Chessplayers & Spirituality
David Richardson
Just a quick question: as a group, would you say that Chessplayers are
more inclined or less inclined to spirituality than the general
population?
Please construe "spirituality" as is most natural to you. It can
refer to "religiousness," inclination to mysticism, inclination to
superstition, or an inclination toward the numinous, etc. The
connotation is neutral.
And of course, "non-spirituality" may be construed as an inclination
to agnosticism, atheism, philosophical materialism / anti-
supernaturalism, etc.
Thank you in advance for any thoughts you may care to share....
--
Brett (in Berkeley, California, USA)
http://www.ForeverFunds.org/
My plan for erasing poverty from the world with micro-endowments that
"give" forever into the future
Taylor Kingston
> I hope you are all in good spirits.
>
> Just a quick question: as a group, would you say that Chessplayers are
> more inclined or less inclined to spirituality than the general
> population?
>
> Please construe "spirituality" as is most natural to you. It can
> refer to "religiousness," inclination to mysticism, inclination to
> superstition, or an inclination toward the numinous, etc. The
> connotation is neutral.
>
> And of course, "non-spirituality" may be construed as an inclination
> to agnosticism, atheism, philosophical materialism / anti-
> supernaturalism, etc.
>
> Thank you in advance for any thoughts you may care to share....
My personal impression is that chess players as a whole are no
different from the general population as regards personal religious
belief. They range all over the map, from devout believers to militant
atheists.
However, insofar as spirituality relates to chess itself, I would
have to characterize players as agnostic or atheistic. Chess is,
ultimately, a matter of purely logical analysis, with no religious
dimension, and I think most players realize this, whatever their
personal philosophy may be. I have never seen a chess player pray
during a game, or consult any holy scripture, or invoke any deity or
other supernatural entity, to help him find the right move.
Offhand, the only chess player of any eminence I can recall who
wrote openly about any spiritual dimension in chess was the American
master Anthony Santasiere (1904-1977), but his writings are considered
largely an embarrassment. Edward Winter calls them "the prejudiced
rambling of an apparently cultured man who, nevertheless, was gravely
deficient in common sense.":
Offramp
> I hope you are all in good spirits.
>
> Just a quick question: as a group, would you say that Chessplayers are
> more inclined or less inclined to spirituality than the general
> population?
>
> Please construe "spirituality" as is most natural to you. It can
> refer to "religiousness," inclination to mysticism, inclination to
> superstition, or an inclination toward the numinous, etc. The
> connotation is neutral.
>
> And of course, "non-spirituality" may be construed as an inclination
> to agnosticism, atheism, philosophical materialism / anti-
> supernaturalism, etc.
>
> Thank you in advance for any thoughts you may care to share....
Because chess players have the ability to see into the future they are
more spiritual than the general populace.
The great Aleister Crowley was a great religious guru who was probably
just about master strength; and in his book The Book of Thoth he
mentions the great Richard Réti.
I had a feeling that the great Efim Bogoljubov had received some
training to be a priest, but Wikipedia akes no mention of this - so I
could be wrong.
Poor great Akiva Rubinstein is the most difficult case. His family had
intended for him to be a rabbi but he adopted the career of a chess
professional. What did his family think of that? Did the decision
affect AK's mentality in later life?
Chessplayers like the concept of luck in the game. The loser of a game
can assert that he is strong enough to beat his opponent but was not
lucky enough. Weaker players can hope to beat strong players if they
have some luck.
At move 33 in the following game Kasparov had some serious luck; or is
it waves of psychic energy interfering with the opponent's thoughts?
[Event "m/24"]
[Site "Sevilla 44/11 (Kasparov,G)"]
[Date "1987.01.25"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Garry Kasparov"]
[Black "Anatoli Karpov"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "127"]
1.c4 {I can look back at my chess career and pick out more
than a few crisis points, but only one Mount Everest. I would
like to share the tale to investigate the means I used in
winning the most important game of my life. ... After a tough,
prolonged defense I suffered one of the worst hallucinations
of my career and blundered to a loss in game 23. Suddenly,
Karpov was up by a point and was only a draw away from taking
back the crown he had lost to me two years earlier. The very
next day after this catastrophe, I had to take the white
pieces into a must-win game 24. Caissa, the goddess of chess,
had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my
nature. I would not be allowed to hold on to my title without
winning a game in the second half of the match. Only once
before in chess history had the champion won a final game to
retain his title. With his back against the wall, Emanuel
Lasker beat Carl Schlechter in the last game of their match in
1910. The win allowed Lasker to draw the match and keep his
title for a further eleven years. The Austrian Schlechter had,
like Karpov, a reputation as a defensive wizard. In fact, his
uncharacteristically aggressive play in the final game against
Lasker has led some historians to believe that the rules of
that particular match required him to win by two points. When
preparing for my turn on the other side of this situation, I
recalled that critical encounter. What strategy should I
employ with the white pieces in this must-win final game?
There was more to think about than game 23 and game 24, of
course. These were also games 119 and 120 between us, an
extraordinary number of top-level encounters between the same
two players, all played in a span of thirty-nine months. It
felt like one long match, with this final game in December,
1987, the climax of what we had started in September 1984. My
plan for the final game had to consider not only what I would
like best but what my opponent would like least. And what
could be more annoying for Karpov than my turning the tables
and playing like Karpov?" -- Garry Kasparov, excerpt from "How
Life Imitates Chess", 2007, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, ISBN:
1596913878. } e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.b3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O b6
7.Bb2 Bb7 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Ne4 10.Ne2 a5 11.d3 Bf6 12.Qc2 Bxb2
13.Qxb2 Nd6 14.cxd5 Bxd5 15.d4 c5 16.Rfd1 Rc8 17.Nf4 Bxf3
18.Bxf3 Qe7 19.Rac1 Rfd8 20.dxc5 Nxc5 21.b4 axb4 22.Qxb4 Qa7
23.a3 Nf5 24.Rb1 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Qc7 26.Nd3 h6 27.Rc1 Ne7 28.Qb5
Nf5 29.a4 Nd6 30.Qb1 Qa7 31.Ne5 {Seeing a chance to play for
an attack, I moved my knight to the central e5 square,
offering a pawn. Karpov took the bait and grabbed the pawn, a
temptation that could have led to disaster. And he had to play
quickly now, as it was still a long way to move 40, when, by
the rules then in force, the game would be adjourned and more
time added before continuation the next day. -- Kasparov, "How
Life Imitates Chess"} Nxa4 32.Rxc8+ {I exchanged rooks,
leaving me with queen, knight, and bishop against his queen
and two knights. He had an extra pawn, but I had seen a
tactical possibility that would give me a powerful attack. His
pieces were dangerously uncoordinated, and his king was
vulnerable. If I could penetrate into his position with my
queen, I could exploit both of these factors at the same
time. The question was where to move my queen on move
33. Karpov could only wait, knowing he would have to reply
almost immediately or he wouldn't have enough time to make the
next eight moves without losing on time. -- Kasparov, "How
Life Imitates Chess"} Nxc8 33.Qd1 {Lost in thought, I was
startled by a tap on my shoulder. The Dutch arbiter leaned
over and said, "Mr. Kasparov, you have to write the moves." I
had become so wrapped up in the game that I had forgotten to
make note of the last two moves on my score sheet as required
by the rules. The arbiter was of course correct to remind me
of the regulations, but what a moment to be strict!
Distracted, I played my queen to the wrong square. I missed a
subtlety and failed to see why a different move with the same
idea would have been stronger. My move gave Karpov a clever
defense, and suddenly he was one move from reclaiming his
title. But under pressure from the clock, he missed the best
move (though our exchange of errors would not be discovered
until well after the game), and the momentum was still with
me. -- Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} Ne7 34.Qd8+ Kh7
35.Nxf7 Ng6 36.Qe8 Qe7 37.Qxa4 Qxf7 38.Be4 Kg8 39.Qb5 Nf8
40.Qxb6 {Karpov's best opportunity to defend had passed, and
my forces surrounded the black king. I regained my sacrificed
pawn with interest, and by the time we reached move 40, ending
the time scramble, my position was clearly superior. The game
was adjourned until the next day with the title still up in
the air. It was going to be a long night. Getting a good
night's sleep before the game had been wise, but now there was
work to do. Thirteen pieces were still on the board, including
queens, too much material for definitive endgame analysis. I
had an extra pawn, but with such limited material, Karpov had
definite chances of a draw. A lot of chess was still ahead. --
Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} Qf6 41.Qb5 Qe7 42.Kg2
{The best news was that I could play this position forever,
maneuvering around to provoke a mistake by my opponent. Black
would be tied down on defense the entire time, and Karpov knew
it. The prospect of such prolonged torture took its toll; I
could see it in his eyes when he walked on the stage a few
minutes after I did. His fatalistic expression told me that he
had already lost the game psychologically, which boosted my
confidence. -- Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} g6 {The
maneuvering began. I remember being surprised when early on
Karpov made a pawn push that my team and I had established as
bad for black's defensive chances. Apparently Karpov and his
team disagreed with our analysis, or perhaps it was a
psychological error. Sometimes the hardest thing to do in a
pressure situation is to allow the tension to persist. The
temptation is to make a decision, any decision, even if it is
an inferior choice. And Karpov's move made the position more
concrete, reducing the level of uncertainty. But in my favor,
his structure was now fixed, presenting me with clearer
targets. Convinced of the quality of our analysis, I took
Karpov's significant deviation from it as a mistake, not a
potential improvement, further increasing my confidence. --
Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} 43.Qa5 Qg7 44.Qc5 Qf7
45.h4 h5 46.Qc6 Qe7 47.Bd3 Qf7 48.Qd6 Kg7 49.e4 Kg8 50.Bc4 Kg7
51.Qe5+ Kg8 52.Qd6 Kg7 53.Bb5 Kg8 54.Bc6 Qa7 55.Qb4 Qc7 56.Qb7
Qd8 57.e5 Qa5 58.Be8 Qc5 59.Qf7+ Kh8 60.Ba4 Qd5+ 61.Kh2 Qc5
62.Bb3 Qc8 63.Bd1 Qc5 64.Kg2 {After another ten moves of
steady squeezing, I began to feel the win was in the
bag. Karpov's pieces were pinned up against the wall, and a
little more maneuvering would lead to decisive material
gain. Later I heard that FIDE President Florencio Campomanes
was busy calling a special meeting in another room to decide
how to handle the closing ceremony, which was scheduled to be
held on the same day. But it still looked as if this game
could last forever; what was to be done? Two crises were
averted at once when someone ran into the meeting room to
announce, "Karpov resigned!" It was without question the
loudest and longest standing ovation I had ever received
outside my native country. The theater thundered as Spanish
television cut from futbol to broadcast the conclusion of the
match. I had done what Karpov had failed to do in 1985: won
the final game and drawn the match to retain my title. This
time I would have a good, long time to enjoy it. -- Garry
Kasparov, excerpt from "How Life Imitates Chess", 2007,
Bloomsbury Publishing USA, ISBN: 1596913878. } 1-0
Taylor Kingston
>
> I had a feeling that the great Efim Bogoljubov had received some
> training to be a priest,
Yes. According to Sergei Soloviov in "Bogoljubow: The Fate of a
Chess Player" (Chess Stars, Bulgaria, 2004), Bogo's father was a
village priest who hoped his son would follow in his footsteps. Young
Efim is said to have studied at the Kiev Religious Seminary for 11
years. The name Bogoljuow (or, as I prefer to spell it, Bogolyubov)
means "beloved of God."
Other priestly chess masters include American GM William Lombardy,
and of course Spanish cleric Ruy López. Brazilian GM Henrique Mecking
is a devout follower of a group called Charismatic Catholic Renewal,
and credits prayer with healing him of the disease myasthenia gravis.
SAT W-7
MikeMurray
<taylor....@comcast.net> wrote:
> Offhand, the only chess player of any eminence I can recall who
>wrote openly about any spiritual dimension in chess was the American
>master Anthony Santasiere (1904-1977), but his writings are considered
>largely an embarrassment. Edward Winter calls them "the prejudiced
>rambling of an apparently cultured man who, nevertheless, was gravely
>deficient in common sense.":
>
>http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/santasiere.html
When I first joined the USCF, the then bi-weekly "Chess Life" had a
series by Santasiere attacking Reshevsky, essentially for being dry
and overly technical and (as I remember) not having enough love.
Evans' "Chess Catechism" has some interesting accounts of some of his
own wars of letters versus Santasiere. Santasiere had the guts to
challenge Evans to a match -- I think it was a theme match -- over
some of Evans' criticisms.
None
wrote:
>
> The name Bogoljuow (or, as I prefer to spell it, Bogolyubov)
> means "beloved of God."
Bogoljubow means loves God or loved by God
ChessFire
wrote:
A good and fair post by Taylor Kingston, but Taimanov answered a
question I [and Bill Hyde, here] put to him in terms of spirituality —
in saying that often brilliant young players would aim at Moscow or
Petersburg to escape their regional city fate, and rely on their chess
to get them through. But often a severe shock [in chess] would shatter
them, since they had no other means to deal with it, knowing only
chess — whereas for him his music allowed him to survive his encounter
with Fischer and then the even more terse encounter with Sovietism,
and he described his music as a spiritual and transcending resource
over negative circumstance.
One might reasonably infer, since this questions was 'close to' some
Fischer questions, to which he inferred rather than explicitly said,
Fischer was like this; knowing only chess and without resource to deal
with the world and its frequent set-backs, but in this instance,
difficulties outside chess wrecked Fischer.
If Bill Hyde is reading here he will surely add his own opinion if
other than mine which I dod not insist on, since it is but an
inference, though I think it was a real one and intended.
Phil Innes
Taylor Kingston
> On Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:41:33 -0800 (PST), Taylor Kingston
>
> > Offhand, the only chess player of any eminence I can recall who
> >wrote openly about any spiritual dimension in chess was the American
> >master Anthony Santasiere (1904-1977), but his writings are considered
> >largely an embarrassment. Edward Winter calls them "the prejudiced
> >rambling of an apparently cultured man who, nevertheless, was gravely
> >deficient in common sense.":
>
> >http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/santasiere.html
>
> When I first joined the USCF, the then bi-weekly "Chess Life" had a
> series by Santasiere attacking Reshevsky, essentially for being dry
> and overly technical and (as I remember) not having enough love.
> Evans' "Chess Catechism" has some interesting accounts of some of his
> own wars of letters versus Santasiere.
I recall some of that now and then in Evans' later Chess Life
columns. IIRC, he thought Santasiere was absurd for faulting
Reshevsky's supposed lack of "chess spirituality" (whatever that's
supposed to mean) when Reshevsky's main goal was simply to win games,
something he did a lot more than Santasiere.
Evans also got into it with Weaver Adams, over Adams' claims to have
"solved chess" and that White had a forced win with the Bishop's
Opening and/or Vienna Game.
> Santasiere had the guts to
> challenge Evans to a match -- I think it was a theme match -- over
> some of Evans' criticisms.
I guess that never materialized. My database shows them meeting four
times 1946-1951, twice in US Opens and twice in US Championships.
Evans had the overall edge +2 -1 =1.
Taylor Kingston
>
I found some of what you refer to in Arnold Denker's chapter on
Santasiere in "The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories." He quotes
Evans as writing in the 1961 CL:
"[Santasiere's] games are characterized by plodding, timidity, and
opening repetition. He enters even the 'romantic debuts' such as the
Vienna and King's Gambit with reams of prepared analysis, strives
constantly to keep the draw in hand and prevent complications from
getting away from him over-the-board. Where are the glorious games
which qualify him as the darling spokesman of romanticism?"
MikeMurray
<taylor....@comcast.net> wrote:
.
>> Santasiere had the guts to
>> challenge Evans to a match -- I think it was a theme match -- over
>> some of Evans' criticisms.
>
> I guess that never materialized. My database shows them meeting four
>times 1946-1951, twice in US Opens and twice in US Championships.
>Evans had the overall edge +2 -1 =1.
As I remember, Evans was willing, but only for stakes. He noted that
all a match would demonstrate was their respective abilities.
Taylor Kingston
My Lord, Phil. For once a relevant, reasonable and articulate post
from you. Yes, I think Taimanov makes a very good point.
I would disagree on only one thing, which I would guess comes from
you rather than Taimanov. I wouldn't phrase it as "difficulties
outside chess wrecked Fischer"; I think Fischer wrecked Fischer.
Offramp
> On Feb 26, 9:04 am, Taylor Kingston <taylor.kings...@comcast.net>
> Bogolyubov)
> > means "beloved of God."
>
> Bogoljubow means loves God or loved by God
Or "beloved by God" which means "beloved of God."
Offramp
wrote:
Another minor one is the Spanish priest Frenando Saavedra.
Offramp
Enochian Chess, a rather ridiculous game based on Atari Warlords.
It is worth reading about but not worth playing.
SAT W-7
notes if he took any on that game ...
I have Kasp book when he played Karpov in the 24 game world
championship and i thought that was very good ...
I belive 24 games is a true test of a champion ..
I really do not like the I2 games ..To me that is too short .....
None
Obviously, just try to spell it as I did. One of my employees spent
the first 25 years of her life in Belarus. She suggested that it would
be more accurate to spell it with -bow at the end.
OldHaasie
wrote:
====================================>
> My personal impression is that chess players as a whole are no
> different from the general population as regards personal religious
> belief. They range all over the map, from devout believers to militant
> atheists.
I would think chess players would have a slightly larger proportion of
non-believers than seen in the general population.
OlhHaasie
jeremy.p...@vanderbilt.edu
I have noticed at times the large number of top players who are
ethnically half-Jewish; almost all of these are not religiously
Jewish. My theory is that (together with the prevalence of chess in
Jewish culture) the people who have consciously rejected a religion
would tend to be drawn to the hyper-rationalism of chess, but I cannot
back it up. I am doing some research into very early N American
tournaments (up through the Civil War) and it is somewhat notable how
many of these tournament winners are either Jewish (such as Selim
Franklin, the winner of the 1st tournament in San Francisco) or
conscious rejectors of religion (such as NR Waters, the winner of the
1st tournament in Baltimore); this is despite coming well before the
large waves of Jewish immigration to America.
Jerry Spinrad
M Winther
news:c863d0b1-d318-477d...@d23g2000prj.googlegroups.com...
Board games have in history been viewed as capable of presaging the
future (see Pennick, N: Games of the Gods: The origin of board games
in magic and divination. Rider, 1998). Therefore they have always had
a spiritual connotation, including chess. See my article, The
Boardgame Mandala:
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/boardgam1.htm
Personally, I believe that there is a slight tendency of "cultic
worship"
among chess players, an age-old "instinct" affecting us from the
unconscious. Chess players gather at "cult centers" where they watch
the games of the "high priests" (the GMs). The idea that chess is all
about calculating variations and winning prize money doesn't hold
water. There is much more to it, the age-old unconscious is involved
to some degree.
Interestingly, according to a recent study, gaming was more important
in Bronze Age culture than was earlier thought. Almost every tenth
artifact found at Mohenjo-daro is game related, including different
forms of dice and playing pieces. Elke Rogersdotter: "Gaming in
Mohenjo-daro - an Archaeology of Unities" (12-Jan-2011).
"The main question of this thesis concerns the possibility of
illuminating the presence and impact of the irrational element that is
play in an ancient societal structure. [...] The study is based on
selected game-related finds from the site of Mohenjodaro. Located in
Sindh in southern Pakistan, the site constitutes the remains of the
largest urban settlement of the Bronze Age Indus Valley realm (ca.
2500-2000 BC). One of the typical features of this realm constitutes a
focus on small-sized art. Among other artefacts, numerous small
objects of a supposedly game-related purpose have been found in
Mohenjo-daro, such as dice and gamesmen. [...]"
http://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/24042
Mats Winther