Do we use only 10% of our brain? Many of us heard of it, and the answer is: From a biological point of view, probably not, but from a potential perspective… Most probably yes! Let’s check it out.
Most of the brain functions are still a mystery to us: memory, consciousness, the thinking processes, and almost everything else. However, we do see that most of the brain is active all the time. Technologies such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) monitor brain activity and show that even during sleep, all parts of the brain are somewhat active. That’s what is meant by a “biological point of view”.
However, when we think about potential… well, that a different story. We use the brain all the time, and it’s not clear how to compare who uses it more or less. Some people are knowledgeable than others, some are more creative, others are sensitive to various emotions and can recognize the tiny details of human behavior, there are intellectual people and people that control their body much better than others. There are many types of people, and each one uses his brain differently.
But there are some people that are so special, so unique, that they shed light on the enormous possibilities of our minds. Knowing about them, one is left to wonder: If that’s what they do, if that’s what their brain does, what is the brain’s full potential? What it is capable of doing? What can I do?
We would like to tell the stories of such people over time, and we will start with Samuel Reshevsky. Many of you probably saw the wonderful chess-oriented miniseries, The Queen’s Gambit. This is one of the cases where reality is much better than fiction: The story in the series is inspired by the lives of many chess players, mixing them together. But in real life, each such chess players have his own unique and incredible story and life.
Reshevsky was born in Ozorków, Poland, to a Jewish family. He learned to play chess at age four and was soon acclaimed as a child prodigy, a wunderkind. At age six he already gave simultaneous exhibitions, like the one you see in the top picture, in which Rashevsky is only eight years old. At that age, he was already beating many accomplished players with ease. Some of the games he played blindfolded. That year Reshevsky and his family moved to the United States, and in 1921, he lost only 8 games out of some 1,500 games he played in simultaneous exhibitions. In some exhibitions, Reshevsky played up to 75 people at the same time.
To achieve world-wide fame at the age of eight is a mixed blessing. Such was my lot in life. I was a “chess prodigy” and my childhood, from the time I left my native Poland in 1920, consisted of a series of public exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States.
Wherever I went, great crowds turned out to see me play. For four years, I was on public view. People stared at me, poked at me, tried to hug me, asked me questions. Professors measured my cranium and psycho-analyzed me. Reporters interviewed me and wrote fanciful stories about my future. Photographers were forever aiming their cameras at me. It was, of course, an unnatural life for a child, but it had its compensations and I cannot truthfully say that I did not enjoy it. There was the thrill of travelling from city to city with my family, the excitement of playing hundreds of games of chess and winning most of them, the knowledge that there was something “special” about the way I played chess, although I didn’t know why.
S. Reshevsky, Reshevsky on Chess, 1948
From 1924 to 1931, Reshevsky gave up most competitive chess, to complete his secondary education while successfully competing in occasional events during this period. Reshevsky also graduated from the University of Chicago in 1934 with a degree in accounting and supported himself and his family by working as an accountant.
Reshevsky’s serious international career began in 1935 with a trip to England. He then won first place at a tournament, where he beat, among others, former world champion José Raúl Capablanca. He was a devout Orthodox Jew and did not play on the Jewish Sabbath nor on the major Jewish holidays. Even though it wasn’t the norm in the chess world, out of respect to Reshevsky, his games were scheduled accordingly. He was a serious contender for the World Championship from roughly 1935 to the mid-1960s.
About his astounding ability to play chess, he wrote:
When I was a child touring Europe and the United States as a chess prodigy, my performances were the subject of much speculation. Everyone was curious to know “how an eight-year-old boy could beat gray beards at their own game.” People continually pestered me for an explanation. I could not answer their questions then, nor can I do so now. Chess was, for me, a natural function, like breathing. It required no conscious effort. The correct moves in a game occurred to me as spontaneously as I drew breath. If you consider the difficulty you might have in accounting for that everyday action, you will have some inkling of my dilemma in trying to explain my chess ability.
During his long chess career, Reshevsky played eleven of the first twelve World Champions, the only player to do so – he defeated seven of them.
Featured image: Reshevsky in 1920 (at age eight), giving a simultaneous chess exhibition in France.
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