The problem of Paul Morphy

The problem of Paul Morphy 

Wesleyheath - who is a member of  a chess-related Discord I started  about one year ago - recently posted the following URL to an article he had just found:  http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Jones.html . Incidentally, I can't help but wonder if this is the same batgirl as our famous blogger? 

I had received more than a few request from members that our Discord have a channel dedicated to the psychology of chess, so I duly granted their wish even kicking it off by posting the URL to a very old scientific treatment of the game: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1412592.pdf

The first article cited above, authored by one Ernest Jones, was published in the January 1931 edition of The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis under the title "The problem of Paul Morphy: a contribution to the psycho-analysis of chess."

The father-murder and the creation of the social-order

This makes for fascinating reading in the last days of 2020, almost 100 years later. I was immediately struck by this statement which seems in perfect accord with what could only have been a direct product of psycho-analytical dogma at the time: "More than that, it is plain that the unconscious motive actuating the players is not the mere love of pugnacity characteristic of all competitive games, but the grimmer one of father-murder. "

Unless I'm mistaken, this view frame's perfectly well with Freud's Oedipus complex in which the killing of the father is the requirement for the creation of the social order prohibiting all future killings...

It has been a long time since I've read Freud, but my understanding is that Freudian theory holds that the father has to be killed for the creation of the social order, though only metaphorically, of course, to avoid the many psychopathologies - from violence to the psychoses and perversions - associated with the loss of the father or father-figure... 

One can only imagine the glee the authors must have felt when they hit upon this timely connection: I wonder what prizes and accolades they received at the time of publication?

The Middle-Ages and a notable innovation

But the article continues by informing the reader of the fact that a notable innovation occurred in the Middle-Ages which they consider worthy of "incidental mention". They go on to explain how the game evolved, notably how the present-day all-powerful Queen who stands beside the King was once a mere counsellor (or vizier), advising the King and the weakest of all pieces. This piece, the authors inform us, gradually changed sex and became an all-powerful Queen.

The first gender transition in the history of games?

Now, the authors are quick to state that this comes as no surprise to them, in that in attacking the father, the most potent assistance is afforded by the mother (= queen)...Freudian psychology aside though, this does beg the question: was the vizier's transformation into the Queen the first gender transition - albeit metaphorically - in the history of games?

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