c, mathematical mind best in chess game...dolph spielman of austria, aaron nimzowitsch, one of the...

THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 8, 1039.

Mathematical Mind Best in Chess GameOnce an Art, Now a Science, Always a Battle

Calling for Military Strategy, Says Dr.Norbert L. Lederer, Tournament Director,National Chess Federation, as He Dis-cusses Chess Masters, Past and Present.

BY AR RETTA L. WATTS.

rHATchess is a means of revealing per-

sonal traits of character, whichneither self-control nor even life-longeffort can modify or disguise, is gener-ally agreed upon by those who have

made a serious study of this ancient and cos-mopolitan game and its players. Furthermore,that many chess masters show certain eccen-tricities of judgment and behavior is quite ap-parent, according to Dr. Norbert L. Lederer,director and chairman of the tournament com-mittee of the National Chess Federation of theUnited States, an internationally known scien-tific chemist, authority on criminology and anintensive student of psychoanalysis.

There are, however, some notable exceptionsDr. Lederer would make to the above statementwhich he has arrived at after long, carefulstudy and observation of chess players. JoseR. Capablanca, for instance—the Cuban chessmaster, who held the world championship titlefor seven years, until it was wrested from himin 1927 by the present world champion. Dr.Alexander Alekhine, in the match in BuenosAires—is an exceedingly competent businessman and an all-round sportsman. The sameis true of Dr. Milan Vidmar, professor of elec-trical engineering in the University of Laibachin Jugoslavia, and an eminent authority onhigh-voltage transformers. This great chessmaster and non-professional player, who re-cently refused a fabulous sum offered for hisservices by an electrical concern in America,and the Cuban master Dr. Lederer considersabsolutely normal in so far as may be judgedby the present-day standards of human be-havior.

has become almost an exact science.It has been boiled down to a mathemati-

cal analysts, and for many of its devotees doesnot hold the glamour that it had in the dayswhen it was more of an art,” said Dr. Lederer,who has done more than any other one personin furthering interest in the game in Americaduring the last decade. This chess enthusiastis interested primarily, he says, from the pointof view of a psychological study of the players.He believes that chess develops the mind andpromotes logical thinking, and should, there-

• tore, be encouraged in the young, but withinreason.

‘ In the days of Paul Morphy, who is still thepatron saint of chess the world over, the gamewas an art rather than a science,” declared

,Dr. Lederer. “But even then it was becomingmore scientific. It was that distinguished andaristocratic gentleman of New Orleans whosaid: ‘Chess Is a great game, but the chessplayers have spoiled it.’ ”

There are very few really great active chessplayers in the world today, according to thischess authority, who lists in his ‘ Who’s Who”among the great in the game today the alreadymentioned Dr. Alekhine, who recently success-fully defended his world title against E. D.Bogoljubow; Capablanca and Dr. Vidmar. Tothese he would add the present Americanchampion, Frank J. Marshall, who has heldthe American championship for 18 years; Ru-dolph Spielman of Austria, Aaron Nimzowitsch,one of the most original of the chess masters,and Akiba Rubinstein, the Polish champion.All of these players are grand masters, and.with the exception of Dr. Vidmar, they are allprofessionals.

Dr. Emanuel Lasker of Berlin, doctor ofphilosophy, formerly professor of mathematicsat Manchester and The Hague and interna-tionally known through his profound books onphilosophy, is the deepest chess thinker whohas ever lived, according to Dr. Lederer.

‘

Besides Morphy and Marshall, America hasproduced only one other great chess player,”said Dr. Lederer, “and that was Harry Pills-bury. the first of the great blindfold players.His limit of 22 blindfold games, which heplayed about 1900, has since been raised byDr. Alekhine to 30 blindfold games playedsimultaneously.

“It was the immortal chess master Philidorwho added to his glory by reviving the blind-fold play, which had been practiced first bythe Persians and Arabs. Thus French master,when exiled during the French revolution, didmuch to revive interest in the game. '

“It is interesting to study the approach offour great players like Morphy, Dr. Lasker,Capablanca and Dr. Alekhine. The approachof Morphy was from the purely artistic stand-point, and some of his most famous games wereplayed when he was able to give free rein tohis esthetic sense against inferior opponents.

“Dr. Lasker attempts to realize in the gamethe philosophy of his book, ‘Der Kampf' ( TheBattle’), which is based on the biological neces-sity of fighting in the human race. He believesthat chess is neither an art nor a science, buttruly a battle; that from beginning to end itIs a fighting game. There is more psychologyIn his playing than In that of any of the others,and in actual results he is the greatest playerof all time.

“Capablanca is what one might call an .effi-ciency expert. He rarely takes chances andalways ‘plays the board’ and never his oppo-nent. His great strength is his uncanny post-

tion judgment and marvelous accuracy. Husmain weakness is a certain lack of combative-ness, which often results in drawn games evenagainst weaker players.

“Dr. Alekhine is probably tho greatest con-noisseur and analyst in the game. His wonder-ful imagination has not only carried him tothe world title, but has made some of hisgames imperishable gems.

strategy bears a certain resemblance

to military strategy. The same psychic

mechanism is found in both. Napoleon gavemuch of his time to chess. It is said that whenthe ‘Little Corporal’ was exiled on St. Helena

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Dr. ISorbert L. Lederer, famous chessauthority, is also a chemist and a stu-dent of criminology and psychoanalysis.

he passed much of his time playing the game.Moltke, the great German military leader, wasalso a noted devotee of the game.

"According to leading psychologists, successin chess depends upon the conjunction of cer-tain well developed faculties; a tendency toabstract, formal and objective thinking inwhich the general predominates over the par-ticular. This fact makes chess players andmathematicians much in common. In fact,many of our best chess players have been out-

standing in methematics. The important dif-ference between the two is that the pure mathe-matician directs his efforts toward abstractprobfems, while the chess player works withconcrete situations.

“Chess is a game in which one’s aptitudeshows itself very early. Virtually no greatplayers started later than 10 years of age.Morphy’s great successes were all achieved be-fore he was 20. This youthful master visitedthe continent and had beaten in brilliant styleall the European masters he met. He gave upthe game at the -age of 28.

“Capablanca began his chess playing at theage of 5, having learned the game by watchinghis father play it. The story goes that oneday, after watching his father play a gamewith a friend, the boy said: ‘Father, I couldbeat you myself.’ The father accepted thechallenge and was beaten in the game by his5-year-old child. At the age of 12 the boy waschampion of Cuba and at 16 he had beatenMarshall, the American champion.

"Sammy Rzeszew.sk 1, the Polish ‘wonder boy,’who seemed on the verge of astounding thechess world when he came to America severalyears ago. was only 12 years of age when heperformed his skillful chess exhibitions.”

one knows just when chess originated andauthorities differ as to the place of its

birth. However, it seems fairly certain thatIndia was the land of its origin. A game simi-

lar to chess was played in Egypt 5,000 yeanago. But it is known that chess was played inIndia before the days of Buddha, 400 B.C.The game spread from India to Persia, Arabiaand other Moslem countries and was introducedinto Europe at the time of the Moorish in-vasion of Spain. Prom Spain it spread north-ward into Prance, England, Germany and intothe Scandinavian countries.

Although the game spread rapidly, it wasat first confined to the upper classes and theroyal courts.

From chess literature, which includes morethan 5,000 volumes and treatises, a library moreextensive than that of all other games com-bined, and from every country in the world,'ve learn that the game has always been themost popular of all games among thinkers.Sir Walter Raleigh declared he would like todie on the day he was unable to play chess.Goethe referred to it as the “touchstone ofthe human brain.’’ Voltaire, Ibsen, BenjaminFranklin, Bulwer-Lytton and Tennyson wereall lovers of the game.

One of the loveliest scenes in the great poemby Bishop Tegner, “Frithiofssaga,” containsthe description of a chess game, as does thefamous scene in Goethe’s drama, “Gotz vonBerlichingen.” Even detective and crime fic-tion has made use of the royal and ancientgame, as one notes in S. S. Van Dine’s “TheBishop Murder Case,” Jacques Futrelle's “TheThinking Machine,” Raymond Allen's “A HappySolution” and others.

Literary chess players include also RobertLouis Stevenson, who played the game daily,and Cooper, in whose "Deerslayer” we recallthat Natty Bumpo thought the carved chess-men used for barter with the Indians wereidols. Bacon had no use for chess and sar-castically declared that it was “too wise agame,” a curious remark from the author of“Advancement of Learning.” Shakespeare re-fers to the game only once, and that in “TheTempest.” The chess game in “Through aLooking-Glass” is, of course, immortal, al-though somewhat diflicult to follow. Thenthere are the famous lines in the “Rubaiyat”of Omar Khayyam:

"I’is all a checquered board of nights and days,Where Destiny with man for pieces plays.

chess was formerly a royal oraristocratic game, it has come to be the

most cosmopolitan and most democratic of allgames. Today it is played all over the globe,from China to Peru and from Iceland to theSouth Seas. It is played on land, at sea andin the air, on trains, ships and airplanes, andeven by telephone and cable. A cable matchwas recently held between Washington andLondon. As one writer expressed it: “Chessis the relaxation of the business man, theanodyne of hospitals and the solace of jails.”

For the business man, chess affords an in-tellectual form of relaxation and recreation,a refined form of mental gymnastics, andthere are some very good players among them.Charles M. Schwab and Samuel Insull are bothplayers of chess, as are ex-President Coolidgeand Chief Justice Taft. In England the gamenumbers among its devotees the Prince ofWales, Balfour, Shaw and Kipling.

Chess is a far superior game to bridge Insome respects, and, contrary to popular belief,it has far more followers. One can alwaysprove his superiority in chess, whereas he can-not in bridge. The element of chance or luckdoes not arise in chess as it does in card games.

(Copyright, 1929.)

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Dr. Alexander Alekhine, world chess champion , who is probably the greatestanalyst in the game.

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/osp /?. Capablanca, Cuban chess wizard and former world champion , playinga group of opponents simultaneously.

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