"The Prince's Gambit" in The New Yorker

"The Prince's Gambit" (abstract only) in The New Yorker does a good job of presenting Magnus Carlsen to a general readership.  The story concludes with his desire to do well in the Amber tournament, so it is nice to see Carlsen joining the leaders today.  Worth picking up.

A Psychological Autopsy of Bobby Fischer

It's worth reading "A Psychological Autopsy of Bobby Fischer" by Joseph Ponterotto in the latest issue of Miller-McCune (whose main site seems to have gone temporarily off line).  Though most of the material it contains will be familiar to my readers, I thought it did a pretty good job of putting together the known information regarding Fischer's mental health and avoiding any simplifying view of this complex man.  I was also impressed to see a magazine article that linked to online material and embedded videos in many of the ways blogs normally do.  Worth a look.

NYPD's Chess Bust

DNAinfo broke a story yesterday ("Chess Players Ticketed by NYPD"), since picked up by The New York Times ("Police! Step Away from the Chess Table"), that late last month New York City police ticketed seven chess players at the Inwood Hill Park for ignoring signs near the chess tables that the area (adjacent to a playground) was "off limits to adults unaccompanied by a minor."  Both articles have drawn numerous comments, my favorite being: "Chess only leads to more violent board games, like Go and Risk."  Obviously, if they want to keep chess players away from children, they should just move the tables a pawn's throw away.  But it does make you wonder why we have gotten so crazed about "protecting the children" that we can't imagine adults going to a playground just to play.  Update: the New York Post made the story front page news under the headline "CHECK MATE" today.

Chess News for April 1st

Some incredible stories are circulating around the internet today:

Howard Stern Selected as First US Championship Wild Card

In a bid to bring more publicity to the US Championship this year, the organizers have chosen chess fan Howard Stern as the first Wild Card.  Listeners to his show report that Howard is always talking about how much he loves to play online.  And he recently played in the NY March Open.  I suggest Jessica Simpson for the US Women's.

Chess Playing Physicists Debate Dangers of the Large Hadron Collider

With Europe's super-collider going online, a number of chess playing physicists tried to calm GMs worried about a potential black hole being created, including the World Champion Vishy Anand who seemed to fear that it might destroy the earth before he has a chance to defend his title.

Der Spiegel Interviews Magnus Carlsen

"I am Chaotic and Lazy" is Magnus Carlsen's headlining self-description in a recent Der Spiegel interview reprinted by ChessBase.  It is a remarkable interview, most for the self-deprecating comments of the World Number One and for the insight into his own quite level-headed attitude toward the game.  One exchange amused me:

Carlsen: What is important is that I have a life beyond chess.

SPIEGEL: Why?

Carlsen: Chess should not become an obsession. Otherwise there’s a danger that you will slide off into a parallel world, that you lose your sense of reality, get lost in the infinite cosmos of the game. You become crazy. I make sure that I have enough time between tournaments to go home in order to do other things. I like hiking and skiing, and I play football in a club.

    SPIEGEL: Do you have a favourite club?

Carlsen: Real Madrid, the royals.

    SPIEGEL: Many football players use music to get in the mood before a game. Do you do that too before sitting down in front of the board?

Carlsen: Oh, yes. If I am feeling gloomy before a game, I listen to gloomy music.

    SPIEGEL: Such as?

Carlsen: You probably won’t know it, a song by Lil Jon. A silly rap song, but it does me good, I loosen up. I listen to music on the Internet, but don`t download any songs. It’s all totally legal. Many people may find that boring, but I think it is important.

I am sure many will speculate about the song that inspires the best chess player in the world, if only to add it to their own playlists....  Perhaps it's Give It All U Got?

Magnus Carlsen Featured in TIME

"A Bold Opening for Chess Player Magnus Calsen" by Eben Harrell offers up a complete article to frame the interview mentioned here last week.  Expect more high-profile articles on the 19-year-old world number one in the next couple weeks leading up to the annual Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee.

Magnus Carlsen Interviewed in Time Magazine

Eben Harrell's Time interview, "Magnus Carlsen: The 19-year-old King of Chess," is the latest evidence that Carlsen has the ability to generate media interest in the game.  It is a very positive interview where the world number one says, "I'm not afraid the computer will find all the ideas and leave no room for imagination."  Of course, the article also suggests that chess is still judged with suspicion in the media, as though it were responsible for Fischer's dementia (instead of being the reason Fischer remained somewhat sane as long as he did): Carlsen is also asked, "Do you fear that trying to master a game of near-infinite variation can make you insane?"  The Time article even links to the 1972 article "Why They Play: The Psychology of Chess," which recalls the Freudian view of the game frequently cited back then.  I think the Freudians would have a field day with Tiger Woods and golf, so it's rather a shame their mode of interpretation doesn't get wider play or parody today.  For more thoughts on the Time piece, check out Mig Greengard's "Time for Magnus Carlsen."

2009 World Open Games

U.S. Chess Scoop Episode 3 from DIM mak films on Vimeo.

There is plenty of good commentary on the World Open, which wrapped up this weekend in Philadelphia, won by Evgeny Najer and Hikaru Nakamura (who played the short schedule, as Mig reports). Jennifer Shahade gives us her video "scoop" (see above). Lubomir Kavalek analyzes two snappy miniatures in his Washington Post column. Jonathan Hilton blogs about his games at the USCF website. And you can download the 128 available games from the World Open website (PGN here) and in TWIC #765 (see description or download PGN), or view them online at Chessgames.com (among other places). I found the Dragon games Friedel - Robson and Homa - Kudrin of interest.

Update: According to the USCF website ("Hilton on the World Open: Lenderman Dances; Nakamura and Najer Tie for 1st"), the World Open blitz event was won by Kenilworth Chess Club champion Yaacov Norowitz with a score of 9.5/10. Congratulations Yaacov!

Kasparov's "Life After Chess"

"Life After Chess" is the title of an interview with Kasparov that appears in Newsweek (February 25, 2008). With the death of Fischer (which still receives daily comment in the press) and Kasparov's continued high profile, chess seems quite prominent in the popular press. But as these two giant figures become less central to the game, who will represent chess on the public stage? One of the more interesting exchanges in the Newsweek interview is quite suggestive:

Q: Do you think you're the last chess champion to be well known so broadly?
A: I think it's probably a correct assessment, because chess has changed, you know. It's more like tennis, because the champions are changing too often. If somebody's No. 1, so what?

Today's Chess Columns

Chua-Vigorito, USATE 2007
Black to play and win.

I read two newspaper chess columns on Sunday.

The first is always The New York Times's chess column by Dylan Loeb McClain, who has proven an excellent successor to GM Robert Byrne. I especially like to see more current and local games in his columns than had been the case previously. Today's piece is titled "At Amateur Team Tournament, Having a Good Costume Helps" and features Chua-Vigorito, USATE 2007, which is one of the few master games I have seen from the event. It opens with the ever-wild Botvinnik Variation of the Anti-Meran Semi-Slav. Unfortunately for students of the opening, the game only diverges from theory on move 19 (see the diagram above), and its 19th move is probably not the most incisive (see my notes).

The second article I always read is The Newark Star-Ledger's chess column by Pete Tamburro and Steve Doyle. I was hoping they would have a USATE game today and expect they will have several in the coming weeks (as they typically do following the event). Instead, today they feature the excellent game Grasso-Stoyko, NJ Open 2006, which we annotated shortly after the event in a blog article titled "FM Steve Stoyko at the NJ Open."

I am glad that these papers feature these excellent writers and hope their columns are never completely supplanted by us bloggers....