The Endgame

Newsletter #7 - Zugzwang and pis aller

This occasional newsletter looks at issues and events through the prism of the endgame. The endgame is a chess concept. In the endgame only a handful of pieces are left on the board. Few moves remain. Victory or defeat is close. Player options are limited and diminishing. Zugzwang is a particularly important aspect of the endgame. It is zugzwang when a player’s only available moves will worsen his position.

Toronto, Friday January 13, 2023

Zugzwang and pis aller

I like the word “zugzwang.” Zugzwang is when your only available moves—and in zugzwang you must move—will worsen your position. The concept is mostly applied to chess, e.g., “black is in zugzwang.” But zugzwang is not just about chess. As I discuss from time-to-time in this newsletter, zugzwang is often an unwelcome feature of life’s endgame.

Occasionally you find the zugzwang idea used in unexpected ways. Sometimes, for example, it pops up in public policy debates. A 2020 article in The Lancet discussed the pros and cons of herd immunity as a Covid public health strategy. The article noted, “With potential vaccines still likely to be many months away, and with lockdowns and social distancing causing social and economic disruption, there are no ideal options. British public health expert Raj Bhopal likened the situation to being in zugzwang, ‘a position in chess where every move is disadvantageous where we must examine every plan, however unpalatable’.”

“Zugzwang” was the title of a 2013 episode of the egregious TV series “Criminal Minds.” A fandom website reports: “‘Zugzwang’ was the episode in which Reid lost his love interest at the hands of her stalker, Diane, as a result of the unfortunate and surprising murder-suicide... Maeve, who Reid had never physically met due to Maeve’s fears that their meetup would put Reid’s life in danger due to her stalker, was finally kidnapped by Diane, her stalker. Reid found out when he attempted to page Maeve, and a stranger’s voice replied stating, ‘Zugzwang.’”

Wow!

“Pis aller” is a cousin of zugzwang. I found an English definition of “pis aller” in my Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition (1933): “The worst that can be, or can happen; what one accepts when one can do no better; a last resource.” (The OED is seldom wrong, but I do think it should be “resort,” not “resource.”) The French definition, as you would expect, has more pith than the English version: “Solution choisie faute de mieux.”

By the way, looking up a definition in an old-fashioned dictionary, opening up the leatherbound covers, banging off the dust, turning the slightly-yellowed pages, running your finger down the right page until you found the word you’re looking for, reaching for a magnifying glass to take a closer look—all of that is so much more satisfying than searching for a definition on the Internet. When I was looking up “pis aller” in my OED, I felt like I was doing something important and scholarly, not just fiddling around in a mediocre way with technology I don’t really understand.

Surprisingly, “Pis-aller” is the title of an 1867 poem by Matthew Arnold. The poem suggests that religious belief is the last resort for man, but not a bad resort: “‘Without that, all’s dark for men. /‘That, or nothing, I believe.’’” Faute de mieux.

How are zugzwang and pis aller related? Zugzwang is when you have to make a bad move. Pis aller is the bad move itself. In zugzwang you must make a move, like it or not: the game must go on, even though it is almost at an end. In pure pis aller—absent zugzwang—you need do nothing. You can remain immobile on the sidelines, wracked by indecision, consumed by bitterness, railing against fate, overcome by torpor, any of these. You can try and dodge “the worst that can be,” even though you can do no better.

My advice? Make your move. Better zugzwang than pis aller. Go out in a blaze of glory.

P.S. My latest book is Antisemitism: An ancient hatred in the age of identity politics. It will be published on March 7 in Canada and on April 4 in the United States and the United Kingdom. You can pre-order from the publisher, Sutherland House, or from Ben McNally Books.

P.P.S. I’ll be away for a few days, so the next Endgame won’t appear until towards the end of January.