My friend, Jeff, loaned me his copy of The Immortal Game by David Shenk this weekend. He enjoyed this as well as I did.
The book is based on the double meaning of the immortal game: one to represent the 1400 year old game, in general, and a specific game played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on June 21, 1851.
Chess has been a part of so many cultures, and the metaphor of chess has been utilized by religious, political, and military leaders throughout the ages. Shenk explains those metaphors and how they relate to our history and the human mind.
From my perspective as a chess player, I enjoyed reading through the analysis of The Immortal Game which hails from the Romantic era of chess.
However, I think even if one has only a passing interest in the game itself, the story of how chess relates to our history and the human brain is a fascinating story. I give David Shenk great credit in bringing this delightful story to us!
Tags: chess, The Immortal Game, David Shenk, history
4 comments:
Sounds interesting Joe, I'll have to add it to my list...
Of course, I'm so far behind on my list at the moment that it may be years before I got to it.
D'oh! :-)
tp
It is very interesting.
What's your current reading list? I'm reading J. C. Hallman's "The Chess Artist" right now.
Joe - glad to hear you liked it. I think you'll enjoy the Chess Artist also; a story about the "dark underbelly" of chess.
It is definitely seeing that, Jeff. It is dark!
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