Jonathan Rowson

Ed. M. MBE

MBE's Professional Chess Player

"In the summer of 1999, I graduated from Oxford University with a first-class degree in politics, philosophy, and economics. Around the same time, I completed the qualifications for the chess Grandmaster title and began to play chess professionally around Europe. In the summer of 2000 I wrote my second book, The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, an examination of chess from a psychological perspective. The research for this book stimulated my interest in cognitive psychology and also made me curious to learn more about the brain. I am particularly fascinated by the interplay of thought and emotion, partly because I know from my own experience of chess that most of our supposedly rational decisions are taken on an emotional basis. I am also interested in the pervasiveness of pattern recognition and the evaluative nature of perception. HGSE's Mind, Brain, and Education program has allowed me to build upon these interests and will give me a good theoretical grounding for further research in the field."