Thank God For My Heart Attack

That is the title of one of the books I picked up at the used bookstore along with Blitz Theory. One was supposed to be about medicine and the other about chess. It turns out they each offer a little of both and the Ruy Lopez is the healthy choice of openings. I recommend Thank God for my Heart Attack by Charles Yale Harrison to anyone who studies any type of medicine or has known someone dear to have had cardiac disease. Harrison writes eloquently about his own experiences with cardiac disease in the 1950's. Its quite interesting to see just how much time has changed us and just how much it has not.

"For several months after my own attack, when I was morbidly searching for symptoms, I discovered that I felt no pain of any kind when I was deeply engrossed in my work or when I was in the presence of amusing or stimulating people.

I discovered the same to be true when playing a game of chess. After making the first ten moves in the Ruy Lopez game, I'm beyond the capacity of feeling neurotic cardiac pain. At such moments it never comes through. What really has me concerned is how to capture my opponent's queen's knight without playing too dearly for it. I've never experienced the slightest twinge of pain when I'm perfecting a mating combination. The same is true of all sedentary games: bridge, cribbage, mah-jongg. When you're deeply absorbed in mating, trumping, or skunking your adversary, you'll never feel neurotic cardiac discomfort of any kind."