Emili is an
amateur chess player. Occasionally, he plays chess in international opens, which
for diverse reasons are enticing for both local non-professional club players
and professional players from around the world. On 2000 June 16th,
Emili played a chess game in one of such chess contests against Alexey Kuzmin,
a Russian chess grand master (GM).
Kuzmin
conducted the white pieces and Emili played with the black pieces. Playing
white bears a certain advantage, because of the primary initiative conferred by
the very first move in a chess game. A larger advantage of Kuzmin over Emili,
however, stemmed in the difference of over 550 points in their respective Elo
ratings, 2596 and 2025. The Elo rating describes the level of chess skill
attained by amateur and professional chess players. Higher Elo ratings indicate
higher levels of chess skill. The Elo rating held by the two contenders in a
chess game predicts fairly well the chances of winning or losing. The winning
chances for Kuzmin were about 96% in contrast with a meagre 4% for Emili.
The game opening
was the Queen’s gambit declined semi-Slav, 5.e3 [D45], which led to a conventional
chess game. Nonetheless, for somebody interested in human behaviour it was beguiling
to watch both players in the course of the game. Emili won a pawn in the move
14, which was remarkable for an amateur player struggling with a GM. Then Emili
became extremely excited. His facial expressions and motor behaviour manifested
a hectic mixture of enthusiasm, nervousness, and tension. Several spectators were
watching the game, some of them probably hoping to witness a bewildering defeat
of the GM.
Kuzmin’s
behaviour was the opposite pole to the behaviour displayed by Emili. The GM
remained calmed, unemotional, and very relaxed. Kuzmin won a pawn himself in
move 21 and a second pawn in move 26, even though preserving a peaceful, serene
manner, and reflecting an emotionless mood. The nerves of Emili seemed close to
collapse because at that moment, he had much less available thinking time than
his opponent. Seven moves later Emili resigned.
Watching the game was quite instructive. Apart from the difference in the Elo ratings of both players, it highlighted subtle differences in the control of emotions in a domain with taxing intellectual and emotional requirements. Observations of human behaviour during chess playing and a background in differential psychology were the main motivations to write Chess and Individual Differences. The volume reviews a considerable amount of empirical studies in psychology that have used the chess domain in one way or other, and that have reported individual differences of several kinds. Common themes addressed in differential psychology are thoroughly reviewed in the book, such as intelligence and personality. Other topics of interest include psychophysiology and brain studies, expertise, sex differences, and the applications of chess in real life domains such as in business, health, and school.
Angel Blanch works in the Department of Psychology at the University of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. His research focuses on individual differences, intellectual performance and data analyses in behavioural science. Angel also serves as an associate editor at Personality and Individual Differences, as well as advising on the editorial board for Psycho...
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