Chess, Personality and Madness revisited

In my post on Chess, Personality and Madness, I posed the hypothesis that "Playing chess doesn't turn one into a 'difficult case', but rather 'difficult cases' are more likely to be attracted to chess." Richard Feynmann offers his take:

I have to say I completely agree when taking myself as the entire population. I am a difficult case. I speak my mind with disregard for the consequences (I'm usually aware that what I say is controversial but don't normally care), I have little time for the needs of others and am generally considered to be inconsiderate ... all charges to which I plead guilty ... it sounds arrogant to admit that I have these faults and to then follow it up by saying "I don't care" but I really don't care as I have no interest in spending my time tiptoeing around people ... I barely have enough time for my interests as it is! So in answer to DG's question ... I'd say yes difficult cases are attracted to chess and I think the reason is that you have to be difficult to get anywhere as chess absorbs life for those who get seriously involved!

Those who know the grip it takes once you get involved in the game know that the rest of life pales into insignificance ... and I think one reason why it's only difficult people who get that far is that difficult people tend to have unfulfilling personal lives and thus have little to counter the appeal of chess. Again referring to my own case I plead guilty to that ... I had friends at one point, I had a social life, I had hope for my career ... now all I want to do is study weak squares ...

See also "Watch Richard Feynmann go mad - Live!".

Watch Richard Feynmann go mad - Live!

Poor guy, following in the footsteps of Rubenstein, Morphy and Fischer:

....It feels strange participating in life at the moment whilst my head is absorbed in chess and thinking about supercomputers that might be our operating system on this planet... having to brush my teeth, catch buses and eat all seems slightly abstract hense my belief that I might be going insane. I'm not actually scared of the prospect of insanity... that may sound... well, insane but it's true...

...does chess make men go mad or do mad men play chess?? I guess that's one of the chicken and egg type questions that does nothing more than make those who think about it want to get horribly drunk.

Read "Hey Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me, I'm not tired and there is no place I'm going to".

Chess, Personality and Madness

I found two items today that might get you thinking about the interrelationship of chess, personality and madness.

The first is an article from The Guardian, "Chess: the new rook'n'roll?". While primarily a puff piece about the role celebrities might be playing in a resurgence of interest in chess, the article also includes this intriguing quote:

As former British champion Bill Hartston said: "Chess is not something that drives people mad; it is something that keeps mad people sane."

To a certain extent this sentiment does resonate with me. For example, I returned to tournament chess in the mid-90's during a period when I was less than enthusiastic about my job/work life (come to think of it, when am I not less than enthusiastic about my job/work life?). I remember telling my wife that I needed that one night of chess per week to avoid going nuts.

This brings me to the second item -- an essay by Mr. Femi Oyekan of New Orleans reprinted in full on a weblog titled "Chess Underground". Mr. Oyekan takes the position that playing chess at a serious level actually leads one to develop off-center personality traits. Here are a couple excerpts:

Those of us on "my side" (read: serious chess players) may be a little more ... roundabout in the way we do things, ... at ease with unconventional thought patterns and ideas, ... comfortable with things that are "iffy". We often like to come at things from the side, rather than head on. ... you might also find that "my side" doesn't exactly dominate the top of the "kindness" and "easy to get along with" lists. Not to say that we are out and out assholes but we may have less of a tendency to be accommodating. We are slightly more difficult cases.

For starters, since you are playing by yourself for yourself, you must trust yourself. A habit of constantly scrutinizing the ideas of others (hopefully fairly) is inevitably formed. In extreme instances, this can even lead to a "my way or the highway" approach, although that doesn't tend to sit too well with people. More regularly, a major distrust of pop culture and even society as a whole is often generated.

This is fairly provocative stuff. While I think that Mr. Oyekan does a good job of describing characteristics commonly seen in chessplayers, I would like to suggest an alternative hypothesis: Playing chess doesn't turn one into a "difficult case", but rather "difficult cases" are more likely to be attracted to chess. What do you think?