THE 8TH RANK

Today I'm going to tell you a tale or, how knows, the true story of a young priest just graduated from seminary and sent on a pastoral mission in a small alpine village at the foot of the majestic Dolomite mountain range in Tyrol on the Ritten plateau.

It was the spring of 1883.

The young man, Aloiz Bauer (we will call him Don Aloiz), immediately dedicated himself with great enthusiasm, helped by villagers, in small renovation works, then in tidying up and embellishing the church, the churchyard, the internal courtyard and the portico with fragrant wild flowers. Then he took care of the rectory (his tiny, humble but beautiful home attached to the church) and finally the small cemetery behind the church. He eliminated brushwood, watered the flowers and took care of the roses and of the whole garden, where there was a source of spring water that flowed from the mountain. The landscape was marvellous, a balm for the pain of those who went there to say goodbye to their beloved deceased. 

It was a hard work, buy he was satisfied of it. 

Finally, on the evening of the last day, he rested by the fireplace. Before going to sleep, he went into the sacristy in order to arrange the vestments for the following morning's mass.

There, in a corner, he found a dusty ancient wooden trunk, from the beginning of the century. He opened it and, under a lot of old church accounting documents and two oxidized copper candlesticks, he found a chessboard and, wrapped one by one, the 32 well-inlaid Staunton wooden chess pieces.

He remembered his seminary days with nostalgia. He played chess regularly, in his free time from work and study, with a friend who was much stronger than him. His friend taught him the basics of the game and watched him gradually progress in skill. Aloiz had shown great tactical and intuitive skills and soon overcame his classmate in mastery. But he soon abandoned the game, which distracted him from his religious studies. He promised himself not to play again until he had become a priest. The priority was to serve God. Now, however, everything was done and he could allow himself to play again.

He took the chessboard and brought it with him to the rectory.

Don Aloiz was young and handsome. He had no experience. He grew up only with churchmen. 

In the Village men were rarely seen in church and even less in confession. Women, on the other hand, actively partecipated in church activities and the girls literally had a burning passion for him. It was difficult for him to relate to them, especially in confession.

One of them, one evening, hidden in the dim light of the confessional, shyly and with tears in her eyes, whispering confessed she had fallen in love with him and then ran away fearing of being recognized.

For him chess was an escape from the emotions that he could not manage.

Playing alone, however, was frustrating. Every game inevitably ended in a draw. Excellent training but nothing more.

One day he decided to go to a tavern. He was curious to see if there were other chess players in town. A chessboard was stored on a shelf in the pub, but unused. Everyone there used to play cards and "morra", a blasphemous gambling activity. What a pity! Was it possible that they did not realize the high educational value of chess? A game that stimulates both mind and intellect. A game that is a metaphor for Life, its social roles, its battles. And what about the pawns? The path of the pawns is the Path of Life of each one of us. Metaphorically it can represent the spiritual growth. Reaching the eighth rank at the end of our lives means to transcend the human condition to manifest divine (promotion to Queen). He would have taught the game of chess to his parishioners! 

It was a great wonder at the time to see a priest in a pub. This fact however attracted the sympathies of the men, who recognized in him the same weaknesses of their own. Talking with he bartender Don Aloiz discovered that an old jewish german man who had his same passion for chess, used to go to the pub every week. The priest did everything he could to meet him.

His name was Hartwig or something like that. He was a shy person, with a haughty attitude, bright eyes and often mocking ways. 

The challenges between them aroused the interest and the enthusiasm of the entire community. At their first match the german man, who also spoke fluently French and English, offered to play with the black and the handicap of a pawn and a bishop. Don Aloiz felt offended. How dared he treating him so condescendingly? He refused decisively. He agreed to open the game with the whites, playing on equal terms. Soon, after the opening (opening of the 4 knights), he realized he was in a really bad situation, on the ropes, completely crushed by the skill of his opponent. The rematch also went very badly. In addition, the shame of the mockery in the sneer and in the words of his opponent.

He came back home humiliated. At least he had forgotten about his passion for the young girl. He studied and studied again to prepare for a new clash, better prepared, against the German. This time he would defeat him.

When they met, he was offered the advantage again. Since he refused, it was the foreigner who imposed a handicap on himself. He would play blindfolded with his back to the board. They played the King's Gambit. In a short period of time, once again on the ropes, the young priest even tried to cheat in order to avoid losing, but he was caught out by the expert opponent who mocked him again and without mercy. What hatred and what a shame, in front of his parishioners. The tavern had never been so crowded. 

But at the same time Don Aloiz envied that German gentleman. How could he be so a good player? On his way back to the rectory, with his tail between his legs, he recognized that he was committing almost all the seven deadly sins. Lust (even if only in thought), pride (another face of arrogance), anger, envy and sloth (yes, the renewed passion for chess distracted him from his priestly duties). 

For a while he forced himself not to play anymore. He never came back to the pub. Then, little by little, he calmed down.

However he continued to suffer for his inner feelings that he continued to deny. 

Some time later, once again, the girl appeared in the confessional, crying and confessing that she was engaged to a man she didn't love. She was in love with him instead. He told her it was an impossible love, but he was in love too. He was so confused.

Winter came. It was a particularly harsh winter and it snowed heavily.

One evening someone knocked loudly on his door. The old Jew had him called to his bedside to have help.

The young priest discovered that, in those months, the german had become seriously ill.

"My dear parish priest, our religions differ quite much on many issues. For us, confession is not made in front of a priest, but in the synagogue in front of everyone or directly in front of the offended person to sincerely apologize, when the harm done can still be repaired". 

"I have dedicated my entire life only to chess, neglecting everything else. I have hurt many people, first of all my father without caring about him; I have hurt my brothers, whom I have not helped; I refused the woman who loved me with all her heart, blinded by my passion for chess that totalized me. I hurt you too. I have mocked you in front of your people, even though I was aware of the enormous gap in preparation between us. I ask your forgiveness in the hope of hearing in your voice, if you will forgive me, the echo of the forgiveness of those I have hurt in the past and who no longer have a voice". 

He forgave him with all his heart. 

The old Jewish man had on his knees a wooden chessboard with its precious inlaid pieces. 

"Throw it into the fire, and... please... do not repeat the same mistakes I made." 

Aloiz burned the chessboard.

He saw the old man finally calm down and die peacefully. 

When Aloiz came back home he meditated for a long time. He understood that playing chess is nothing bad, while denying your feelings and not following your heart is really wrong. 

He asked his superiors to dissolve his vows and finally married the girl, with whom he had 6 children and built a happy family. 

This young priest from the Renon valley was really inspired by the old man and changed his life thanks to him.

This man was Daniel Harrwitz, a great Jewish german chess player. He was born in Breslavia in 1821 and died in Bolzano on 02/01/1884. At the age of 20 he moved to Paris - the home of chess - where, at the Caffè de la Regence, he proved to be one of the strongest chess players of his time. He was an ace of the blindfold chess. He won against Lowenthal, had a draw with Anderssen and almost always lost only against Howard Staunton and Paul Morphy. He now rests in peace at the Jewish cemetery in Bolzano.

Here we have two games played by Daniel Harrwitz against Paul Morphy, the strongest chess player of the world at the time. They faced 8 times. This was the final result (Table taken from chessgames.com):

Café de la Régence, Paris, France (7 September-1 October 1858)

Format: The first to seven wins, draws not counting, to be the victor.(1) 

Morphy   0 0 1 1 1 1 ½ 1   5

Harrwitz 1 1 0 0 0 0 ½ 0*  2 * Harrwitz resigned the match.

Paul Morphy - Daniel Harrwitz 1858 Paris France (0-1):

Daniel Harrwitz - Paul Morphy 1858 Paris France (1-0):

This story, summarized by me, is masterfully told by the writer Paolo Maurensig in his novel (written only in Italian) entitled "L'Ultima Traversa".

See you soon!

DocSimooo