[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Bits & pieces from here and there

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Bits & pieces from here and there
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1197336224.shtml


   It's almost routine now, but the latest impressively young player to
   become a grandmaster is 14-year-old Filipino Wesley So. You can read
   (and see) more about him [1]here.
   The [2]Kasparov interview this weekend was a re-run. If you're
   interested and didn't catch it the first time around (or the second
   time, for that matter), here are the [3]transcript and the [4]video.
   Fiction fans can read Ronan Bennett's chess thriller (that names the
   genre, not my reaction) Zugzwang, about which you can read more in
   this [5]ChessBase article. As a work of fiction, I found it enjoyable
   as an airport book: it's a quick, easy and pleasant read on the
   flight, and once it's over you promptly forget it for the rest of your
   life.
   As a work of chess fiction, it's less pleasing, as once again poor
   Akiba Rubinstein is once again the butt of the joke, the
   psychologically disturbed chess player on display yet again. (Isn't it
   remarkable that the paradigm of chessplayers as either nerds or nuts
   get repeated as nauseam, although the only evidence trotted out is
   poor Rubinstein [excepting an occasional cameo by the Icelandic
   grandmaster].)
   Another Rubinstein-related issue: In the video linked to above,
   Bennett says that Rubinstein was the favorite to win St. Petersburg
   1914 (the setting for his book), and that chess fans have debated for
   years why he didn't win the tournament. Response: You're kidding!
   Rubinstein's result was disappointing, but he was rusty and was at
   best a co-favorite with Lasker, who won, and Capablanca, who collapsed
   at the end to finish half a point behind.
   There are other quibbles, but I'll close with a word to parents
   thinking of giving this book to your chess-playing kids: don't. There
   are a couple of clearly and needlessly X-rated chapters.
   There's only one crass (but very funny) passage in Garry Kasparov's
   [6]How Life Imitates Chess (he's quoting Boris Spassky's advice on how
   to play Tigran Petrosian), a fresh entrant in the glutted and somewhat
   stereotyped Business/Success genre. Many of those books are one part
   Aristotle's virtue ethics and one part positive thinking, but
   Kasparov's book offers more specific ideas. It also includes
   discussions of chess players and events I had never read anywhere
   else, so even if you have no interest in the Business/Success genre,
   you might still want it for the stories.

References

   1. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4313
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1197082781.shtml
   3. http://www.opinionjournal.com/jer/?id=110010971
   4. http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_0004.html?bcpid=86195573&bclid=212338097&bctid=1336642179
   5. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4310
   6. http://www.amazon.com/How-Life-Imitates-Chess-Boardroom/dp/1596913878