‘The thing for which Fischer’s friends most value him is an elusive purity of spirit, an integrity of purpose which springs from his respect for chess not just as a game or an intellectual discipline, but something eternal, beautiful and true. This unbending dedication does…
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The Grandmaster scowled at the autograph hunter and dutifully scribbled on the ticket. He had just blundered a game away, losing horribly in under 25 moves. That he, a World Championship candidate no less, had crushed his young English opponent in a simultaneous display the…
Read MoreCHESS AND CHARACTER. To the Editor of The Daily Mail. Sir,—There appears to be a recrudescence of interest in the perennial game of chess. Most of us can play, indifferently or well; most of us play for amusement. But I wonder whether it is generally…
Read MoreDaniel Johnson reviews Garry Kasparov’s Deep Thinking Times, 3 June 2017, p.16. We know exactly why Deep Blue knew that its eighth (not seventh) move, Nxe6, was winning by force: it was programmed to play this well-known winning line.
Read More‘PUBLIC TESTIMONIAL to H. STAUNTON, Esq.—The services which have for a long series of years been rendered by Mr Staunton to the cause of Chess are generally known. His skill as a player has only raised for himself a reputation that is as yet unrivalled,…
Read MoreH.E. Bird: A Chess Biography with 1,198 Games Hans Renette 608 pages | hardback | 150 illustrations | 1,198 games | $75.00 Jefferson: McFarland, 2016 Adrian Harvey During the period after 1860 three British chess players had a plausible claim to be in…
Read MoreVictor Soultanbéieff (1895–1972) was one of those strong amateur chess players whom fate dealt a tough hand. A late starter, he was well into his teens before he became acquainted with the game. Almost immediately he had to abandon toy warfare for the real thing:…
Read MoreRemembering Adriaan Dingeman de Groot (1914–2006) Renzo Verwer translated by Kaarlo Schepel ‘I wanted to show that chess was a game that differed quite a bit from people’s perception of it. I came to understand through my research that playing chess involves many…
Read MoreSamuel Lipschütz: A Life in Chess Stephen Davies 408 pages | hardback | 42 illustrations | 249 games | $65.00 Jefferson: McFarland, 2015 Hans Renette Samuel Lipschütz It does not take much to fire a passion. In his introduction…
Read MoreIgnaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career Fabrizio Zavatarelli 376 pages | hardback | 63 illustrations | 174 diagrams | 324 games | $75.00 Jefferson: McFarland, 2015 Stefan Löffler I can’t think of a chess personality who enjoyed a more adventurous and prosperous…
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Gary Kenworthy
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