Kings Gambit A Father A Son and the Worlds Most Dangerous Game

KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME

Author: Paul Hoffman
Hyperion 2007
433 pages
$24.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

The past few years have seen an outpouring of chess-related novels: THE CHESS ARTIST by J.C. Hallman, THE IMMORTAL GAME by David Schenk, CHESS BITCH by Jennifer Shahade and THE KINGS OF NEW YORK by Michael Weinreb all come readily to mind. The latest in the series is KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME by Paul Hoffman.

Known to the chess community for his articles on the royal game in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, commentary work for ESPN and blog for the New York Knights in the US Chess League, Hoffman is the author of several well-received non-fiction novels (Wings of Madness, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers and Archimedes’s Revenge).

His present work is two books in one. The first is the story of the relationship between Hoffman and his father -- highly educated and charismatic -- who just happens to be a pathological liar. For the most part it is a sad tale, but one bright spot is chess. Father teaches his young son right before Bobby Fischer's World Championship run and the bug sticks until college. Fast-forward twenty-five years and the younger Hoffman picks up the game again during a time of health and personal challenges. KING'S GAMBIT is the result of this return to Caissa and her characters.

Much of is KING'S GAMBIT is written for a general audience. The sections on Claude Bloodgood, Bruce Pandolfini, and the Polgars are well written but won't offer much new information to chess cognoscente, but the chapters on Pascal Charbonneau, Nigel Short and Joel Lautier make for compelling reading. One of the questions that Hoffman wants answers to is whether top players experience some of the feelings that he (rated USCF 1900+) does when he plays. He has selected three perceptive GMs as case studies. Lautier, in particular, is a treasure-trove of insightful quotes. To give one example here is how he responds to the question of how working as one of Vladimir Kramnik's seconds effected his play.

"I actually played much worse because it was very depressing. I saw that he was so much faster than me and could constantly feel things on the chessboard that took me time to figure out for myself. There were many occasions where he wouldn't trust a variation before he did any calculations. He is a very intuitive player. He often decides immediately on his next move and spends his thinking time confirming his choice. When I play, I make a lot of my decisions by vigorously calculating everything. I close in on the right move by methodical, step-by-step analysis. Instead he feels the right move. That skill is very hard to learn – it's more of a gift."

Hoffman has a knack for asking the right question to elicit a frank answer. Here are a few more examples.

On Kramnik's successful use of the Berlin Defense against Kasparov:

"His match strategy was brilliant. Garry was tortured -- but for me the Berlin is one of the most depressing things in chess. I'd give up the game if I were forced to play it." -- Joel Lautier.

A couple of other quotes:

"I know Kasparov as well as I know anyone. I know his smell. I can read him by that. I recognize the smell when he is excited and I know when he is scared. We may be enemies, but we are intimate enemies." -- Anatoly Karpov.

"I believe chess can bring me closer to the spiritual part of the world in a way that simple material stuff can't." -- Irina Krush.

King's Gambit is a big book. Parts of it, particularly in the beginning and middle, tend to paint top chess players as anti-social misfits -- to put it kindly. Later, when Hoffman gets to know Lautier, Charbonneau, Short and Jennifer Shahade his views are more nuanced. Still, I can't help feeling a little sorry that with the exception of a few National Opens the author's direct experience with tournament play was confined to Swiss events on the East Coast and trip to Libya and Moscow. A few nice tournaments in France, Spain or Italy played at one game a day might have given him a different perspective, not too mention attending Wijk aan Zee, Linares or Dortmund!

Hoffman has lots of information in his book. I didn't know the reverse Grob is the Borg (Grob spelled backwards) and learned much about Pascal Charbonneau that reinforced a feeling that is one of the really good people in the chess world.

Inevitably in a book of this size small errors will creep in. Jonathan Speelman defeated Yasser Seirawan in a Candidates match in 1988 -- not 1986. For Israeli GM Ilya Smirnin read Smirin. It's possible that the late Alexander Wojtkiewicz owed his release from a Soviet prison due to Ronald Reagan pressing Mikhail Gorbachev on the matter but it sounds more like the sort of colorful tale Wojo was apt to spin after some time worshiping at the Temple of Dionysus. While former World Junior Champion Tal Shaked didn't graduate from the University of Baltimore County, it wasn't because of lack of academic ability or willingness to work. He transferred to the University of Arizona where his father was a professor and after graduating there went to graduate school at the University of Washington before landing a job with Google.

If you are looking for a Christmas present for the chessplayer in the family or love to read about the world of chess, check out KING'S GAMBIT.

Click to buy (or get more information about) KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME

CHESS BITCH: WOMEN IN THE ULTIMATE INTELLECTUAL SPORT (by Jennifer Shahade, $24.00)

THE IMMORTAL GAME (by Shenk, $24.95)

KINGS OF NEW YORK (BY Weinreb, $24.00)