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kah277's review
5.0
I love these niche history books that document events through a different lens. In this book, you start by learning the origins of chess that take you nearly 1500 years back to Persia, and watch it quickly migrate to the European continent during the Islamic Renaissance. From there it undergoes a few notable changes (swapped out the elephant for the bishop because no one knew what an elephant was in northern Europe; and swapped out the minister for a Queen thanks to the highly revered Queen Adelaide. The queen’s piece power was then expanded thanks to several extremely powerful queens at the same time – most notably Isabella of Spain and Mary Queen of Scots).
In between these slivers of historical context, the author methodically took you through each move of “The Immortal Game” – in what began as an unassuming game played in a London pub in 1851 quickly turned awe-inspiring when an absolute madlad sacrificed 2 rooks, a bishop, and a queen to win a game against one of the worlds greatest!!
The book also touched on how chess has been used as an instrument to teach things like geometric progression, abstract thinking, and game theory. It depicted studies that analyzed how the mind of a grandmaster thinks; and the author argues, in which I fully agree, that chess in its purest form isn’t brute memorization of openings and endgames but it is an art. All in all, this was probably the easiest 5 star review I’ve given this year.
In between these slivers of historical context, the author methodically took you through each move of “The Immortal Game” – in what began as an unassuming game played in a London pub in 1851 quickly turned awe-inspiring when an absolute madlad sacrificed 2 rooks, a bishop, and a queen to win a game against one of the worlds greatest!!
The book also touched on how chess has been used as an instrument to teach things like geometric progression, abstract thinking, and game theory. It depicted studies that analyzed how the mind of a grandmaster thinks; and the author argues, in which I fully agree, that chess in its purest form isn’t brute memorization of openings and endgames but it is an art. All in all, this was probably the easiest 5 star review I’ve given this year.
rabbithero's review
3.0
This book vacillates wildly. At the outset, its a surprisingly interesting exciting examination of Chess across cultures and time. There are myths about the game's creation, and personal stories from the author that make this work feel small and intimate, despite its scope. And then, without warning, it changes gears in the last two (relatively long) chapters into the science and mathematics behind Chessbots. Now, I don't have an automatic dislike for those sorts of examinations, but in this context, it felt jarring. And INCREDIBLY OBSESSED WITH NUMBERS. when listening to an audiobook...blech.
And then came the concluding chapter, which literally brought tears to my eyes with its moving, expansive look at the way Chess can better the human condition. So yes, wildly inconsistent in those respects, but when its good, boy, is this book good.
And then came the concluding chapter, which literally brought tears to my eyes with its moving, expansive look at the way Chess can better the human condition. So yes, wildly inconsistent in those respects, but when its good, boy, is this book good.
whitejamaica's review
3.0
Not many chess players come close. “The amateur sees pieces and movement,” writes Krauthammer. “The expert, additionally, sees sixty-four squares with holes and lines and spheres of influence. The genius apprehends a unified field within which space and force and mass are interacting valences—a Bishop tears the board in half and a Pawn bends the space around it the way mass can reshape space in the Einsteinian universe.”
leeg's review
4.0
Enjoyable, but much too brief. I feel like every chapter could've been deeper and longer and it would still be an engaging book.
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