Shelby Lyman on Chess: Impressive Performance by the Norwegian Wunderkind Sunday, December 22, 2013 The road to the world chess championship for 22-year-old Magnus Carlsen has been without the sturm and drang experienced by many past world champions. The...
Carlsen seems to play without fear of losing
Shelby Lyman on Chess: No Place to Hide Sunday, December 8, 2013 We have turned a page in chess history. Magnus Carlsen’s crushing victory over Viswanathan Anand in their world title match in Chennai, India ushers in a new...
False chess perception
Shelby Lyman on Chess: A Misleading Mystique Sunday, November 17, 2013 (Published in print: Sunday, November 17, 2013) People are intimidated by chess. “I don’t play,” more than one adult has told me. “I think the game is too difficult.”...
Use your time wisely
Shelby Lyman on Chess: Standing Around Sunday, October 20, 2013 Sports and games vary across the spectrum in their intensity. Competitive chess, despite its cerebral nature, is one of most intense and demanding. It has virtually no downtime. From...
Chess by Shelby Lyman
Chess / By Shelby Lyman on September 1, 2013 – 3:03 PM The game of chess seems to be made for gentlemen. But the struggle that ensues is often fierce and prolonged. It is not unusual for a tournament...
Fischer’s chess precocity
ChessBy Shelby LymanIn retrospect, Bobby Fischer’s chess precocity was mind-boggling. In 1958 at 15 he was the world’s youngest grandmaster. If we look at his early recorded games we encounter evidence of a remarkably mature approach to playing chess....
What is genius?
Chess / By Shelby Lyman on June 29, 2013 – 8:08 AM What is genius? It is an edifice built of solitude. Our inner spirit drives it forth. So it was with the young Boris Spassky, who recounted, as...
Setting the opponent up for the “kill”
Sports, including chess, have an obviously primitive aspect. By Shelby Lyman Setting the opponent up for the “kill” is a common procedure. In life itself, it is possible to compromise. But in most sports most of the time, it’s either...
In his own class
What comes after Olympus? Updated: 02/15/2013, 05:35 PM Chess / By Shelby Lyman Magnus Carlsen is only 22 years old. But even when listed among the greatest chess players ever, he seems in a class of his own. Where...
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Games offer practice in conquering fearSaturday January 26, 2013 9:55 AM “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Depression-era Americans in 1933. The sentiment has been expressed by many other people....