CELESTIAL CHESS GALAXY
By Joyce Jillson

John Donaldson is a Libra, a sign known for its fairness, equanimity and easy-going manner. Libra is symbolized by the scales of justice and these people, more than any of the other signs, can take a dispassionate look at situations and mediate the right solution for all involved. Others gravitate to John because he has such a strong and moral sense of right and wrong.

Attracted to good-looking women and objects, he is a true esthetic. In chess he seeks the beautiful game. His very eclectic interests cause him to go off on tangents as he gobbles up information and experiences. A real Renaissance man, John’s knowledge ranges from the arts to mathematics. But he has very little regard for institutes of higher learning, feeling that they were almost useless to him, though he is, and was, savvy enough to navigate through any system.

Donaldson is not prone to anger, openly, but is a master of sublimation. It takes a lot to get him bothered but when he is, he does not get over things quickly. There’s a tremendous amount of latent creativity in his chart. He has/had all of the basic, native talent to follow a conventional artistic career if he hadn’t found chess. His chart shows instinctive drawing and painting ability and he could have found success as an artist, filmmaker or animator.

His sun is situated in the 4th house of home and it takes a great deal to get him out of his lair. Once he is out in the city or even a different country he is fine, but getting all his “stuff” together to travel can be an ordeal.

Far friendlier and more outgoing than the normal chess player, Donaldson actually likes people. He really doesn’t have an axe to grind, and others find him charming… especially women. Many of his planets are lumped together near the bottom of his chart, showing that he loves comfort and luxury. While you wouldn’t call him a hedonist just yet, he is moving in that direction.

Donaldson, like many Libras, has a tendency to say “yes” to things he doesn’t really want to do. As obligations pile up he follows a course of action he’s used for many years… he leaves the scene. Where is he? He’s out of touch and then he comes back all ready to make good.

Look at that cluster of planets in the third house. There’s Mercury (the analysis planet), Venus (the love planet) and Pluto (the planet of enslavement) lolling around his third house, the house of inspiration. Love inspires him to do well, but it also can dominate his life. He parses his words and his sentiments carefully. This is not a man comfortable saying “I love you,” and he can be stingy with compliments. In fact he is the perfect passive aggressive male. He’ll never admit anything is wrong, but his silences can be deadly and terribly frustrating.

In chess he is a kindly teacher who brings out his students’ best qualities with a combination of shrewd psychology and unvarnished enthusiasm. He would be spectacular at teaching end games, making complex themes easily understandable.

Mercury in it’s own house (the 3rd) and it’s own sign, Virgo, making him an astute judge of people. When going over games he can get inside the head of grandmasters and surmise what they were thinking, even deducing the lines that they considered playing.

Jupiter in the 5th house is in an exact conjunction with Neptune. This is a very rare occurrence, especially since they are both cuddled together in the sign of Scorpio. Ba-boom! Jupiter brings good luck and Neptune lends great flair to his wonderful imagination. But John has a hard time having fun. There is often a voice going off in his head during his most pleasurable activities that tells him he should be doing something else.

Like most of the great chess players he has the zodiac symbol Cancer in his chart. In John’s case he has Cancer rising. John has extraordinary powers of visualization, and the ability to keep various chess pictures in his mind at the same time. His brain takes a snapshot of critical positions and, it is almost as if he had an open ChessBase in front of him when playing.

Donaldson has great luck winning tournaments and getting lucrative contracts from mid-2003 through March 2004 as Libras hit an intellectual and creative high. Before then he has a wild period where he enjoys the good life thanks to rowdy, fun-loving, generous friends. By taking this break from his intense chess preparation he returns to tournament play refreshed and with unbeatable surprise variations that devastate his titled opponents