The Personality of Chess

Once the game of kings, chess now intrigues, fascinates, and experates millions of enthusiasts from all walks of life. What is it in the nature of this unique game that has appealed to so many people for so many centuries? What does this game mean for those who play in, and why does it interest even those who do not? Here are the answers in brilliant book that explains chess as a social, psychological, historical and dramatic phenomenon. Filled with unexpected humor and written in a language anyone can understand, The Personality of chess offers a vast amount of little known facts about the game, some in refutation of popular misconceptions, others boldly treading unexplored areas. Is there a correlation between skill in chess and general intelligence? Does skill in chess reflect proficiency in other fields? Are masters of the game like other men – or do they possess other special mental and emotional kinks? What accounts for the durability of the game? Chess players will find many hitherto unrelated areas fully explored, along with further information on aspects of the game that have received only cursory attention up until now. The general reading will find an entertaining, highly readable profile of one of the most extra ordinary games ever invented by man.

Israel Albert Horowitz was one of the greatest chess teachers, trainers, authors, publishers, editors and players the world has ever known. I. A. Horowitz was Chess editor of the New York Times and longtime editor of Chess Review. He was US Open Chess Champion several times. However, he almost always had a partner or a ghost writer. Some said that Horowitz never wrote anything. It was always his partner who did the actual writing, In the case of this book, we can feel confident in saying that the real author was P. L. Rothenberg. The original dust jacket says he is “an international authority on chess problems and endings and is former problem Editor of Chess Review. He has contributed studies and analyses to chess publications around the world.” Phillip L. Rothenberg was born in 1906 in Russia. Nobody seems to know much about P. L. Rothenberg. except that he was often in the offices of Chess Review magazine. Looking at issues of Chess Review Magazine from the 1960s his name does not appear. The only other citation to him is another book he co-authored with Al Horowitz, “The Complete Book of Chess”. The Social Security Death Index says that P. L. Rothenberg was born on July 15, 1906 and died in Albany, New York on February 4, 1992 at 85 years old. Strangely it does not give his first or last name, just P. L. The reference to “widows” in the acknowledgments refers to Edna Horowitz and Grace Rothenberg as “chess widows” not real widows. Edna was the wife of Al Horowitz and Grace was the wife of Philip Rothenberg. Regarding Al Horowitz, I knew him well. Israel Albert Horowitz (often known as Al Horowitz or I. A. Horowitz) was born on November 15, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York. He was at one point one of the strongest players in the world. He won the prize for best score in the World Chess Olympics in Warsaw Poland. He defeated Soviet Grandmaster Salo Flohr in the 1946 USA-USSR match, one of only two Americans to win a game, and he drew a mini-match with Grandmaster Isaac Boleslavsky. He was the New York Times chess columnist for ten years. He died on January 18, 1973.