A brutal, competitive world

The Independent – United Kingdom; Jul 30, 2006

The tragic case of Jessie Gilbert has shed new light on the world of
competitive chess, which, far from the genteel, intellectual pastime
many consider it, can often be brutal, exhausting and fiercely
competitive.

Just last month, at the Chess Olympiad in Turin, two grandmasters –
England’s Danny Gormaly and Armenia’s Levon Aronian – took their
rivalry to a new level when Gormaly, 30, reportedly punched Aronian in
the face. The dispute, thought to be sparked by rivalry over female
grandmaster Arianne Caoili, demonstrated the pressure-cooker
atmosphere of major chess tournaments.

Chess prodigies can run an increased risk of emotional or social
problems as they grow up, says Linda Blair, clinical psychologist at
the University of Bath. She said it was not their high spatial ability
that was the problem, but the way people, particularly parents,
responded to and focused on that ability. Too often, this resulted in
the best players being seen as eccentric or "loners". JT