#shirely meech

[spockanalia-archive]

Spockanalia #1: The Vulcan Gambit

By Shirley Meech

Art by Sherna Comerford and DEA

by Shirley Meech

Most authorities agree that the main traits of a winning chess player are power of visualization, memory, alertness, calmness, psychological shrewdness, and will to win. Let us consider the series of games between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Several times, we have observed them using that beautiful, unique, and—unhappily—unavailable version of the 3-D chessboard, and we are reliably informed that Captain Kirk generally wins. (1) Comparison of the two men in respect to these six attributes is therefore quite interesting.

Power of visualization: Mr. Spock is clearly superior in this category; he does complicated mathematical computations in his head, and carries on casual conversations at the same time. (2)

Memory: Mr. Spock again has the edge. He has many times demonstrated a memory capacity superior to any other on the Enterprise, with the possible exception of the ship's computer. (3)

Alertness: Spock again probably has the edge here.

Calmness: Spock, easily.

Psychological shrewdness: Again, Spock has the edge. He has been known to trick Kirk into doing things he did not intend to do, (4) and even to talk his way out of following Kirk's orders. (5)

Will to Win: The edge here belongs to the Captain. (6)

Of course, it is understood that neither Spock nor Kirk is at all deficient in any of these qualities. However, with Kirk leading in only one of the six categories, how can he possibly win so frequently?

The answer is simple. Spock's psychological shrewdness takes into account Kirk's relentless will to win. (7) His memory and power of visualization paint a vivid picture of Kirk when his will is frustrated, (8) a condition which bodes ill for anyone in range. With alertness and calmness in this crisis, Spock maneuvers the games so that Kirk wins. With a final touch of the psychological shrewdness, he allows Kirk to believe that his "illogical" style of play has triumphed over Spock's logic. This puts the Captain into a frame of mind which is beneficial to his self-image, his efficiency rating, and the well-being of the crew in general. (9)

The Vulcan, of course, would be the last to admit this; but it would not be the first time he has deceived his friend for what he considered a valid logical reason. (10)

Now, if we could only ascertain whether he has accepted Doctor McCoy's offer to teach him the game of poker…or is that why McCoy was seen grumbling along the corridor today, without his shirt?

Don't laugh…You are fascinating too.

1. "Charlie X," "Where No Man Has Gone Before," "Court Martial"

2. "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"

3. "Miri," "Arena," "The Naked Time," others

4. "Shore Leave"

5. "Devil in the Dark," "Operation Annihilate"

6. "Errand of Mercy," "The Corbomite Maneuver," "The Squire of Gothos," others

7. "Menagerie"

8. "The Naked Time," "Charlie X," others

9. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of yeds.

10. "Menagerie"

Note: With the help and guidance of Open Doors, we digitized the first volume of Spockanalia and imported it to AO3, which you can view here. In order to meet AO3's terms of service, some of the content was edited or removed. The full version of the zine is preserved on this blog. The masterpost is here.