Hardly a theologically or biblically related post, but some readers may be interested.Sadly, a few days ago, David Bronstein, the great chess Grandmaster died. Born in Ukraine, 1924, he dazzled the world with spectacularly creative chess. I remember playing through some of his games for the first time and decided to give up trying to understand the mathematics of the combinations, and instead let myself simply enjoy the aesthetics and colossal imagination they demonstrated! The ICC had this to say about him:
‘Bronstein was a truly original thinker, creative genius and master of tactics who believed the game to be more art than science or calculation – for him, the aesthetics was always more important than the result’One of the most enjoyable chess books I have ever read is the second part of Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors series (my copy is signed by the great man himself!). Kasparov summed up Bronstein’s unmistakable style with the words: ‘For the sake of brilliance it is worth taking a risk!’ (191).
In honour of this great chess artist I have uploaded two of his notable victories.
Click here for his 1946 game (as Black) against Zita. You will be taken to a java board to follow the moves on a chessboard.
The second is a simply breathtaking game to which I have added a few notes – no detailed analysis, just a spattering of thoughts along with a few of Kasparov’s comments from his above mentioned book. Click here for this beautiful victory over the great Keres.
Bronstein, may you rest in peace.
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By the way, if anyone is interested in starting chess as a hobby, here is some essential information for you. Essential.
5 comments:
Truly a sad day in chess. I played sports in high school in order to be "allowed" by my peers to belong to the chess club and the drama club--without having to get in fights!
I beat my son (11 yrs) at chess for the first time in ages today. Historic or what? He claimed that he wasn't concentrating. Yeah, right.
Bronstein was Jewish.
Was he told not to win the 1954 match against Botvinnik?
By the way, it is 'the' Ukraine, like the Gambia, the Netherlands, and the Lebanon, the United States.
I don't know why, but 'Ukraine' by itself really irritates me.
I suppose if you live in the Germany long enough, you lose track of how these things just sound wrong to English ears.
Hi Michael, are you still regular player?
Guy! You really need to see the essential post I linked to - that will help you no end.
Hi Steven,
I must admit, I don't remember the details surrounding the conspiracy theories on the B-B match. I thin it is very likely that he was asked to take the dive, but I'm pretty sure he didn't try to. Oh, and thanks for the correction - quite right.
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