Harmony, not understood: chess, music, maths and old age
(Shutterstock)
My title is taken from those memorable lines in Alexander Pope’s Essay on Man, 1733:
“All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is , and God the soul…All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good…”
Whether it is possible to subscribe to the entirety of Pope’s Panglossian vision is open to debate, but here I focus on one discrete area: namely that chess, music and maths exhibit a common harmony, which transcends mere learning or even experience. It is my contention that violating such harmony, by worshipping at the false shrine of Chess 9LX (aka Shuffle, varied baseline or Fischerrandom) is an abominable heresy which desecrates the traditions of chess. Moreover, it fails to produce the beauty, profundity or originality which the spawners of the cursed deviation had evidently envisaged.
Accounts abound of amazingly youthful chess prodigies, including José Capablanca — who allegedly absorbed the rules and moves of the game, aged four, simply by watching his father play. Then there was Paul Morphy, who at 12 defeated the illustrious European Master Johann Löwenthal, and perhaps most spectacular of all, Bobby Fischer, US champion at the age of 14 and victor of the so-called Game of the Century when he was 13. My column of September 09 indeed focused on one such modern prodigy, the teenage Indian Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, and there are many more youthful talents lining up from that stable.
I am not alone in believing that there must be some quality which links chess, music and mathematics. I believe that quality to be an inner harmony which connects all three activities and which the youthful human brain is capable of identifying. The striking factor is that prodigies in chess, music and mathematics are capable of performing at the highest level without significant prior experience.
Leonardo da Vinci Self-Portrait, 1512
It would be unthinkable for a child or young teenager to paint like Leonardo da Vinci or write with the depth of Tolstoy or Shakespeare, since the relative life experience would not yet have been accumulated — in general such dimensions would be missing. For music, maths and chess, on the other hand, prodigies appear to be able to leap the chasm of experience and tap directly into an underlying harmony, a harmony which most of us cannot easily perceive.
Apart from the British Grandmaster John Nunn, who was proficient in both maths and chess from an early age, it is worth noting that Vassily Smyslov (World Chess Champion from 1957-1958) was also an accomplished opera singer. Meanwhile, the Soviet grandmaster Mark Taimanov enjoyed a second career as a concert pianist.
With the advent of computer-powered Artificial Intelligence, such as the Google/Demis Hassabis’ Deep Mind (better known in chess as AlphaZero), new dimensions of harmony are now constantly being revealed.
I therefore find it tragic that perhaps the greatest chess player ever should be trying to stage a comeback, after retiring from his super-illustrious career, through the medium of the false religion Chess9XL.
It is high time for that great former World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, to definitively hang up his pawns, rather than humiliate himself by returning to chess via the 9XL diversion. In a recent 9XL tournament in St Louis, Kasparov embarrassed himself and his fans with a pathetic performance, marked by lacklustre and tedious games.
2023 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX
Kasparov has just turned 60. In a previous column “Brain nutrition, Alzheimer’s, longevity and the power of memory” I indicated that chess may well constitute a way of keeping the brain fit, a thesis I originally propounded and defended in a book, which I co-authored in 1994, with Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Mapping.
The book was infelicitously titled by the publishers, The Age Heresy, thus giving the indelible impression to prospective purchasers, far from being an encouraging manual showing ways in which the brain can improve with age, that this was a learned disquisition on the medieval Filioque clause — the theological dispute which split the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. It did not help that our book was universally, if erroneously, described as “The Age of Heresy”.
Tony Buzan and I reached our optimistic conclusions concerning mental improvement with age via two separate routes. The first moment was in May 1973, when Tony was international editor of the magazine of MENSA, the society for those with a high IQ. He had been asked to process the information he had been gathering on the human brain and its intelligence, and to make suggestions based on that information.
It should be borne in mind that Tony was (unfortunately mistakenly) convinced that he would live to a great age. A certain amount of special pleading about how the brain might improve with age can therefore be detected in his elucubrations.
In many science disciplines — for example, biochemistry, mathematics, physics, psychology and philosophy — researchers have found themselves drawn inexorably towards the question of the brain‘s potential. It is now known, beyond doubt, that the brain is a fabric consisting of layers of interlinked networks, which can consciously control heartbeat, oxygen intake, internal organs and brainwaves. Further, there is evidence to suggest that in deep states of meditation or hypnosis, people have been observed to eliminate pain, to paralyse a part of their body, to produce skin eruptions where no cause was apparent (and to eliminate them immediately afterwards), to induce any predetermined symptom artificially, to perform feats of strength normally attributed only to superhumans or mad persons, and to cure themselves of apparently incurable diseases.
In the past it was considered above normal to remember seven random consecutive digits. Now we know that mnemonic systems indicate that, even a staggering 7,000 disconnected items can be memorised, in sequence, in random order, and in reverse order, with no decline in performance as the number of items to be recalled is increased. Eight-times World Memory Champion, Dominic O’Brien, has consistently proved this in public demonstrations.
In view of this, it is now obvious that a complete reassessment of human learning and potential must be made. One of the first considerations is, of course, how best to educate an organ – the brain – that is estimated to possess virtually infinite possibilities for associative interconnecting. With such power available to us, it is apparent that our standard, inflexible, linear approaches are no longer acceptable. For this reason alone, Tony Buzan was justified in inventing his trademark creativity and mnemonic system, The Mind Map.
Above all, Tony resisted the prevalent notion that with increasing age, millions of our brain cells simply die off every day. Such an automatic process has now been disproven. On the contrary, active use of the brain can actually grow new synaptic connections. This is really common sense. The brain is part of the body and if, for example, you cut your finger, it will heal, unless you are very unlucky or have certain conditions, such as haemophilia.
It is equally apparent that standard psychological methods of testing ability must be totally changed, if not eliminated entirely. To judge an organ’s capacity, for example, by its forced response to a question about shapes in an ink blot is ludicrous, when it is realised that the same organ can create multidimensional, holographic, varicoloured, original and projected images without assistance. This ability, variously labelled daydreaming, hallucinating or madness, is either taken for granted or denigrated. But it takes little acuity to realise that any organ that can both create and observe its own creation, at one and the same time, is spectacularly formidable.
Similarly measuring general aptitude with standard “intelligence quotient” (IQ) tests is absurd. Rather than employing sterile tools which measure whether some people are more “able” than others, surely it is time that we evolved. It is now the moment to see man, woman, all races and the universe as they are: infinitely involved, infinitely fascinating and worthy, not of categorisation and division, but of understanding.
At exactly the same time that Tony Buzan was editing the international Mensa Journal, and pondering on the significance of the information he had been gathering on the human brain, I was studying European literature, language, history and culture at Trinity College, Cambridge. I was specifically interested in that towering German genius, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic.
I was particularly struck by an apparently serious anomaly. I was constantly informed by members of the surrounding academic environment that the fires of creativity regularly “burn out” by the age of 26. It was also commonly stated that chess players peak at 26 and then are “past it”. “Thinking like a 40-year-old” is, in fact, a common term of disparagement among chess players.
Such commonplaces of pseudo-academic wisdom, though, did not sit well with the awkward fact (one might say the glaring contradiction) that the work of the artists, writers, chess champions, indeed of the inspirational geniuses whom I was studying, frequently – rather than exceptionally – seemed to produce better work as they got older. Indeed, in many cases an artist’s supreme creation, dwarfing all previous work, was his final piece, often brought to fruition in late middle- or even old age.
All the great minds seemed to have a clear creative vision and purpose, and strove towards its fulfilment with barely credible levels of determination and persistence. Should anyone doubt this, then simply examine the chronologically ordered numbers that define when a particular masterpiece was written or composed. Who would deny that Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (and he only wrote nine) marked his creative peak? Who would reject Faust Part II (and there are only two parts) as Goethe’s deepest and richest work?
William Shakespeare, vintage engraved illustration
And the list goes on. Shakespeare’s late plays, in particular The Tempest (his last), are his most magical; Leonardo da Vinci started painting the Mona Lisa when he was 52; Michelangelo began work as papal architect-in-chief on St. Peter’s in Rome at the age of 63; Sinan, the imperial architect of the Istanbul of the Sultans, created his crowning glory, the Edirne Mosque, when in his eighties; Brahms’s 4th Symphony (he only wrote four) exceeds in its grandeur of structure and opulence of melody, its harmony and tonality, all his previous compositions. Brahms, in fact, only turned his hand to writing symphonies at all when he was 43 (Symphony No. 1).
The answer had to be that some serious misconceptions were collectively, if subconsciously, developing. Academics were telling their students one thing, but were lecturing about works that refuted their own predictions. This phenomenon required both investigation and questioning. In chess, the games of Lasker, Smyslov and Botvinnik, to name but a few, indicate a deeper and richer vein of creativity with increasing age.
So how to explain the humiliating debacle suffered by Garry Kasparov in the recent tournament in St Louis? It was a disaster so humiliating that Kasparov must seriously consider immediate and full retirement from chess, to avoid further embarrassment. The answer is relatively simple. Kasparov could reverse the cycle of catastrophe by devoting himself once again to serious chess study. Kasparov himself admitted on X/Twitter: “Sorry I couldn’t do better for the fans who gave me so much support. But time is undefeated, and Caïssa is a jealous mistress who punishes anyone who ignores her as much as I do!” (Caïssa is a fictional Thracian dryad, often portrayed as the Goddess of Chess. She was first mentioned during the Renaissance by Italian poet Hieronymus Vida, the Bishop of Alba and Cremona.)
Garry Kasparov is hailed by many as the greatest player of all time. However, if Kasparov insists on re-entering the fray without massive preparation and pitting himself anew against much younger professionals, who devote 100% of their time and effort to playing and studying chess, then he will be doomed to failure.
Kasparov has sought to evade this necessity by adopting heresy in chess — or, to reiterate the devilish abomination by name — shuffle chess, chess 960, Chess 9XL or Fischerrandom. I must confess to feeling that common resentment, doubtless experienced by the 300 or so orthodox bishops at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, when confronted with the heresy of the Alexandrian Presbyter Arius (256–336 AD) who claimed that God the Son was subordinate to God the Father.
Shuffle chess was popularised by that quintessential demon, Heresiarch and obliterator of his fans’ expectations and desecrator of their loyalty, Bobby Fischer. In my opinion, players being permitted to arrange their pieces at random at the start of the game represents a feeble echo of the harmony, beauty and balance of the orthodox initial chess array. It is fuelled by a disinclination to master opening theory and bolstered by the endorsement conferred through Fischer.
Respectable status, encouraging 9XL to become confused with real thing, has been further acquired by the lure of “all corrupting gold” as Shakespeare puts it in Richard III. Players of the calibre of Wesley So and ex-World Champion Magnus Carlsen have been tempted to dignify it with their presence, in tournaments where the abomination prevails. One such was the 9XL event in St. Louis, held at the start of September. There, as we saw from the full cross-table above, an illustrious field included Garry Kasparov, Fabiano Caruana and Lev Aronian.
What can be the justification for shuffle chess, when the possible permutations of chess proper are so enormous? The actual number is 10 to the power of 120, as I pointed out in my column “Dr Siegbert Tarrasch and his search for meaning”. If one is bored with chess, then it would be better to try some of the entrancing oriental alternatives, such as Xiangqi (Chinese Chess), or Shogi (Japanese Chess), where excitement is intensified by the fact that all pieces, even when captured, can re-enter the fray, but for the opposing side.
Illustration of Chinese Xiangqi chess pieces. Translation from Chinese: Soldier, Chariot, Cannon, Horse, Elephant, Advisor, General
Once one heresy takes root, the pestilence spreads. In Dortmund, the former scene of many a fine clash of classical chess, a match was once staged between the ex-World Champions, Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, where castling was prohibited. One might as well enfeeble the game of cricket by abolishing the ability to hit a ball for six. If these ex-Champions desired to challenge their minds in a different game, might they not have reverted to the authentic game of Shatranj, that pre-Renaissance, pre-castling ancestor of chess, which has its own immense subtleties, as revealed in the games and puzzles, from the cultured Baghdad Caliphate, of As Suli (880–946 AD), Al Lajlaj (900–970 AD), and Al Adli (circa 840 AD) who was the original Aliyat or Grandmaster.
To illustrate the above, I turn to two games played by perhaps the greatest chess doyen of the 20th century, the inimitable Garry Kasparov. In the following examples from St Louis, he is played off the board at 9XL by the highly respected Grandmasters Shankland and Sevian. These were appalling perversities of what our esteemed game can become when the idle nonsense of random influence breaks through.
Grandmaster Raymond Keene OBE’s 206th book, “Chess in the Year of the King”, with a foreword by TheArticle contributor Patrick Heren, and written in collaboration with former Reuters chess correspondent, Adam Black, has just appeared.
A Message from TheArticle
We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout these hard economic times. So please, make a donation.
