Larry Evans on chess: Marcel Duchamp’s vexing problemAugust 10, 2008 “There is no solution, because there is no problem,” quipped Marcel Duchamp. In a recent issue of The Sienese Shredder, Francis Neumann discussed this diagram composed by Duchamp for a New York exhibition in 1943. Many years ago Neumann also submitted it to my column […]
Chess is vanity
Chess: Larry EvansJuly 13, 2008http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ “Chess is vanity,” declared Alexander Alekhine, who wrested the crown from Jose Capablanca in 1927. Indeed, chess players are seldom afflicted with humility. Capablanca once refused to pose with a film star, saying: “Why should I give HER publicity?” He couldn’t raise the purse for a rematch with Alekhine in […]
Gens Una Sumus
Chess by Larry EvansJune 29, 2008 Gens Una Sumus — we are all one — is the motto of FIDE, the world chess body. Yet the tradition that chess should be above politics eroded during the Cold War. At the 1974 Chess Olympiad in France, each team signed a pledge to play against any other […]
What Bobby Fischer lost
Chess by Larry Evans: What Bobby Fischer lostJune 15, 2008 Bobby Fischer wrested the title of World Chess Champion from Boris Spassky in 1972 at age 29, but his refusal to defend it against Anatoly Karpov in 1975 was disastrous. Most fans expected him to win and wondered if he was crazy for spurning millions […]
5-time US Champion
GM Larry Evans analyzing games from the players at the 2008 Las Vegas Chess Festival Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tal’s cherished dream
Chess by Larry EvansJune 1, 2008 “My cherished dream was to play a match with the World Champion,” wrote Latvia’s Mikhail Tal. In 1960, at 24, he wrested the crown from Soviet icon Mikhail Botvinnik, 49, a wily survivor of the Stalin era who had reigned on and off since 1948. Tal won their first […]
Understanding, not memory
Larry Evans on ChessMay 18, 2008www.sun-sentinel.com Books on the opening often stifle originality. It’s unhealthy to start by 1 d4 with our mind grooved to play 2 c4 on the next move against almost any reply by black. Chess requires understanding, not memory. I’m amused when I hear amateurs moan they can’t win because their […]
More witchcraft than chess?
Chess by Larry EvansApril 6, 2008 In 1964, a few months before turning 15, Bobby Fischer won the U.S. Championship with a perfect 11-0, a feat unrivaled in history. I was his runner-up at 7½-3½, which usually might qualify for first prize. A noted critic quipped that Fischer won the exhibition but Evans won the […]
Ringside seats at chess event
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.comChess: Ringside seats at 20th International Chess Festival, GermanyMarch 23, 2008By GM Larry EvansFive-time U.S. chess champion and nationally syndicated chess writer Chess may be a quiet pocket of beauty in a noisy world, yet few chess events have ideal playing conditions. Masters must learn to cope with distractions when they compete in […]
Book review by IM Anthony Saidy
THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESSAuthor: Larry EvansCardoza Publishing (2007)204 pagespb$9.95 Reviewed by Anthony Saidy Chess columnists in the mainstream press have for over a century been bulwarks of the game. If they are to attract new chess devotees, then besides the usual games and positions to solve, they ought to write well and supply human […]