There may be something in the author's opinion that no
extraordinary mental power is needed for chess excellence; but his
views, probably, would have been more valuable if less general,
and expressed with such qualifications as the history of its masters
suggests; his idea, however, that anyone of average capacity
may play average chess, is not in accordance with experience, if,
indeed, it is not decidedly in opposition to it. Some of the finest
players may appear to Mr. Hoffer to possess but average intellect;
but, whether he is right or not, one thing is certain, that many
with the greatest endowments and known powers of calculation
and thought have failed at it and some have been candid enough
to admit that they abandoned the game because dissatisfied with
their own progress and skill at it. Buckle in his opinion given
by MacDonnell in "Life Pictures," (the amusing and interesting
work of the latter), considers imagination and calculation
necessary, but discards any idea of superior mental capacity.
It is clear, however, that the qualifications necessary to be met
with cannot well be defined; we have never found any successful
attempt to do so.
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