Sene in Che 28 I h prfa o
hs ploophial work D Begefen e Wel h ay ( 2 )
Th book wri for al m