Not again!?
March 17, 2010 by Arne Moll · 122 Comments
Perhaps it was because I’m currently reading The Age of Empathy – Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society, Frans de Waal’s latest book on how and why humans (and other primates) are capable of showing empathy and solving moral problems – that I found myself shocked by the recent Europe Echecs interview with Topalov’s manager Silvio Danailov. Topalov’s match against Anand hasn’t even started yet, but the first provocations are already in the air again. Read more
Review: Reggio Emilia 2007/2008
March 9, 2010 by Arne Moll · 4 Comments
Having read mostly chess improvement books and opening manuals lately, I was delighted to see a new publication in the best tradition of chess writing: a serious tournament book. Strangely, it’s a tradition that seems rather unpopular these days – a very unfortunate development indeed. Read more
Save the rainforest – buy a sustainable chess set
March 5, 2010 by Arne Moll · 22 Comments
Chess players love wooden chess sets for their massive, easy-playing pieces, their obvious superiority over cheap plastic stuff and their distinguished classical look. But what about their sustainability? Read more
Review: Improve Your Chess at any Age
March 2, 2010 by Arne Moll · 21 Comments
My first reaction when I learned about the book Improve Your Chess at any Age was one of sheer jealousy: some club player writing a book about chess improvement?! How unfair! There must be thousands of club players around the world who’d want the exact same thing – including me. Read more
Chess reigns in Amsterdam as Dutch cabinet resigns
February 21, 2010 by Arne Moll · 2 Comments
On the day the Dutch cabinet of ministers resigned over an issue about sending new troops to Afghanistan, three chess events were being held in Amsterdam, capital of The Netherlands. One was the second round of the annual Batavia Max Euwe Challenge tournament, another was the opening of art exhibition Number Twelve, featuring a ‘chess piano’. Pictorial report. Read more
Dutch Special: Matten 7 & De Pion
February 18, 2010 by Arne Moll · 14 Comments
The Dutch quarterly Matten provides a mixture of interviews, stories and anecdotes with a literary flavour, interweaved with drawings, cartoons and photos. We bring a review of the 7th edition in the Dutch language, together with a review of De Pion, the first book of a new series on chess pieces by endgame composer (and ChessVibes contributor) Yochanan Afek and the Dutch ‘Mr. Chess’ Hans Böhm. Read more
Nabokov’s chess sonnets translated
February 17, 2010 by Arne Moll · 3 Comments
On ChessCafe, an English translation of three sonnets on chess by Vladimir Nabokov has been published. According to John Roycroft, it is ‘the first English verse translation of the trio of linked chess sonnets that Vladimir Nabokov published in the Russian émigré journal Rul’ in Berlin in November 1924.’ Read more
Herman Grooten wins ChessCafe Book of the Year 2009 Award
February 10, 2010 by Arne Moll · 3 Comments
Herman Grooten’s outstanding Chess Strategy for Club Players – The Road to Positional Advantage has won the ChessCafe Book of the Year 2009 Award. After four weeks of voting, Grooten’s book beat Viktor Moskalenko’s Revolutionize Your Chess and David Rudel’s Zuke ‘Em. Read more
Review: Marcel Duchamp – The Art of Chess
February 9, 2010 by Arne Moll · Comments Off
What do a game of chess and a nude decending a staircase have in common? To answer such questions, you must be prepared to leave your conventional ways of thinking at home and then fall down Marcel Duchamp’s rabbit-hole of chess and art. Read more
What Your Body’s Thinking About
February 4, 2010 by Arne Moll · 34 Comments
There’s a picture of Mikhail Tal that has always seemed to me the ultimate chess player’s pose: Tal’s looking at the board, chin on his thumb, his other arm folded under his fist, utter determination in his eyes. But what was Tal actually thinking at the time the picture was taken? Read more
