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THE CHESS ARTIST: Obession and the World's Oldest Game
Author: J.C. Hallman
Thomas Dunne Books (2003)
352 pages
Reviewed by Johshua Anderson
THE CHESS ARTIST is an exploration into how chess effects the world
around us. It is the tale of how a master, Glenn Umstead, and J. C.
Hallman explore some of the many places chess is played and how it is
viewed around the world.
The highlights of the tour take the reader from Atlantic City to New
York City's chess area to Princeton math department to Kalmykia and
even to prison. What we learn from this travel odyssey is that the
romantic dream of visiting far off places, playing in exciting
tournaments and events, is just that ... a dream. Hallman is able to
tell such an interesting story by showing that the reality, though less
grandiose, does indeed allows players to meet and experience many
different lifestyles. Furthermore, he is able to demonstrate not only
how chess was used by people in the past, but also how present day
societies/groups, from prison inmates to college professors to citizens
of Kalmykia, use the game. And thus, it is here in describing what the
game brings to people that the book is actually at its most interesting.
The book flows well and is easy to read. The quotes at the beginning of
each chapter are varied, interesting, and are usually nicely tied to
the chapter. About my only complaint, a very minor one, is that he uses
actual quotations and phrases when I suspect he is just remembering the
events.
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