The Inner Game by Dominic Lawson

(Published as Endgame in the US)

“A wonderful achievement…so tense, so gripping and so readable” Stephen Fry.

Back in 1993 I remember being totally hooked by the televised Times World Chess Championship in London, between British no. 1, and best ever British player, Nigel Short, and Garry Kasparov, undisputed world champion. This put chess on the map in the UK, at least for a little while. Nothing in comparison as to how Fischer had electrified chess in the US, 21 years earlier of course, in his victory against Spassky and Russian chess dominance, but still, it had kids playing chess in schools for a while and I was one of them. I had played chess before thanks to my dad teaching me at about 7 or 8, but this competition had kids brings mini-chess boards into school and playing at lunch across the country.

Nigel Short for the match had absolutely no chance of winning. He was the typical British sporting underdog where phrases such as ‘plucky’ and ‘nice chap’ might be muttered by the commentary or press at the time but the sheer reality of the situation was that he couldn’t possibly win. He’d not beaten Kasparov in a standard time chess match for something like eight years previous to this and odds were so short that, in the 20 match final, bookies stopped taking bets on Kasparov after just the first couple of games.

Short was good. He was a child prodigy and top level Grand Master who had earned the right to take on Kasparov having qualified ahead of the competition including beating the legendary Karpov early on in his candidate games. But this was Garry Kasparov, the Russian chess genius, considered by many to be the greatest ever player, playing at his absolute prime of life with all the advantages of top level Russian state chess sponsorship.

Because of this perhaps, the game seems to have been remembered as a completely one-sided affair and Short as nothing more than a second class chess citizen. If you follow such chess talk (the chances are you don’t!) you might be forgiven for thinking the game went something like 18-2 in favour of Kasparov. In actual fact, the final score of 12½ to 7½ (one point for a victory ½ point for a draw) Short actually over-performed according to rating and if you believe the admittedly bias Lawson here, came a lot closer in some of the drawn games than was given credit for at the time.

Lawson writes in the preface:

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I can only say that I have told it as I saw it happen. I might also be accused of a bias in favour of Nigel Short and against Garri (alt spelling?) Kasparov. To this I plead guilty. First, Nigel is a good friend, and good friends deserve support. Second, I had long dreamt that one day Britain would produce a great chess player with not just had skill, but also the will to wrest the world championship form the Russians. Nigel Short had the same wild dream, and it was the most extraordinary experience of my life.

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From my point of view this enthusiasm and excitement is apparent throughout the book. It’s brilliant. Personally this has been the best non-fiction book I have read all year easily. It is well written yes and the tense, massive psychological struggle comes across clearly in this book, but it is a little difficult to detach my own connections to this match and obsession with chess to guess whether the non-chess enthusiast will like this book as much as I did. I suspect that they will, because there is enough of the human struggle here to satisfy – it is, after all, the tense, behind the scenes insight, which I found fascinating, that would surely appeal to many people regardless of their understanding or interest in chess, but of course I can’t say for sure. Overall though it is certainly recommended.

The book starts out at the candidate games, then details the political break from FIDE - the world chess governing body - which Kasparov and Short orchestrated between themselves over disagreements with FIDE (of which Short received much criticism and ostracism from foes and friends alike) and then of course insights behind the actual match itself. A great book. 5 sausages out of 5.

Game stats:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=55309

A nice review. I remember that match especially due to the fact that it was staged outside of the FIDE's jurisdiction which caused quite a stir at the time. Short had for some while been a British chess phenomenon but lacked the necessary killer instinct to achieve world champion status. I think you would have to go back to Staunton to find someone of that level but of course the game was very different back then. It must be difficult for those who have no knowledge of chess to understand why pushing pieces of wood across a board seems so important but there are few other instances where a person's intelligence is tested to the utmost and the board becomes the centre of a life and death struggle where the margin for error is non-existent.
Most chess books concern theory and categorize some of the thousands of games played over the years but there are also some good novels about the game. I can recommend The Dragon Variation by Anthony Glyn as a gripping story about the psychology of players on the tournament circuit and the pressure they are under.

Thanks I'll make a note of that book, it seems to be out of print in the UK but I've got it on my to watch list.

Yes it is hard to explain to non-chess players just how demanding and deep the psychological battle is at this level of chess. Though as well as being a mental battle it also places physical strains on the body. This might sound daft to some but in order to sit for six, seven, even eight to nine hours+ per game, in deep concentration and thought, really pushes the brain and body to the limit. Both Kasparov and Short prepared for this match in physical terms by hitting the gym as part of the preparation. Kasparov had used a physical trainer as part of his boot camp training for years and Short was also found of tennis, but stepped it up in the gym for this match. Most top level chess players do not neglect the physical. You just can't separate the mind and body. In the same way that in really physical sports mental focus is also a vital aspect of success.

I'm currently reading Russian Silhouettes that I started yesterday by Genna Sosonko, Russian/Dutch GM. This tells of his break from the old Soviet system in 1972 and details such personal stories and observations from his friendships with great players such as Botvinnik and Tal.

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Originally Posted by Neely

Thanks I'll make a note of that book, it seems to be out of print in the UK but I've got it on my to watch list.

I'm currently reading Russian Silhouettes that I started yesterday by Genna Sosonko, Russian/Dutch GM. This tells of his break from the old Soviet system in 1972 and details such personal stories and observations from his friendships with great players such as Botvinnik and Tal.

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You might be able to get it on Ebay, I've managed to get some out of print books from there.

Years ago one of my colleagues played chess at fairly high level and he had a postal game going with someone who'd moved to work in another part of the organisation. Every time the internal post collector came round he would drop off a reply from the guy or take one with him. Being young and innocent we were both left-wing but my colleague was forced to re-evaluate his thinking when he was sent to Russia for some weeks by the company. However, it didn't diminish his enthusiasm for Botvinnik who at the time, as far as I can remember, was pioneering computer chess. One of the sayings about Botvinnik that I like is this one from Euwe:

Where dangers threaten from every side and the smallest slackening of attention might be fatal; in a position which requires a nerve of steel and intense concentration - Botvinnik is in his element. - Max Euwe