How a Lost Soul Found Solace in Chess
Anyone who knows me well, both in real life and on this website, is also well aware that I just love stories and movies about comebacks and fightbacks. And who doesn't? From Rocky Balboa's comeback in Rocky III, where he rises from doubt and defeat, overcoming loss, fear, and exhaustion to reclaim the championship, to the true story of James J. Braddock, depicted in Cinderella Man (2005), who becomes a powerful symbol of hope for New Jersey and his nation during the Great Depression, fighting injury and poverty to ultimately reach the heavyweight glory.
Oh my word, these stories never fail to give me goosebumps. And as a chess enthusiast, I had been searching for individuals whose lives strongly illustrate this theme. And after a long time, I found one yesterday. But little did I know that the story I had discovered, believe me, would turn out to be as gripping and inspiring as two of the examples I mentioned above! Since the time I finished reading it all myself about this person, my fingers have been itching to type it all down and present the story before my readers.
So, take a moment to sit back, relax, and allow me to take you on a roller coaster ride of struggle for survival, crimes, prison, and peace. This is the true story of John Healy and how our beloved game of 64 squares transformed his life, and how a lost soul found solace in chess.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- EARLY LIFE AND HARDSHIPS
- FIFTEEN YEARS SPENT IN HOMELESSNESS
- PRISON, THE FOX, AND CHESS!
- LIFE AFTER CHESS: AN AWARD-WINNING WRITER!
- THE CONTROVERSY AND HIS LIFE TODAY
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- CONCLUSION
John Healy was born during World War II in 1943 to poor Irish parents and immigrants in the Kentish Town of London. His childhood was filled with nothing but struggles. In the war-ruined streets, the local bullies badly took out their anger on him just because he was Irish. Growing up with an abusive father, as the eldest child, John often had to face his anger alone. He was berated for his English accent. And for many years, he kept believing that he deserved his father's wrath.
My father was very violent and there was the racism that my family experienced through being Irish. In the 50s it was written on the walls: “No Irish, no blacks, no dogs.” I used to have to fight kids on the street over it; they’d say my father was an Irish coward because he never fought in the war. Then he was violent with me when I got inside – I suppose he was in fear of being inferior – so I was getting it from both sides.
- John Healy in an interview with Vice.com.
At home, even when he was feeling stressed, Healy would go over the Catholic catechism. But this stress never left his mind and body while growing older and bigger. Whenever the young Healy came home from school, he brought along with him the injuries from the beating by local goons and bullies. And this, too, didn't become the reason for the father to finally shower some love and care on his child. Instead, he saw it as proof of Healy’s faults or weakness and showered his wrath.
By the time he was 13-14 years of age, he had given up. No matter what he did, the odds were unfairly set against him, and the contest was predetermined: he no longer wished, wanted, needed, or even hoped for getting his parents' love. He had concluded that punishment and suffering are two synonyms of the word life.
Writing this, one question keeps coming my my mind: how can life throw someone into a losing position so early, closer to checkmate? You, I, and every chess player have faced losing positions on the board of 64 squares, but John faced his in the game of life while still a boy. He left school at the age of 14 and was homeless from 15.
The stress became so bad that I ended up drinking very young. Vagrancy was rife; heroes that had fought in the war were living in doss houses. England didn’t reward its heroes – the working class ones, anyway. So I ended up drinking more and more, which took me from the saloon bar to the public bar and, ultimately, to the streets. So that’s how I ended up as a wino in the wino jungle, ‘cause that’s the only way I’d be tolerated.
- John Healy
Before I move on with John's story, I would like to just take a moment and say that be thankful for whatever you have, guys. Be thankful if you're living a normal life. Writing about Healy's traumatic childhood gave me chills and shivers. Not everyone gets the privilege of receiving their parents' love as a child. Be kind, humble, help people, and spread love! : )
FIFTEEN YEARS SPENT IN HOMELESSNESS
John Healy left home and fell into drinking. It became his escape, and he found a job as a paid sparring partner at a boxing gym. He had real talent, but he couldn't stay sober. After showing up drunk too many times, they gave him a choice: boxing or alcohol. He chose alcohol and ended up selling his trophies for silver.
Healy at 16 was a supreme stylist possessing concussive power in both hands. He was tipped for the top but in the end it was drink that carried the knockout blow.
- Healy's trainer George Francis
After getting into trouble a few times for vagrancy in the dawn of his 20s, he was suggested by his Probation Officer to join the army. He took the advice, and his talent was quickly recognized. He was allowed to train for the battalion's boxing contest, which had five companies. He stormed into the finals despite alcohol still being his best friend during the training days, and winning seemed easy to him until then.
The championship fight came closer, and it didn't take much time for Healy to realize that his opponent was much superior. And to add a cherry on top, his preparation the day before the finals included not some footwork or technique improvement training, but rather several glasses of whiskey. He took blows on the body, was dominated for most of the time, and outmanoeuvred in the final fight. But he somehow managed to land a critical punch on his opponent's eye, then took advantage of his opponent's partial blindness, and won!
But the celebration of the win didn't last long as Healy, the battalion’s new boxing champion, was soon kicked out for drinking too much and unnecessary fighting. Sadly, the streets became his home again.
After leaving the army, Healy's life took a turn for the worse, and he headed to join the desperate world of homeless street drinkers in London. He resorted to petty crimes and street-level theft in this fight for survival during his years of homelessness and alcoholism. When Healy found out his father had passed away, he was already lost to violence and alcohol, with nothing left. In those days, begging just meant a trip to prison.
Writing this myself, and you, my readers, reading this, can't help but feel the weight of that trap: Life had cornered Healy, and he had no answers to all the hooks and jabs of his opponent as he stood stranded in the corner. He just had no defense, and the game was once again set unfairly against him. Or was it?
It was 1973, and Healy, aged 30, was once again serving time in prison for begging. In Britain, after a third charge, the law labeled someone like him an “incorrigible rogue.” He had lost track, but this was probably his fourth or fifth time. He was now serving in HM Prison Pentonville in North London. This is where he met Harry 'the fox' Collins, a smooth-talking thief who had once managed to avoid a murder conviction. He was an alcoholic, too.
Listen, if I told you about a game that if you were waiting for seven o’clock on a Sunday night for the pubs to open, and you was playing this game, you’d forget the pubs wasn’t open and not worry about the time, what would you say?
Harry Collins to John Healy during their prison stretch.
Those are quite a few lines to convince someone to start playing chess, to be honest. Even Healy described it as sounding like nonsense. But he did have the time after all. It was an exciting moment when John Healy, who called himself a wino and a wanderer, discovered chess! His first game was played on a makeshift board drawn in pen on a shop table, with pieces crafted from bits of paper. What an incredible way to start a new adventure with a fellow cellmate!
The Fox was impressive, no doubt about it, but just two weeks later, Healy already had the upper hand. Days passed, and his drinking started to vanish. It seemed like chess had started to take the place of alcohol in his life. But even after completely shifting to chess, years of alcoholism took a toll on his health once again as he started showing withdrawal symptoms, which included sweating, shivering, and anxiety.
He recovered from everything and, realizing his unique talent for chess, now solely focused on the game, nothing else. Drinking had no place in his life after he became obsessed with the 64 squares. Not even a bit. Following his release from prison, his former Probation Officer, Clive Soley, purchased him a chess set. He took his first steps back into everyday life and has been staying sober ever since! His life now had a purpose. His dream now was to play chess with grandmasters and make some astonishing moves on the board.
As I write this, I feel that familiar thrill every chess player knows, and I can't stop smiling. Chess gave him a purpose, and writing about this makes me feel triumphant, too!
Chess is a jelous lover. Will tolerate no other, especially in the form of too much drink. I gave myself to her completely, body and soul, and for the first time in my life I began to live without a constant nagging desire for drink. I was like a person who finds God, only this God was a warrior made out of wood who derives his power from man.
- John Healy in his autobiography, The Grass Arena, 1988
John quickly became a tournament player and now played county champions and defeated them all. Incredible for someone who didn’t even see a chessboard as a child, Healy went on to win ten major British chess tournaments. One of the most remarkable moments of his chess career was holding his own against the Soviet grandmaster Rafael Vaganian, who was then ranked as the second-best player in the world. He even managed to play four games at once while wearing a blindfold!
But unfair experiences at chess tournaments made him angry and hurt. His hands would shake, and the snobbery around him made him furious. He got kicked out of a tournament for hitting an opponent who had smugly mentioned his homelessness.
Never mind that I didn’t belong to their school, wasn’t I a chess player now – just like them? Nothing less than the best behaviour would be tolerated, old boy. Part of the code is to shake hands, win or lose, with friend and foe alike. This ritual is repeated before and after each game, regardless of results.
- Josh Healy
His journey in chess spanned a decade, and even though he faced tough times recovering from the trauma of spending 15 years on the streets, he went on to become a respected player. He gave up on his dream of becoming a chess grandmaster after 10 years of chess. Perfectionism might have become his next enemy after alcohol. After all, he began playing at the age of thirty, serving in prison, as far as he thought. He now decided to jot down his life on a piece of paper.
LIFE AFTER CHESS: AN AWARD-WINNING WRITER!
Healy's autobiography, The Grass Arena, showcases psychopathy and illness without making excuses in a straightforward and intense manner. The "grass arena" used by Healy for his book's title refers to a park in London. The place was inhabited by different groups of homeless individuals and had a dark reputation, with constant scenes of violence and despair. Faber & Faber published his memoir in 1988, and it quickly became a bestseller.
The Grass Arena showcases incredible writing talent, even from someone with just a secondary school education. It won the prestigious J.R. Ackerley prize for Literary Autobiography and was adapted into a film in 1991, which picked up several awards, including the Michael Powell award for best British feature film.
In my mind, those experiences were so vivid and intense that it was all I could talk about. Soldiers shoot at people from miles away, but where I was you could see the whites of the other wino’s eyes when we were fighting with broken bottles. We were combatants in a wino jungle.
- John being asked on why he decided to write.
THE CONTROVERSY AND HIS LIFE TODAY
Even after such success, John's habit of picking up violence when frustration was by his side didn't go away. Soon, an issue developed between John and Faber & Faber regarding the payments for his book. Despite it being a bestseller, John had not received any funds and was unsure when he would be compensated. After repeated inquiries yielded no satisfactory answers from the publishers, John unfortunately expressed his frustration through threats of violence.
Robert McCrum, the editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber, one day received a threat from John of chopping off his head with an axe. From that point onwards, his calls went unanswered. It seemed Faber & Faber didn’t know how to approach his situation. Rather than having a heartfelt conversation with him, they decided to pull his book from publication and destroy the remaining copies.
Robert McCrum took it a step further by giving press statements to major newspapers, branding John as someone to be avoided. His literary career, one of the very few bright chapters of his life, was now over. Nobody wanted to publish his work now. John now stood alone with no one by his side. One day, he was the writer everybody talked about, and the next day, he was a forgotten figure.
In 2008, after two decades of silence, Penguin Classics brought The Grass Arena back to life. But John Healy didn't get to see the limelight and riches again. In 2011, the film Barbaric Genius was launched, depicting the life of John Healy. He’s also an engaging reader and great at conversations. In 2013, he publicly read in England for the first time.
Pulped is the wrong word; that’s what happens to books that aren’t selling. The book was selling. A letter went round, a memo to the staff of Faber & Faber from the director Lord Evans, that said: “Destroy the rest of his work and deem the book out of print.”
- John Healy on being asked how did you feel when his work was pulped after all the trouble with Faber & Faber.
John Healy's tough experience in the literary world led him into a deep depression. He befriended yoga, which has now become his new daily addiction! Wow, John definitely has a very addictive personality, as he tends to go to extremes in everything he does. From alcoholism, violence, chess, boxing, and writing, he excelled in everything. He had a champion caliber in all of them. How else do you define a genius?
Today, eighty-two, John Healy still has a youthful spirit and doesn't look his age. Despite his genius, his life hasn’t been a success. Though Yoga helps him find some peace, he still longs for the recognition and success he's always wanted. His journey has been tough, and he often feels unfairly treated. He did return to writing for a short period with his The Metal Mountain (a story of family, power, and obsession) being published in 2019, but he ain't satisfied.
Here are the sources used by me for writing this blog:
- Wikipedia
- The John Healy Story: From Homeless Wino, to Author, to Chess Genius
- HIP AUTHOR PROFILE: John Healy
- Prison inmate turned chess champion John Healy
- A Tortured Genius
- John Healy: Grass Arenas, Metal Mountains
- KINGPIN THE SATIRICAL CHESS MAGAZINE: John Healy, 20 Questions
Wow, I am speechless. The story might have left you a bit dissatisfied towards the end, just like Josh Healy himself, but well, it's life. This is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring tales from the chess world, and you can't deny it. Healy's chess talent was as good as his talent for self-destruction. He truly excelled in everything he did. However, excelling at self-destruction and self-harm will never be a good talent.
From a homeless wanderer to a respected chess player, from serving time in prison to becoming an award-winning writer, and then losing it all due to a single mistake, John Healy's life has been nothing less than a rollercoaster. I am thrilled, and I hope that you are as well. This will be the end of this blog. Thank you so much for reading. If you find any mistakes in the blog or have any complaints, feel free to lay them down in the comments! And the feedback, too, if you've got some.
I don't know when my next blog post will be published. My competitive exam is nearing, and now I will be fully busy with my preparation in these last few months, so I don't think you'll be hearing from me anytime soon. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. By the way, sorry for not providing annotations on that only game I used in the blog, I just didn't feel like analyzing.
Until next time, I am outta here.
