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January 15, 2020 1 Comment

Pop Philosophy

The Moves That Matter A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life Jonathan Rowson 352 pages | hardback | £20.00 London: Bloomsbury, 2019 Sarah Hurst The Moves That Matter is the very personal story of Jonathan Rowson’s search for meaning in life and…

November 8, 2019 No Comments

The Hypermodern Dessert

October 19, 2019 No Comments

Hapless Miguel

‘Najdorf is harping on his constant “bad luck”. . . We are not sharing this impression. We think differently and to better explain the why and wherefore, we cite the insurance companies which have statistics for everything. When a person has an accident and everything…

September 16, 2019 No Comments

Ahead of His Time

Louis Paulsen A Chess Biography with 719 Games Hans Renette 448 pages | hardback | 108 illustrations | $75.00 Jefferson: McFarland, 2019 Jonathan Hinton Author Hans Renette has established himself as a leading chess historian with the publication of his immense 2016 biography of…

September 15, 2019 No Comments

Chess the Musical

May 21, 2019 No Comments

Music

‘Music seems to me one of the few things (like chess) which really last through life, and gives one almost as much pleasure towards the end as in the early days.’ H.E. Atkins quoted in R.N. Coles, H.E. Atkins: Doyen of British Chess Champions (London:…

January 26, 2019 No Comments

Brain Scam

Justin Horton Ray Keene’s charity, The Brain Trust, appears to donate a lot of the money it raises to organisations run by Ray Keene and his friends. What’s going on? Let’s ask Ray directly. Email, Sunday 13 January, to rdkobe@aol.com. [For details and…

December 18, 2018 No Comments

King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships, 25 December

This Armageddon-style knockout tournament will take place amid the splendour of the Vladimir Putin Memorial Tearoom, St Petersburg. Play will begin on Christmas Day and continue until one player is left standing. He will be declared the winner and carry off the Prince Salman Bone-saw…

August 6, 2018 No Comments

Fiendish Moves #3

Uitumen – Lein Sochi, 1965 Black to play 12…h5!! A fine move, and the only good one. 13 fxe5 Bg4 14 Qb3 Qf2 15 Qxb7? It was better to play 15 Rd1, and if 15…Be2 only then 16 Qxb7. 15…Qxe1…

April 6, 2018 No Comments

Reasons to Cancel Club Night, Part 3

For more on the colourful life (and bizarre death) of Oxford University Chess Club President Harold Davidson see The Dabbler and Chess Notes. Source: ‘Miscellaneous papers relating to the Oxford University Chess Club, c.1870-’, Bodleian Library, Oxford. With thanks to Richard James.

No Regrets: Boris Spassky at 60

November 27, 2007· 7 Comments

Lev Khariton The attractive countryside of Meudon is a 15-minute train ride from Paris. Here I came to interview Boris Spassky just three days before his 60th birthday. He reminiscences about his life, his chess career, his rivals and friends. Dear Grandmaster, I should…

Arimaa, Computers and the Future of Chess

February 6, 2015· 7 Comments

Andy Lewis A common Arimaa starting position Anyone for a variation on chess? Is chess played out? This concern has been voiced periodically over the history of the game, and the challenges has never been more profound: over-refinement of opening-theory; perfection of endgame technique;…

Sarah Hurst: 20 Questions

January 8, 2015· 6 Comments

Sarah Hurst was a regular contributor to CHESS magazine in the 1990s and also edited the British Chess Federation’s newsletter, ChessMoves. Her fine book Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld is now available on Kindle at a bargain price. Since 2002 she has been translating…

We Need to Talk about Garry, Part 3

November 16, 2015· 5 Comments

Why Life Does Not Imitate Chess Part 3: The Visionary Followers of Garry Kasparov on Facebook will have noted that he has taken to styling himself as a ‘politician’. What’s his track record? All chess players will know about his campaign for FIDE president…

Two Sultans

June 24, 2020· 1 Comment

Two remarkable players, Sultan Khan (1905–1966) and Victor Soultanbéieff (1895–1972), met at the International Team Tournament at Folkestone in 1933. Sultan Khan, one of the game’s most naturally gifted stars, represented the British Empire, and Soultanbéieff his adoptive country, Belgium. In a dazzlingly short career…

Deep Bloke, Shallow Book

May 29, 2020· No Comments

Fred Reinfeld The Man Who Taught America Chess, with 282 Games Alex Dunne 194 pages | Softback | Bibliography, Indexes | $45.00 Jefferson: McFarland, 2018 Tim-Jake Gluckman This biography of Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964) covers the chess life of an outstanding producer (writing, editing, ghosting and…

Spassky’s Toughest Simul

March 15, 2020· 1 Comment

The chess boom triggered by the 1972 Fischer–Spassky match enthused many talented youngsters, especially in Britain. Boris Spassky became an early casualty of the fallout from the ‘English chess explosion’ when he took on a schoolboy squad over 30 boards in 1979. The event was…

Buy all the back issues

March 4, 2020· 3 Comments

“a must-read for everyone who doesn’t take chess too seriously; it’s especially a must-read for everyone who does take chess seriously!” ChessVibes “. . . very, very entertaining . . . some of the back issues were classics and I have some of them at home ….

Jon Manley

August 12, 2020

13-16, 20-38, 40, 41
→ Commenting on: Buy all the back issues

Geurt Gijssen

August 8, 2020

Which numbers of Kingpin are still available?
→ Commenting on: Buy all the back issues

Jothaeff Treisveizs

July 7, 2020

Very interesting and important for the "caissa lovers". Thanks for sharing!
→ Commenting on: New York 1927: Pen-portraits by George Currie

Sahar Khan

June 29, 2020

Soultanbieff is also incorrect in terming Sultan Khan a Hindu. He was a Muslim. Meanwhile Daniel King's book is rife…
→ Commenting on: Two Sultans

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"I will play long games." Leonard Barden on Petrosian's winning formula. Chess World (May 1963) t.co/VVKynnUypM • 12 Minutes via Hootsuite Inc.
'He plays like a very nice cat' Boris Spassky on Tigran Petrosian who died on this day in 1984. (Siegen Chess Olym… t.co/PLbdJtotha • 2 Hours via Hootsuite Inc.
One of the great games collections. Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984) died on this day 36 years ago. t.co/SDfDGGCNC0 • 3 Hours via Hootsuite Inc.
What a pudding. t.co/nxXBZSYctJ • 3 Days via Twitter Web App
‘Among tournament masters, Marshall has had few superiors, and, as to style, has clearly been in a class of his own… t.co/RaX2O4tpiO • 3 Days via Hootsuite Inc.

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