It is a common belief or legend that chess and math are similar
intellectual activities, therefore mathematicians are good chess
players and vice versa.
On the other hand different activities such as the trial and
error methods in differential equations and solving chess moves
in time may involve different portions of the brain.
Absent MRI studies, however, it was my experience a long time ago,
that on the day before a tournament I had to suspend all math activity
and computer activity as well.
Does anyone know of well known chess players who were
also mathematicians and mathematicians who were known
to be good at chess?
I can safely confirm that it is purely an urban myth.
Yes, I'm sure the abiliy to problem solve as it stands in mathematics is without doubt helpful over the board in terms of logically reasoning out a solution to a question, but I doubt it is the be-all and end-all.
I believe it was Max Euwe that said any person of reasonable intelligence could become a master-level chess player with correct study. This makes sense when you consider the difference in the styles of play of certain chessplayers.
Alekhine and Kasparov, for example, are well-known for their ability to calculate (analyse) many moves in advance with great accuracy, however, players like Capablanca and Smyslov are noted for their intuative grasp of the most natural squares for the peices with very little calculation involved.
I do not doubt that players improve their calculative ability through expeirience and I also don't doubt that Smyslov or Capablanc COULD calculate deeply if they had expeirience in the area but the idea is they didn't have to and built their playing style around their strengths.
The point I am trying to make is that some players are very mathermatical and calculative and those players should build upon that strength. Some players have other strengths (being able to understand complex positions easily, intuative grasp of peice placement, die-hard desire to attack) and those players should build upon those strengths. There is no absolute chess style and this is what makes the game interesting.
(BTW the only player I know of that was a professional mathematician was Dr. Max Euwe, I think, but other players such as Morphy and Alekhine are known to be lawyers and doctors so I assume a reasonably good grasp of math would be present in them.)
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