The setting of the heroine first reminded me of José Raúl Capablanca (José Raúl Capablanca, a Cuban chess player, also mentioned many times in the play, known as the most talented chess player. ) Talented players can directly play high-level games without orthodox chess training.
At the same time, she reminded me of another chess genius, Bobby Fischer, who lived in the same era as the heroine in the United States.
Usually, some chess players are good at math, some are good at music, etc., but some also have mental problems, like Fischer. The famous British anthropologist and statistician Francis Galton (Darwin’s cousin) once proposed the connection between genius and mental illness. He believed that usually these talented people are also full of mental (nerve) energy. , Can focus on something over and over again, so it’s not far from madness. ("Men who leave their mark on the world are very often those who, being gifted and full of nervous power, are at the same time haunted and driven by a dominant idea, and are therefore within a measurable distance of insanity.") To put it simply, geniuses are more likely to suffer from mental illness than ordinary people. . . And Galton also believes that the above-mentioned traits can be inherited.
Looking back at this story, the heroine’s abnormal behavior (mental abnormality) may be due to genetics (from the play we can see that the heroine’s biological mother is likely to be a genius with unstable mental state) and childhood experience. She has a talent that is different from ordinary people. At the same time, the influence of the birth mother on her and her experience in the orphanage made it difficult for her to grow into a simple and happy ordinary child. Think about it, how difficult it is for a child to take the initiative to sit down and play chess quietly, but the hostess's special experience makes her need chess and medicine to comfort her. In addition, many people like chess, one of the reasons is to enjoy the sense of control, because as long as they are willing to study, as long as they can think far enough, every step can be under their own control, which will also make people feel safe. This is also confirmed in the conversation of the hostess during the interview: "it's an entire world of just 64 squares, I feel safe in it. I can control it, I can dominate it, and it's predictable". When a child grows up without the sense of security or happiness that he/she obtained when being taken care of by his/her parents, then he/she still needs to get similar feelings through other channels. For the heroine, it is chess and medicine (there is alcohol behind) , Can make her feel calm, good and safe. All the settings make sense, which is one of the reasons why I like this show.
It is also worth mentioning that the presentation of chess matches in the play is more realistic than other similar themes, such as the venue, method, and arrangement of chess matches in the play. In particular, many books in the play can be regarded as classics. Most of the famous players in the game are real, and when it comes to descriptions of real players, such as Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Morphy and Darwin living in the same Stage), François-André Danican Philidor (François-André Danican Philidor, also a musician), etc., are also very accurate. On the other hand, what is not real enough is that what the players think and feel about their opponents during the game are expressed in words or body movements. It is often true that the players only compete quietly. Of course, this is also the difference between art and real life (it suddenly occurred to Plato that he opposed art because he believed that art is all false).
Some people tell stories to let others learn something, and some people tell stories because the story itself is interesting. I think this drama belongs to the latter: genius crazy mother, growing up in an orphanage, high IQ and setting different ways of thinking from ordinary people, will not bring extraordinary enlightenment to ordinary people; however, genius is crazy old Mom, the orphanage grew up, the setting of high IQ and the way of thinking different from ordinary people, coupled with the world of chess that is unfamiliar to most people, and the unique background of the 1960s, created a "exotic style". Interesting story.
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