CHESS IS NOT ONLY FOR EGG-HEADS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31248, 21 December 1966, Page 19

CHESS IS NOT ONLY FOR EGG-HEADS

QHESS is frequently said to be a game requiring great intellectual ability. Is this true? An examination of the scholastic records of reasonably able players discloses a consistency quite beyond the bounds of coincidence and well worth an investigation. The secret is, I think, that in order to play chess competently it is necessary to develop a faculty of the mind which is rarely emphasised by most people. When you read of a chess champion playing 30 people at once, blindfolded, and winning most of his games, you probably think he is some kind of freak. This is not the case. He is just an able person who has practised the art of thinking in pictures. Most of our thinking is done in semi-audible words, and pictures supporting these words flash involuntarily, and sometimes hazily, in front of our “mind’s eye.”

For the chess player working out his next move the words are unimportant and meaningless without the picture. He must be able to consciously visualise the required picture, study it evaluate it, and amend it as he thinks fit. All this must be done as quickly as possible while he sits and looks at the original position, thinking up ideas to evaluate in this way. With practice it is found that this original external stimulus is not essential, and, I am sure, that anybody of average intelligence would be capable of reaching the stage where a game may be played out of sight of the board. This accomplishment Indicates the mastery of a powerful tool for thinking

about any subject and confers a marked advantage in analytical powers to the trained person. Thus, by virtue of this enhanced technique, a chess player should be able to “out-

think” a person of similar natural ability.

Hand in hand with this development goes an improvement in one’s powers of concentration. All else is unimportant while the chess clock is ticking, and a person who can remain alert and working at full power

for the whole of his share of the four-hour playing session customary in major tournaments, has achieved an ability to concentrate which will stand him in good stead for any “swotting” he may do in the future. For this reason, a chess player finds that he is able to get through his study much more quickly, a consequence of having practised thinking with a timelimit.

A common misconception among the uninitiated is that chess is a difficult game to learn and strictly for the “egg-heads.” The rules of chess are quite simple and consist mainly of description of the ways the six different types of pieces can move. These can be shown in a few minutes and reinforced by a couple of practice games. Then the novice is ready to play someone of the same standard.

A glance of the roll of any chess club shows that devotees come from all walks of life, from professors to bus drivers. Anyone who has the necessary qualities of sportsmanship and a competitive spirit can enjoy his chess and derive the intellectual advantages just described.

This is the feature that makes chess such a really great game. Whether you are a Botvinnik or the most humble amateur; a celebrated champion or the rawest beginner, you can enjoy pitting your wits against an opponent of your own class. And from the admiring murmurings of the spectators at a great international tournament to the exuberant shouts of a couple of addicts thumping through lightning games at five seconds a move, the accent is on meeting, fighting and fun.

This article on chess was specially written for “The Press” by A. L. WILKINSON, secretary of the Canterbury Chess Club The club’s centennial tournament starts on Monday.