Ive written about the healing power of chess before. While reading Out of Captivity: Surviving 1967 Days in the Colombian Jungle I came across another smirk producing passage. One of the captives spent a year carving all 32 pieces and was able to scrounge a piece of cardboard to put them on. The piece carving and the marathon games took their minds away from the brutal imprisoning by the FARC. It did what it always does to the human mind.
"Eventually I got so immersed in chess that I would skip lunch if i was in the middle of a game so that I could study the board and plot my next moves. During our marathon, day long matches, the guards who had gone off duty at the start came up to us later in the day for an update. These titanic struggles between the master and the pupil loomed large in everyone's imagination. I was grateful for the distraction the games provided; they helped me take my mind off of Ingrid and the others. I prayed for her nightly and hoped she was well."
2 comments:
Hi there! After reading this post I checked out the book "Out of Captivity" on Amazon! I am going but it and put it on my reading que for the summer!
Although I have obviously not gone through what the men in that book have gone through I too often feel calm and taken away when studying and/or playing chess. Especially playing. Even when I go to a tournament and lose every game I still feel calm and at peace when I go home.
Thanks for the book recommendation!
No problem. Totally worth reading let me know if you like it.
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