Kasparov Gets A Look In

[James Pratt]

Anybody got a copy of the TLS for 9th January? Hmnn, don't all rush at once. The Times Literary Supplement has climbed down from its ivory Tower and mentioned chess. Well, actually it hasn't, not really but Kasparov's 1997 torturer DEEP BLUE does get a mench in a review of the new book, Joanna Kavenna's 'Seven' or subtitled 'How to Play a Game Without Rules'. A Faber it seems though I am yet to see a copy.

Quail, a close cousin of Deep Blue, can not be beaten I read as the machine has no strategy and no mind to read and thus we are - do try and stay awake - in the realm of philosophy and, of course, digital technology. The TLS reviewer, Nina Allan, tells us that it is a radical inquiry into the nature of being. Well, I'll go to our house! The playing pieces are apparently gemstone diaspora and - did I mention this already? - dinner party guests get a form of the Black Death.

In sum, the reviewer calls this a labyrinthian journey with an obsession with boxes and, seemingly out of nowhere, Mediterranean food. If anybody is brave enough to buy a copy I urge them strongly not to get caught reading it unless able to explain all it contains. A tough call.
James