Chess books and film (and other culture)

[Gordon Cadden]

A book on chess fiction, that seems to have escaped the net;
"Masters of Technique," by Howard Goldowsky. An anthology of Chess Fiction. The Mongoose Press.
Published in the USA, and printed in China.

[Adam Raoof]

The works of Peter Hammill contain numerous references to chess -
- One of the albums he made with Van der Graaf Generator was entitled "Pawn Hearts" and featured chess pieces on the cover art
- The cover art for the VdGG album "H to He..." was entitled "Checkmate", though doesn't contain any obvious chess theme.
- His first solo album was entitled "Fool's Mate", again featuring chess pieces on the cover.
- The cover of his solo album "Chameleon in the Shadow of the night" has a painting of him sat at a chess board. The position is indistinct.
- The song "The Comet, the Course, the Tail" contains the cheerful lyric -
"In the slaughterhouse all corpses smell the same,
Whether queens or pawns or innocents at the game"

There is a Dutch interview with Peter Hammill in which he and the interviewer play a game, and it's recorded in the text of the interview - there are even a couple of diagrams!

http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/p ... age_60.jpg
http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/p ... age_61.jpg

[Ian Kingston]

There is a Dutch interview with Peter Hammill in which he and the interviewer play a game, and it's recorded in the text of the interview - there are even a couple of diagrams!

http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/p ... age_60.jpg
http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/p ... age_61.jpg

Previously mentioned by yours truly, where you can also play through the game.

[Reg Clucas]

There is a Dutch interview with Peter Hammill in which he and the interviewer play a game, and it's recorded in the text of the interview - there are even a couple of diagrams!

http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/p ... age_60.jpg
http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/p ... age_61.jpg

Previously mentioned by yours truly, where you can also play through the game.

That's a real collector's item, thanks both for posting. I had forgotten about the 'travelling chess' lyric. I daresay there are more amongst his extensive output (which is still ongoing).

[Ian Kingston]

That's a real collector's item, thanks both for posting. I had forgotten about the 'travelling chess' lyric. I daresay there are more amongst his extensive output (which is still ongoing).

There are - this is from 'The Comet, The Course, The Tail':

In the slaughterhouse all corpses smell the same,
whether queens or pawns or innocents at the game;

and this rather oblique one from 'Flight' (which might be a bit of a stretch, but it hit me during a Van der Graaf Generator concert last summer):

Everybody waits for everyone to make a show,
no-one wants to be the first, admitting that they know
how anything that's gone down here
could fit into an analytic groove.
Wait for the tactical move,
wait for some action we all can approve.

You can trawl through the lyrics at http://sofasound.com/lyrix.htm to find more (my memory won't dredge up any others right now).

[Stewart Reuben]

Adam Raoof has announced this
Fancy a chess-related night out at the theatre? Rhum and Clay Theatre Company have produced a version of Stefan Zweig's novel The Royal Game, and it's on from 23-27 September at a lovely theatre in Euston, London. It's called 64 Squares, and I'll see you on opening night!

I have a film version with Curt Jurgens and I think Claire Bloom. Also an American TV version in Black and White. Neither are much good.

[Arshad Ali]

The best chess fiction I've come across has been Anthony Glyn's The Dragon Variation. I stumbled across it serendipitously forty years back and have yet to see a more realistic depiction of the world of chess. Tevis and Nabokov can't hold a candle to Glyn.

[John Clarke]

One to look out for in the coming weeks: The Dark Horse, just released here in NZ. Tells the true story of how Genesis Potini, a former New Zealand speed-chess champion struggling with bipolar disorder, took over as coach of a chess team for at-risk youth.

Haven't seen it myself yet - too busy. NZ critics have raved about it (surprise?). International premiere at the Toronto film festival early in September.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The best chess fiction I've come across has been Anthony Glyn's The Dragon Variation. I stumbled across it serendipitously forty years back and have yet to see a more realistic depiction of the world of chess. Tevis and Nabokov can't hold a candle to Glyn.

Searching back through the forum threads and re-reading mentions of this book reminds me I really must get it and read it... Do you know whether it is realistic because Glyn was a chess player himself?

[Arshad Ali]

Searching back through the forum threads and re-reading mentions of this book reminds me I really must get it and read it... Do you know whether it is realistic because Glyn was a chess player himself?

I don't know how strong Sir Anthony was as a player but his depiction is so much more realistic than Tevis's The Queen's Gambit.
For example, in a match between an American GM (forgot his name) and the Iranian prodigy, he describes how the GM "built up positional pressure that never quite became an attack." Tevis wasn't a strong enough player to describe a chess game this way. Or his description of how the Soviet players in a tournament were getting a manila envelope every day from an opening research team in Riga which "conferred a small, fleeting, but real advantage -- as if they needed any." I'm quoting from memory, so perhaps I've garbled some of the words. And though Glyn's book was written in the late '60s, there is even mention of Chess Informant, which had just started getting published in those days. Glyn understood the world of professional chess like no other writer I've ever encountered.

[Stewart Reuben]

Lyrics of first verse of 'How long has this been going on' by Ira Gershwin, music by George.

Meet the stars at the tsars,
How often have I had to caress them
Then I collect from all these yes-men,
Don't be sad, I must add they count no more than chessmen.

[Clive Blackburn]

Jeremy Silman has published his personal list of "The Best Chess Books Ever"

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-b ... books-ever

What do other people think of his choices?

[Brian Towers]

Jeremy Silman has published his personal list of "The Best Chess Books Ever"

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-b ... books-ever

What do other people think of his choices?

What? No MCO, 10th edition? No Terence Tiller's "Chess Treasury of the Air"? No BH Wood's "An Easy Guide to Chess"? It must be rubbish!

Seriously, it's very "early 20th century", isn't it?

What about Kasparov's My Great Predecessors? What about Rowson's "Seven Deadly Chess Sins" (Freudian slip, I missed out "chess" the first time I typed that) and "Chess for Zebra's"?

A bit less of the Nimzovitch's "My System", please, and a bit more of John Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy".

[Clive Blackburn]

Jeremy Silman has published his personal list of "The Best Chess Books Ever"

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-b ... books-ever

What do other people think of his choices?

What? No MCO, 10th edition? No Terence Tiller's "Chess Treasury of the Air"? No BH Wood's "An Easy Guide to Chess"? It must be rubbish!

Seriously, it's very "early 20th century", isn't it?

What about Kasparov's My Great Predecessors? What about Rowson's "Seven Deadly Chess Sins" (Freudian slip, I missed out "chess" the first time I typed that) and "Chess for Zebra's"?

A bit less of the Nimzovitch's "My System", please, and a bit more of John Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy".

Interestingly, Silman didn't put My System on his own list, preferring Chess Praxis.
Several of his friends did go for My System though (including John Watson).
I was amused that some of them went for books by Silman - rather sycophantic but perfectly justified.
I agree that overall the list does look somewhat dated but Watson's book was mentioned, as was Judit Polgar Teaches Chess.

[Arshad Ali]

Jeremy Silman has published his personal list of "The Best Chess Books Ever"

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-b ... books-ever

What do other people think of his choices?

The choices of the various masters are not bad -- but missing from every list is Judit Polgar's three volumes on her games, the last of which came out two or three months ago; they were published by Aagaard's Quality Chess. Many other Quality Chess books are not on the lists -- quite inexplicably. Colin Crouch's Hastings 1895 also seems to be missing.

Baburin's "Winning Pawn Structures" is one list -- it must be worth its weight in gold. Expensive to get hold of.