Posted October 7, 2015 in Literature, Reviews

Chess Informant 125 is a Game Changer

Chess Informant is a publication that I look forward to getting in the mail several times a year. Yesterday after clearing up some delivery problems (forgot to update my address when we moved over the summer) I received the latest volume: Chess Informant 125 Enigma. Also known as Informant, this periodical is not like any other chess magazine out there. It skips the drama and the social elements that surround the fame of being a top chess player and focuses attention to the action on the board. Various articles cover topics such as openings, tactics, strategy, and key moments in the top tournaments from around the world.

Informant 125 introduces some small changes that many people might not notice, but those of us who relish in the advancement of the digital chess age appreciate them. For Informant, one of its main selling points with customers is the universal nature of access to its information. It is available in print form (pictured above), download in Chessbase and PGN formats, or a combination of the two. The Chessbase format enables users to browse the articles and play through the games using many of the same tools utilized in Chessbase Magazine. The PGN files open up the articles to any platform with a basic PGN viewer. For me, that is perfect because I enjoy reading in each of the formats, but the mobile nature of my work makes reading the articles on iOS much more convenient for me. Why is CI 125 so different? It all has to do with the formatting…

In previous editions, all of the games and articles came in a single PGN file which required foreknowledge of the magazine’s layout. In CI 125 the creative minds in Serbia have divided the digital edition into multiple PGN files that are separated exactly like the content in the print edition. This may not seem like much, but it completely eliminates the guesswork for anyone wanting to access CI 125 from a standard PGN reader. In addition, the Chessbase version has also been subdivided into categories that mirror the print edition.

Because Informant carries so much information it can be overwhelming at times. These small changes are effective game changers because it subdivides the information into digital categories that make it much easier to access, analyze, and digest.

Personally I enjoy reading the print edition and playing through on my travel set, but playing along in Chessbase or a PGN viewer is a great way to quickly explore variations or to try new ideas along with the professional analysis in the magazine. For the digital chess fan CI 125 is a great way to get started with the periodical. The universal access of the information eliminates many of the proprietary boundaries that limit the audiences of publications like Chessbase Magazine.

Exploring the Master Class – Bobby Fischer

Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen hold much higher ELO ratings and have won more World Championships than he ever did, but Bobby Fischer is still considered one of the greatest chess players in history. This is due in large part to his absolute domination of the chess world and his single-handed defeat of the Soviet chess machine in 1972. Some of us, who grew up hearing the stories of Bobby and watching the world as the Cold War came to an end attribute the fall of the Soviet Union to cultural icons such as Bobby Fischer and Rocky Balboa to winning the war more than politics or diplomacy. Bobby’s victory that year in Iceland was as much a Cold War event as the Cuban Missile Crisis because the honor and intellectual supremacy of each nation. These days, you would be hard-pressed to find a hobby or club-level chess player that has not studied Bobby’s games and game theory. His depth of knowledge on openings and his talent in the endgame remain legendary among the world’s top players. His book My 60 Memorable Games (download games: PGN | ChessBase) is a staple in most chess player’s libraries.

To take things to the next level, ChessBase has a special DVD called Master Class: Bobby Fischer. Featuring five hours of video instruction from world-class chess players such as GM Dorian Rogozenco, GM Mihail Marin, IM Oliver Reeh, and GM Karsten Mueller. The DVD covers almost ever aspect of Fischer’s games including extensive insight on opening preparations, tactics, strategy, and deep analysis of his endgame. As with all ChessBase DVDs, the course is interactive with a responsive chessboard and notation to keep the viewer engrossed in the world of Bobby Fischer’s chess. The tactics on the DVD are presented as interactive puzzles that provide responsive feedback to help sharpen your game and bring Fischer’s games to life.

The Good

There is a lot to love about this DVD. ChessBase has long been a pioneer in developing interactive software and the integration with the ChessBase database software or the reader software is excellent. I use ChessBase 12 for my analysis and DVD play, but the free ChessBase Reader software will allow anyone with a windows computer to use Master Class: Bobby Fischer without having to own the full ChessBase Software.

The instruction on the DVD is first-rate. There is a wealth of information ranging from the cross tables and tournament information to a full biographical history on Bobby Fischer. All of this comes together to bring the user a comprehensive picture of Bobby Fischer as a man and as a chess player. In addition to the training, there is an exclusive database included with the software that holds all of Bobby Fischer’s games along with many additional cross tables and annotations. Perhaps one of my favorite features in the software are the trees. Fischer’s games as black and white have been divided into two book trees that can be reviewed and analyzed using the ChessBase software. This is a valuable resource for someone wanting to explore the themes in Bobby’s games.

The Bad

Because of the diverse nature of the chess world, I try to give as much leeway as possible when reviewing a product. Therefore, many things that others may call annoyances or problems with a piece of software, book, or DVD, can often be attributed to a simple cultural, language, or other variation. In Master Class: Bobby Fischer, the only drawback I could find comes in the form of the opening analysis with GM Dorian Rogozenco. Although that part of the DVD is supposed to be an in-depth look at Bobby Fischer’s openings, GM Rogozenco skips most of the moves and proceeds directly to where the opening transitions more into the middle game. He does comment on the fast moves in these game reviews by stating that these are easy moves and that they have been made hundreds of times, but dismissing many of these opening moves, regardless of how mundane it may seem, does devalue the lesson in some respects. Bobby Fischer was a master of chess openings and I believe that more attention should have been paid to why he chose to play certain openings and opening variations.

Back to Class

Master Class: Bobby Fischer is an excellent product for anyone interested in chess history, the story of Bobby Fischer’s games and his life, or a person looking to expand their knowledge and skill at chess. This five hour DVD includes some invaluable knowledge and insight into Bobby’s thinking that could possibly change the way that you view and play the game of kings.

Posted January 4, 2015 in Literature, Movies

Life and the Luzhin Defense

In the 1930s, the world was entering into a time of upheaval. The Soviet Revolution had solidified itself into the lives of the Russian people and Germany was in the midst of economic transitions that would give way to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Among the turmoil, Russian author Vladimir Nabokov was inspired by the life of his friend, Curt von Bardeleben, a chess master who died after falling out of a window in 19241, to pen a story for a Russian quarterly. Some people believe that if Nabokov had not written his 1955 masterpiece, Lolita, that his 1930 work for the quarterly, called The Defense, would be known today as his greatest work. Most chess players are familiar with the book, which was republished years later as The Luzhin Defense or by the film of the same name starring John Turturro, and opinions vary widely. The purpose of this entry is to examine The Luzhin Defense and its portrayal of life, love, and the stereotype of chess madness.

The premise of the Luzhin Defense is that Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, the book’s protagonist, grows up in a high class family with exceptional education opportunities, but his homely appearance and lack of academic ability quickly earn him disdain from his family until it is discovered that he was born with a significant aptitude for chess. The novel and the movie portray this aptitude as a double-edged sword: Luzhin’s ability to play propels him to fame as a world-class chess player, but his obsession with the game is a hindrance to his social life and his ability to establish dynamic and meaningful connections with other people. This becomes most apparent when the father of Luzhin’s prospective bride makes a spontaneous “small talk” inquiry about the difficulty of playing chess. Luzhin’s calm and distant demeanor shifts to excitement as he arranges tabletop items into chess patterns and explains his thoughts and feelings about key opening moves. The father is obviously overwhelmed by the information and attempts to dismiss Luzhin’s ranting by playing off his words with a simple response, “Yes, a fascinating and difficult thing, this chess.”2 The scene appears in the book and the film and is a brutally honest evaluation of the public’s most typical perception of chess players. The game is viewed unfortunately viewed by many as a trivial pursuit3, and much more so during Luzhin’s era than today. For example, there are photos of Bobby Fischer, Paul Morphy, Alexander Alekhine, and other great chess players along with chess boards and art representing the game scattered throughout my office at work. While there are some serious chess players in my hospital, most people enter the room and look at the chess memorabilia in a way that clearly says, Look at the cute chess pieces, and belies the depth of meaning these items convey to me and so many others. The social challenges faced by Luzhin off the chess board are something that most players can relate to, but the stigma of chess madness is the epicenter of division of opinions on the merits of The Luzhin Defense.

Chess and the Psychosis Factor

It is said that life often imitates art, with most film and literature about chess emphasizing the social awkwardness and psychosis that accompany some of the greatest chess minds in history. Paul Morphy and Bobby Fischer are as famous for their mental collapses as they are for their chess brilliance. After leaving highly publicized and successful chess careers, each of them succumbed to unusual behavioral patterns that indicated possible psychosis and eventually died in exile. I mention possible psychosis because neither player was ever formally given a psychiatric diagnosis. Unfortunately for modern chess, Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen may not be widely known outside the world of chess unless they suffer a significant psychological break or are involved in some form of controversy. Instead of chess greatest, the world tends to remember chess devastation and disappointment such as Bobby Fischer’s disappearance after his 1972 World Championship victory. Some people would consider this a chess-specific problem, but most professional baseball players are unknown outside of their home markets unless they commit a crime. The difficulty for many chess players with The Luzhin Defense is that it seems to perpetuate many of the stereotypes connecting chess players and psychosis because as it was with Morphy and Fischer, Luzhin meets an untimely end in the book’s final pages.

It is difficult to peer through the bias and prejudice that some people may have about the stereotypes The Luzhin Defense to see the story for what it is: the authentic psychological condition and experiences of a man whose life was held together by chess. Chess often carries the stigma that it drives its players insane, but the story of Luzhin’s life seems more like that of Morphy and Fischer in that chess was the force that held his life together. In times of chaos, people will search desperately for a way to control the world around them. Control is an illusion in itself, but a person experiencing a perceived loss of total control can become depressed or psychotic if the condition is left untreated. In the case of Alexander Luzhin, chess was the lifeblood that held his world together. He was unable to reconcile his physician’s instructions to give up the one thing that formed the fabric of his universe. Chess creates obsession in its players for various reasons, but Luzhin’s obsession had nothing to do with simple aesthetics or competition. Instead, chess represented a deeply philosophical and existential paradigm in his life. This depth of knowledge and experience within the game itself is why the love of chess has persisted throughout civilization for centuries. It is believed that chess originated as a way for military commanders to simulate battle line movements in combat4 and has been applied far beyond the military to finances and social networking. It is this apparent universalism and beautiful complexity that has cemented chess in the world’s psyche as a deeply intellectual and multidimensional game. Chess was the only thing that Luzhin had ever learned to control in his life. We may never know for sure if this was the case for Morphy or Fischer, but once Luzhin was ordered by physicians to stop playing chess or risk dying as a result, he found new ways to integrate chessic thinking into his everyday life. A simple “Hello” to a passerby could be represented by a pawn to e4, or a cordial meeting could be represented by a Knight to f3.

The Heart of a Woman

There are many fascinating parts of The Luzhin Defense story and its characters, but I believe that none are as fascinating as the unnamed young lady who marries Luzhin and becomes his rock of support through his downward spiral. It is safe to say that the story is less about chess and more about the human spirit of love and compassion in the face of hopelessness. Mrs. Luzhin, as she is referred to through the second half of the book, is arguably one of the most patient and devoted women in the history of literature. Despite Luzhin’s odd behavior and his obsession with chess, she remains a passionate and dedicated wife. In a sense, Mrs. Luzhin represents the unconditional love that only comes from the deepest and most personal place in our hearts. While most people would probably have discarded Luzhin, her open heart accepted his faults because she saw more in him as a person and recognized the elegance of a soul buried under decades of torment and despair. For a man who has known this kind of love from a woman, the story is intoxicating. For a man who yearns for this kind of love from a woman, the story is viciously inspiring. I wholeheartedly believe that if we as a people can believe the story of Alexander Luzhin’s psychosis through chess without blinking an eye, we can accept the unconditional love of a woman in the same manner. It is Mrs. Luzhin whose kindness and devotion reminds us that when the world is spiraling out of control, there is no safer place than in the heart of someone who loves us.

Are We Crazy or What?

Alexander Luzhin was probably crazy. Paul Morphy was probably crazy. Bobby Fischer was probably crazy. You are probably crazy. I am probably crazy. Do you see a pattern emerging? In some aspects, psychosis is in the eye of the beholder since what might be crazy in one culture or setting is perfectly normal in another setting. There are a growing multitude of examples where chess has proven to increase aptitudes in math and science and to help deter early onset dementia. I find it difficult to believe that chess itself is responsible for psychosis such as seen in Alexander Luzhin. Moreover, I believe that Luzhin already suffered from a psychiatric condition and that chess was a vehicle that provided him the ability to control that psychosis. Maybe someday a comprehensive study will be conducted into the development of psychiatric conditions and chess, but until then these stories will continue to exist only in the realm of conjecture, urban legend, and first-class fiction.


  1. Lasker, Edward (1951). Chess Secrets I Learned from the Masters, pp. 20-21, in the section on Curt von Bardeleben. New York, 1951. Retrieved from http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter55.html 

  2. Vladimir Nabokov, The Luzhin Defense (New York, NY: Vintage International, 1964), Kindle, Location 1407. 

  3. Ibid, Location 1293. 

  4. David Shenk, The Immortal Game: A History of Chess (New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006), Kindle, Location 295.