The headline in the NY Times reads: Athletes to Leave Brains to Concussion Study
What does the psychic warfare of chess do to the brain? How does it change the brain when one is “Hit with a shot?”
For that matter, how does playing chess at a young age on a high level alter the brain?
I recall thinking after reading, “Shady side: The life and crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker, chessmaster” by John Hilbert, that Whitaker must have been adversely affected the loss he suffered in his match with Jackson Showalter, as his behavior seemed to change afterwards. The same could be said about Tony Miles when he lost his preeminent position among the English GM’s.
There’s a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause.-P. J. O’Rourke
Whitaker’s would be worth having in any case. I remember my first rated tournament which was surely one of his last, the Delaware Open around 1969 or so. We never saw him again in Delaware, I guess he was just traveling through. I didn’t know what to make of this old guy who was playing very fast, the sharpest tactical chess in the room and, in spite of dropping pieces in most games, was playing up to his Expert’s rating. I had no idea he had once been a very significant player; nobody else in Delaware knew anything about him (I’m surprised Dale Brandreth didn’t, or maybe he just thought Whitaker was a bad guy and didn’t want to talk about him) or told me any stories.
He didn’t fit my stereotype of the old man chessplayer, that’s for sure.