Counterplay: An Anthropologist at the Chessboard
2012; The Strong; Volume: 4; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1938-0399
Autores Tópico(s)Digital Games and Media
ResumoCounterplay: An Anthropologist at the Chessboard Robert Desjarlais Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2011. Illustrations, appentices, glossary, notes, bibliography, index. 251 pp. $50.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780520267398In his recent book on chess, anthropologist Robert Desjarlais, himself an expert player, speaks of how he tired of the regular repeating geometries defense, a chess opening, and turns instead to another: This time, though, I hooked up with the Taimonov Sicilian, a dependable, shape-shifting mesh of counter- attacking strategies. The Taimonov's ways in the world, its sinuous forms and possibilities, fitted well with my own predilections (p. 100).Counterplay: An Anthropologist at the Chess Board reminds me of the Taimonov. To transport readers into the culture of chess, and in particular into the lives of individual players, Desjarlais sinuously meshes descriptions of his own chess experiences and firsthand observations with ethnically diverse player accounts, snippets from online blogs and forums, philosophical and literary musings on chess from the game's luminaries, and surprising cross-cultural analogies and comparisons. One comes to understand that in this book, as in the Taimonov and in chess itself, much is possible.In the opening chapter, called Blitzkrieg Bop, Desjarlais introduces readers to his study as an example of the anthropology of passion, or of obsession, the two are not easily distinguishable. Then in chapter 2, Notes on a Swindle, Desjarlais treats his match with Mr. Grechikhin-a master- level Russian immigrant and regular at their chess club in Manhattan-as a prototypical example of how chess can become exquisite violence between competitive weekend warriors. In Psych-Out (chapter 3), the author explores players' emotional involvement in chess, the way they put their egos on the line and struggle to improve their ratings and to advance in the game's skill-based social hierarchies. In Sveshnikov Intrigues (chapter 4), Desjarlais shows us the game's mathematical sublime, delving into players' attempts to master mind-bogglingly complex opening, middle, and end-game tactics and strategies. Chapter 5, Son of Sorrow, focuses on how John Riddell, a highly rated player from the Bronx-Yonkers Chess Club, uses competitive chess to enter special states of consciousness and indeed to inhabit alternate, focused realities, effacing normal time and self and keeping sorrow and distress at bay. In Ambivalence (chapter 6), Desjarlais further explores the positives and negatives of chess: its victorious highs, rewarding flow states of consciousness, social engagement and even communitas, its pettiness, clash of (typically) male egos, and autistic obsessiveness. Chapters 7 (Cyberchess) and 8 (24/7 on the ICC [Internet Chess Club]) trace the changing contours of contemporary chess. First, we hear about the movement of chess from human art to cyborgean calculation, as players become ever more deeply entangled with chess-teaching programs like Fritz and with classic chess matches archived on computers. Then, we learn about sleepdeprived human zombies entering trancelike states as they jet from one lightning match to another in the wee hours of the morning on an always available Internet. Finally, the conclusion (Chapter 9, Endgame) traces the demise of the author's own love affair with chess, as he leaves a five-year reverie spent in the small world anchored to the chessboard.Though not dominated by a single theme, Counterplay does revolve around an exploration of a passion requiring players to demonstrate cognitive mastery and expertise in competitive clashes. In approaching this topic which we might label enskilment, Desjarlais fuses two classic themes from psychological anthropology, emotion and cognition, showing how they work together to fuel motivated selves. The author is better known for his studies of mental health and healing in U. …
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