peculiar and rarely

They say his attitude is what,
seemingly somnolent [1]

amidst these admins, analysts, mere
managers, semiliterate famulus [2] what

his lines ordered stolidly [3], some said cold
even as always inexorable logic [4] prevailed

despite them, results-driven simpletons
measuring monomaniacs [5] movements,

grasping empty-handed for results
with a rage for physiognomy, [6]

unconsciously propping up middle madness
de haut en bas inequality, [7] promoting

anxious diffidence, tilting authoritative apathy, 
imperturbable self-assurance [8],

a toxic admixture of dangerous excitation [9]
and publicly quarterly wanting; and 

despite them, this champion obscurissimus [10]
​a true dilettante [11], breathes with, slows, 

observes, processes and waits, some dilettos
then utilizes, gives and creates,

studies physicality, conceptuality, frames
professionality with space, shows what reality

who how virtuously virtuosos are seen to be,
or maybe not really seen, doing everything

right, yet nothing doing, yet nothing wins
again, here we do it again, we just do it again,

maybe sincerely lost, thus now able to lose,
able to breathe with mind, able to find

and choose, letting go, even to fuse and diffuse,
give it time, let it nest, give it song, give it truths,

have I done or said something wrong...
Am I in trouble again?  well, let's go then.

excerpts from Chess Story by Stefan Zweig, English translation from German by Joel Rotenberg, published by New York Review Books 2006

[1] p.5 "the lank-haired blond boy squatted silently beside them and glazed at the checkered board from beneath his heavy eyelids, seemingly somnolent and indifferent."
[2] p.6 "In spite of the late hour, the parson could not refrain from challenging his semiliterate famulus."
[3] p.7 "He played doggedly, slowly, stolidly, without once lifting his bowed broad forehead from the board."
[4] p. 10 "The most audacious grandmasters, every one of them infinitely superior to him in intellectual gifts, imagination, and daring, fell to his cold and inexorable logic..."
[5] p. 12 "All my life I have been passionately interested in monomaniacs of any kind, people carried away by a single idea. The more one limits oneself, the closer one is to the infinite;"
[6] p. 15 "In earlier times, when there was a rage for physiognomy, a Gall might have dissected the brains of such chess champions to determine whether there was a special convolution in their gray matter, a kind of chess muscle or chess bump more strongly marked in the skulls of others."
[7] p. 29 "He sat down slowly and ponderously; but with a movement alone the former de haut en bas inequality between us had been abolished."
[8] p. 33 "There was also the allure of mystery, the effect of our benefactor's unexpected intervention just at the critical moment, and the contrast between his almost anxious diffidence and imperturbable self-assurance of the professional. Who was this stranger?"
[9] p. 62 "All of this seems senseless, and in fact this kind of artificial schizophrenia or divided consciousness, with its admixture of dangerous excitation, would be inconceivable in a normal person under normal circumstances."
[10] p. 73 "Even Czentovic did not keep us waiting as he had the previous day, and after the obligatory choice of colors the memorable game between this homo obscurissimus and the renowned world champion began."
[11] p.74 "As a true dilettante in the best sense of the word, one who plays for the pure delight -- that is, the diletto -- of playing, he was utterly relaxed physically, chatting with us during the early breaks to explain the course of the game and casually light a cigarette."

a photo of Chess Story, open to page 15, with an index card that displays a list of notable, peculiar and rarely used words, to further explore

a photo of the front cover of Chess Story; the cover art of this edition displays a sketched profile of a young man sitting at a table, looking intently upon a chess board; the young man appears translucent, like a ghost; the checkered grid pattern of the chess board extends beyond the table, it aligns and extends into the mosaic paved floor, across the cover, the patterned grid blocks shaded with black, white, grays and greys and desert browns.