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Why doesn't Poirot play chess?
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Alberto
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May 24, 2015 10:29AM
I've always wondered this. Today I was reading A Primer of Chess by Jose Raul Capablanca, and on p.25 he says "Order and method will do a great deal towards good play." So the late world champion would also thought that chess was right up Poirot's alley.
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The short story "The Chess Problem" (13 February 1924), which became chapter 11 of The Big Four, revolves around the beginning of a chess game (using the Ruy Lopez opening), but there's no indication in it that Poirot (or Hastings) plays chess.
I wonder has Poirot ever played games of any kind purely for entertainment? If not in my opinion I could imagine Poirot calling the game folly because it does not deal with the seriousness of life.
Well, we know he plays bridge (Cards on the Table).
I agree, CJ, I think Poirot & his ' little grey cells' would consider games for entertainment a waste of his precious time.
I think that the non-symmetrical patterns of play would worry him. "No, my dear Hastings. Move the knight there and the board will be - how do you say - lopsided, Hastings. Hastings, you are definitely lopsided!" Thank Goodness, thought Poirot, when Georges entered the room and announced that Mrs Oliver was quite desperate (on the telephone). "Hastings, I have no time for this now. Mrs Oliver has a body for me." And so began the curious mystery of the Miss Placed Night
HP knows chess intellectually but he chooses not play from what I understand AC said about him. Remember, everything is very simple to him!
