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in this study an attempt is made to sketch the psychology
of the game of chess, to trace the stages in the development of
a chess player, and to interpret this progress in psychological
terms. That the task, owing to the complexity of the processes
involved and the impossibility of applying anything like
satisfactory objective tests, is a difficult one, is obvious, but it
is one that seems to the writer worth attempting.'
I. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE GAME.
Chess is, as every one knows, a mimic battle fought upon a
field of sixty-four squares with pieces moved according to an
elaborate system and having powers suggestive of a variety of
fighting units. The purpose of each player is to checkmate
his opponent, that is, to hem in and threaten the latter's king
in such a fashion that he is subject to capture at the next move.
In our discussion of the psychology of the game it will be convenient
to consider it first as a form of human play and then to
take up more particularly the mental powers involved.
I. Chess as a Form of Human Play.
Forms and Varieties of the Game. The game of chess has
not been confined to any particular age, race, country, or class.
It is without doubt one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of the
intellectual pastimes, and it is the game of skill par excellence.
Its origin is not definitely known and there have been many
claimants for the honor of its invention.2
Especially in its later history the game has developed a number
of off-shoots in specialties which for many people share the
interest of play across the board. The chief of these is the
composition and solving of chess problems, which now has
quite a literature and many devotees. Another is correspondence
play, in which the strict rules of the typical game are
somewhat relaxed on account of the peculiar conditions of play.
Others, practiced as feats, but of especial psychological interest,
are blindfold playing, to which Binet has devoted a special
research,8 and the playing of many games at once (either blindfolded
or with sight of the board). To some of these special
forms we shall return later.

Instinctive Factors in Chess Playing. Chess is, as we have
said, a game of wide distribution and popularity. Dr. Emanuel
Lasker states that over one million English speaking people
know the game, that there are in the United States, England
and Canada between seven and eight hundred good sized chess
clubs, many of which have over one hundred members each,
and that the City of London Club has over four hundred members;1
and judging from the number of chess clubs, chess periodicals
and players of high rank in Germany, France, Russia,
Austria, and Poland chess is no less popular in those countries.
If one were asked what class or classes of people play chess one
might truthfully reply that all classes play it.
The question then arises: Why has chess proved so widely
popular at all times and in all places? How has it been possible
for a game making severe intellectual demands to hold a
place historically and in geographical distribution beside such
universal forms of human play as gambling, horse-racing,
athletics, and hunting, and to claim devotees, if less numerous, at
any rate as loyal as any of these? The answer is, of course,
that, in common with a multitude of other games and sports,
it appeals to the fundamental instinct of combat, in a way that
is direct and at the same time exempt from the anti-social
features that are inherent in actual physical combat. Here
lies a large share of its attractiveness, and its capacity for stiring
emotion. It takes hold upon those suppressed survivals of
savage impulse (if we are to credit the savage alone with a first
hand liking for a contest) which in their modified exercise have
been shown to be so large a factor in adult sport.2
In this, however, it shows but the typical qualities of the
genus to which it belongs-that it is one of the strongly competitive
games.3 Its own specific attractiveness lies in the fact
that it is a competitive game of skill, more particularly of intellectual
skill as opposed to merely manual or bodily dexterity;
it is a contest of scheme against scheme; it is a game of generalship.4
Each particular situation appeals to the player, not
only as an occasion for attack or defense, but also as a situation
to be met by taking thought, a difficulty to be seen through
and overcome, a problem to be solved. There is, therefore, in
chess playing all the challenge that lies in baffling but fascinating
problems and much of that which lies in the solution
of puzzles. That the interest in this aspect of chess is real and
important is abundantly evidenced by the growth of the chess

"problem," of which we shall have more to say presently.
Lindley in his "Study of Puzzles"' holds it likely that in the
puzzle solving passion we have a form of the preparatory play
impulse to which Groos rightly attributes so much of both animal
and human play.2
Still another factor of interest in chess is the pleasure of invention
and origination, the pleasure of being a cause.8 In the
returns of my correspondents a decided preference is expressed
for original plans of attack and defense.4 Most say that they
get away from the standard book plays as soon as possible after
the first few moves. Some say that they play from book not
from choice, but from necessity; but most say that while they
follow the book openings for a few moves, they prefer to get
away from them as soon as they possibly can without detriment
to their game. They prefer their own game because it is
more real, and is a better representative of their own ideas.
As one player puts it, " There is little satisfaction in catching
your opponent on a line of play tha.t you have simply memorized."
There are, also, of course, various practical reasons
for this preference. An original plan throws both players on
their merits and removes the game at once, so far as possible,
from a mere memory exercise, thus depriving a player of the
advantage which a superior memory or a better knowledge of
book games might give. There is an advantage to the player
himself in an original plan in that his game is more likely to be
a unit and consequently more consistently played than one
partly remembered and partly originated. While the inability
to remember particular lines of play is undoubtedly a determining
factor in the choice between an original plan and what is known
as book play, nevertheless, there is something attractive about
a game which one feels to be his own, especially if it is successful.

In summary we may say of chess as a form of human play
that in the first place it is a contest, and, as such, it appeals to
the fundamental fighting instinct, the instinct which in every
normal individual impels him to measure his skill with that of