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Subject: Re: The BIG GIANT HEAD!: better the best head?

Author: Fernando Villegas

Date: 09:45:34 03/18/00

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Hi Larry:
I agree with you, but let me add an anecdote to entertain your leisure: Bobby
Fisher, whom, according to your definition, was  a very big head of the game in
the 60's, has, in fact, a somewhat small or at most average real head.
Incredible enough, the old and preposterous asociation between intelectual
perfomance and size of the skull still keeps an stand, at least in the current
verbal usage. Sometimes the usage goes beyond. Two or three days ago I saw a
aparently serious CNN note about the big heads of taxi drivers in London and
they said such thing happened because they were more intelligent, compelled, as
they are, to memorize thousands of streets and so "trainning" his brain. So the
argument went: you memorize streets, so you train your intelligence, so the
brain grows, so the skull grows also.  Funny; a soft thing bending a very hard
thing. Another anecdote: Anatole France, a french man of letter gifted with
great talent, maybe genius, had a so small head that his bran weighed more or
less like that of an ape. The same with Joseph Haydn. And the biggest brain ever
collected when collection of brain was in fashion was propiety of an idiot. So
maybe your clasification should be called not the "big head" of chess, but the
best head of chess. Sorry for these: just weekend ruminations.
Cheers
Fernando



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