New Book Examines Chess’ History, Little-Known Role in Big Apple

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

“NY Chess Since 1972: A Guide Book of Places to Go and People You Will See Around NY Chess” by Peter Julius Aravena Sloan offers readers a unique look at the strategic game and how it has shaped New York over the past 40 years.

Ever since Bobby Fischer won the world chess championship in 1972, the tactical game has become a centerfold to the busy, bustling world of New York. In “NY Chess Since 1972: A Guide Book of Places to Go and People You Will See Around NY Chess” (ISBN 1460961412), chess master for over a decade Peter Julius Aravena Sloan reveals the little-known world of chess playing taking place on the streets of the Big Apple.

From 1972 to present day, Sloan takes readers on a historical ride through the game’s place on the streets of New York. He covers the both Mayor Giuliani and Bloomberg’s roles in making chess playing legal on the streets, and he even touches on the initial ruling that separated the game from gambling activities like cards or dice.

Throughout “NY Chess Since 1972,” Sloan highlights various places around the city that have become popular to chess players, such as the Village Chess Shop on Thompson Street and the chess tables at Bryant Park and on Broadway.

A perfect read for chess fanatics and those looking for a unique tour of New York, “NY Chess Since 1972” offers readers a crash course in the 40 years of chess in the Big Apple as well as a whirlwind look at all of the city’s chess hotspots. More importantly, Sloan hopes to bring awareness to this interesting yet unknown world of chess playing.

“I hope ‘NY Chess Since 1972’ sparks some interest in organizing competitions and starting new chess clubs,” Sloan says.

“NY Chess Since 1972: A Guide Book of Places to Go and People You Will See Around NY Chess” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal chess blog 
at www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel

There are six types of chess players and Fischer was the strongest, says Yuri Averbakh in enchanting biography

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hi everyone,


Here is a nice review of Yuri Averbakh's biography - Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes’’ (New in Chess, 2011) from The Boston Globe by Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff. 

At 89, Yuri Averbakh is one of the oldest living Grandmasters and a symbol of moderate and studious chess players of world achievement. He has now published an autobiography, “Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes’’ (New in Chess, 2011), and for chess history buffs this memoir is required reading.


Averbakh has been a prominent tournament winner, an accomplished analyst of end games and openings (some of which bear his name), an author, a journalist, a leader in the USSR chess federation, and an adviser and second to world champions and candidates. His biography supplies an interesting picture of Soviet dominance in the world chess scene that was only interrupted by Bobby Fischer.

An hour spent with Averbakh shows why he has been such a survivor and a central figure in Russian chess. He was born in the provincial town of Kaluga of Russian-Jewish parents but moved to Moscow at the age of 3. His interest in chess began at the age of 13 during a time when the Soviet government stressed chess as a symbol of accomplishment. Averbakh’s chess success was gradual - he had to choose between his education and chess - and did not come until his late 20s, at which time he won the Moscow championship. In his 40s he enjoyed further successes, even qualifying for the 1953 Candidates’ Tournament, the winner of which would play Mikhail Botvinnik for the world championship.


Averbakh says he stumbled into journalism by writing a few chess commentaries. He became editor of 64, the leading Soviet chess magazine, and later a second to world champion Tigran Petrosian and a counselor to other great players. What is impressive about Averbakh is his moderate and likable personality, choosing to accommodate rather than engage in strife.


What will be of special interest to Americans is his description of the Soviet attempts to defeat Bobby Fischer. Fischer had always insisted that the Russians via an agreement among Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller, and Paul Keres fixed the Candidates Tournament at Curacao in 1962. Averbakh denies it, saying only that Petrosian and Geller had been friends for years and naturally would play short draws.

Averbakh concludes that Fischer was the strongest player in the world. Averbakh also provides a philosophical classification of chess players. 

He muses there are six types. 

# First, the killers, those who try to knock out their opponents. Fischer and Alexander Alekhine are in this group. 

#  Second, the fighters: Garry Kasparov and Mikhail Tal. 

#  Third, the sportsmen: Max Euwe and Vasily Smyslov, both gentlemen. 

#  Fourth, the players attracted to any kind of game: Anatoly Karpov and Petrosian. 

# Fifth, the artists: Nicolas Rossolimo and Vladimir Simagin. 

# Sixth, the explorers: Aron Nimzowitsch and Reuben Fine. This is a nice way to give a veteran’s view of the personalities of champions in this worldwide game.

Tweet

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com

New chess biography on Bobby Fischer releasing on Feb 1

Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello Everyone,

A splendid new book on the chess great who stole our hearts is set to release on February 1, 2011. The book is Endgame: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Bobby Fischer by Frank Brady, (Crown).

The Mozart of the chessboard is inseparable from the monster of paranoid egotism in this fascinating biography. Brady (Citizen Welles), founding publisher of Chess Life magazine and a friend of Fischer, gives a richly detailed account of the impoverished Brooklyn wunderkind's sensational opening - he was history's first 15-year-old grandmaster - and the 1972 match with Boris Spassky, in which Fischer captivated the world with his brilliant play and towering tantrums. Brady's chronicle of Fischer's graceless endgame is just as engrossing, as the chess superstar sinks into poverty after rejecting million-dollar matches; flirts with cults; and becomes, though himself Jewish, a raving anti-Semite and conspiracy theorist. Brady offers an insightful study of Fischer's obsessively honed gifts - his evocative description of the 13-year-old prodigy's legendary 'Game of the Century,' with its seemingly suicidal queen sacrifice, will stir even nonadepts--and a clear-eyed, slightly appalled portrait of his growing paranoia. One senses a connection: the pattern-seeking faculties that could discern distant, obscure checkmates went berserk when trained on the chaos of everyday existence, finding in every reversal not random misfortune but the subtle moves of hidden opponents. Brady gives us a vivid, tragic narrative of a life that became a chess game.

Here is also an interview with Frank Brody conducted by Publishers Weekly.

• Bobby Fischer was the only chess champion the man in the street could name. Why did he captivate us?

He's a rags-to-riches story. He was an impoverished Brooklyn high school dropout who seemed totally uncultured; how could he play such an intellectually demanding game? And he was David against the Soviet Union's Goliath. Chess was the Soviet game; America's game was baseball. He beat them at their game, and became a cold war hero.

• He believed the Soviets were conspiring against him. Any truth to that?

Well, even paranoids have enemies. They did have a secret laboratory with psychologists and grandmasters studying Bobby. He thought they were plotting to assassinate him, but we can't prove that.

• Fischer threw epic tantrums at his 1972 championship match with Boris Spassky—over lighting, chess sets, orange juice, audience noise. Were his antics a ploy?

I don't think so. Bobby looked upon chess as a great art. When he played, he was like Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall. He wanted silence, respect, proper lighting; he didn't want people with candy wrappers in the audience.

• In later years his behavior was grotesque and hateful. Although he was Jewish, he became a raving anti-Semite and called for mass killings of American Jews. What brought that on?

The New York chess community was highly Jewish during his early career, and he felt that he was not getting enough respect. So he made this illogical jump, "I don't like Jews because the Jews control the money in chess, and I'm not getting any." It was irrational. Then he stumbled upon The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the famous anti-Semitic tract, and bought it as nonfiction.

• You knew Fischer in his salad days. What were your impressions?

I had dinners with him, and if there was a lull in the conversation he'd pull out his pocket chess set. He'd be eating and analyzing games. I saw him do it in the street as he was walking; he'd pull out his chess set and start moving the pieces. I liked him. I found him interesting and generous. When I was broke, he said, "Can I lend you some money?"—my brother didn't even do that.

• What do chess aficionados see in Fischer?

I played him many times; I call him the Mozart of chess. His chess was crystalline, perfect—not murky or hidden, like some players, where suddenly they spring a trap. You could see what he was doing, but you couldn't resist it, it was so powerful.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com

A Patzer's Story - Parallels between chess and battle with depression

Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010

Hello Everyone,

We came across this new book that has an interesting story - an important one too. MBD Consulting announced this week the release of 'A Patzer’s Story' authored by its managing director, Timothy A. Sawyer, and published by PublishAmerica. In the book, Sawyer outlines his battle with depression and draws parallels between that and his passion for chess.

“This is a book for chess players and non-players alike,” says Sawyer. “Anyone who reads this book can take something away whether tips on how to improve their chess game or tips on how to improve their life.”

“A Patzer’s Story” contains 22 “rules” or axioms to help the reader navigate chess, and possibly life. For example, rule 7 reads: “Treat your opponent as you want to be treated;” and rule 7A advises: “Treat yourself as you want to be treated.”

Timothy A. Sawyer is an IT Professional and managing director of MBD Consulting. He enjoys playing chess, but over the past year has found many things in life a challenge due to his ongoing battle with depression. He says, “Frustration breeds action,” so he decided to take things into his own hands and to channel this negative energy regarding recent losses. It was the writing of this book that cleared his head, and he now wishes to share his insights with the world.

An interesting excerpt from the book:

"I expect only the best from myself. Most of the time, I expect perfection and get easily upset over “stupid” mistakes. Being overly critical of yourself does not bode well for your psyche - remember that, if nothing else. I am not a mental health professional. You can expect that everything I am telling you is based on my own personal experience and reflection. You can expect that I will not sugar coat anything. I am known for being direct and to the point. Sometimes I am too direct. Whether that is a character flaw is up to you to decide. You can expect that I will treat you with dignity and respect. Everyone deserves that. I will not “talk down” to you or treat you like an idiot. Try to read this book as though you and I were having a conversation, albeit a somewhat one-sided conversation because you cannot give immediate feedback. Throughout the book I present different “rules”. These are not additions to the rules of chess, but rather axioms that, if followed, will hopefully help you survive and enjoy the game of chess, no matter what your rating or skill level. In fact, these rules can be applied away from the chessboard. It is up to you as to whether or not you agree with them and whether or not you follow them. Again, this is all based on MY personal experience."

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com