The Psychology of the Encircling Game

[FlameBlade]

Not even one mention of Fujisawa Shuko?

[daal]

Not even one mention of Fujisawa Shuko?

You did. Why?

[Joaz Banbeck]

...
Interestingly, there's even a name for the opposite hypothesis that poets are particularly susceptible to insanity...

I think that cause and effect are confused here. Writing poetry does not make one crazy; rather, crazy people gravitate toward poetry.

Are go players mad? Again, cause and effect are confused. We should be asking: do mad people choose go?
We are not chosen at random. We are a self-selected group.

[Bill Spight]

...
Interestingly, there's even a name for the opposite hypothesis that poets are particularly susceptible to insanity...

I think that cause and effect are confused here. Writing poetry does not make one crazy; rather, crazy people gravitate toward poetry.

Good point. Besides, mathematics may be considered a form of poetry. So there you go.

[tekesta]

Chess exercises the left brain a lot, so if any madness arises among strong chess players it may be because of a left brain predominance. This may be one reason why many Grandmasters indulge in music, art, and fine dining, instead of becoming hardcore chess nerds; these three activities engage the right brain.

As well, this could be why Go is popular among mathematicians and information technology technicians. The game provides that bit of right brain creativity that might be lacking in an analysis-intensive discipline.

Go exercises both right and left brains. Which is why most pros lack any real hint of madness in their emotions. In fact, Go is a game known for promoting emotional stability. Also, womanizing is easier for the man that plays Go on a regular basis. Just look at Shuko.

Personally, I feel more inclined to understand human nature since I began playing and studying Go on a regular basis. Even evil people seem to have their reasons for doing what they do. Still not morally justifiable, but not as irrational as before. At least now I would not call a woman evil if she decided to break up with me out of the blue. Instead, I would attribute it to a cumulative process that ended in the break-up and my failure to understand that she had deep emotional needs that I did not bother to satisfy.

[leichtloeslich]

Looking at most of present-day music scene, I would dispute this quote. Most of them seem absolutely nuts!

You use a derogatory colloquial term ("nuts") in a discussion about mental deficits incurred from go-playing.
It is also not clear which demographic you're attempting to flout in this context: do you mean the likes of Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber? Maybe J-Pop/K-Pop etc.? Or do you mean stuff like 12-tone music and serialism? Maybe you're referring to this?

I would like to invite everyone to learn that following aesthetic guidelines deviating significantly from the societal norm is not a criterion for "insanity".
The proverbial turd-on-a-canvas, being decried by the majority of the populace as an affront to everything decent and lofty and held up by a minority of self-appointed "artists" as a contemporary avantgarde master-"piece", while seeming eccentric to most of us, is certainly not an indicator of mental illness, of either its creator or its admirers.
(Neither is dada-poetry.)


Discussing "madness", maybe people should be more cautious about clearly defining what they are actually talking about, and, subsequently, make a sharp differentiation between causation and correlation when it comes to analyzing which field of study is prone to which kind of mental disorder.


Personally, I don't think chess and go are sufficiently different to warrant a distinction investigating what makes the player-base of either game more susceptible to whatever type of mental dysfunctions. Surely, things that make chess-players "go crazy" would also apply to go-players.
But frankly, I haven't heard anything interesting so far. (Apart from colourful anecdotes like the antics of the late Bobby Fischer, which, IMHO, are more due to the celebrity-status he was put in coupled with his personality, than anything chess-related.)

At any rate, this thread reminded me of the Schachnovelle. It's a nice little read, but rather off-topic, as the "insanity" described in that piece is not owing to chess at all.

[Bantari]

Looking at most of present-day music scene, I would dispute this quote. Most of them seem absolutely nuts!

You use a derogatory colloquial term ("nuts") in a discussion about mental deficits incurred from go-playing.

Yup.

[Bill Spight]

The proverbial turd-on-a-canvas, being decried by the majority of the populace as an affront to everything decent and lofty and held up by a minority of self-appointed "artists" as a contemporary avantgarde master-"piece",

It's been done.