A mirror into the soul of chess

Indian Proverb: Chess is a sea in which a gnat may bathe and an elephant may drink.

A powerful new voice has arisen in the world of chess literature. Howard Burton is an independent film maker and author. He is the Brain behind the new book: Chessays: Travels through the world of chess and creator of the companion four part documentary: Through the Mirror of Chess – A cultural exploration. Howard is a true, very well informed and incisive intellectual, holding a PhD in physics and an MA in philosophy and now lives in France. He thus neatly bridges the gap between C. P. Snow’s notorious two cultures, Science and The Humanities.

I am delighted to see that both Burton’s book and his film reflect many of the concerns covered in my columns for TheArticle. I like to think that this confluence confirms the old adage about “great minds” and I am indeed, to declare a modest interest, an interviewee in one of the filmed sections.

Areas of mutual interest include: the chess connections with Shakespeare, Goethe (tenuous) Leonardo da Vinci (even more tenuous) and Marcel Duchamp; the serial corruption of FIDÉ, the world chess federation; chess in schools; the devaluation of the world chess championship; gender problems in chess, a quagmire over which gnats may skim, but elephants risk sinking, a swamp which has already claimed such pachydermic Titans as Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short. Other topics in common include chess in prisons (with a favourable nod to the English Chess Federation’s Director of Prisons chess, Carl Portman); chess and IQ; chess and AI; chess and dictators, such as Napoleon and the Great Chess of Tamburlaine. Other favourable nods go to the majestic sweep of chess historians, HJR Murray and Richard Eales, with some criticism of my old friend, the late Yuri Averbakh, but with even a passing compliment to that Autolycus of chess history, Edward Winter.

My contribution laments the lost Bohemianism of the old masters, echoed by Burton’s own cri de coeur for the vanished nobility of Paul Morphy. There is, though, still some hope for the Bohemian Brigade, in the appearance of Hans Niemann, who defies the current trend of youthful nice guys who populate the upper echelons of the chess ladder.

There also remains one (at least) unresolved question. The Armenian conundrum: Armenia can boast one world champion, Tigran Petrosian; their government appears to be chess crazy; Armenia has a fabulous record in the chess Olympiads and chess has been introduced as a topic in Armenian school curricula. So why has Armenia’s strongest player, top Grandmaster Lev Aronian, left the country and embraced the flag of “e pluribus unum“, as the Wizard of Oz describes the USA?

Something has clearly gone awry and the question deserves further analysis. A few morsels to whet appetites follow, in the words of Burton himself:

“…the ventures I’ve embarked upon, both in book or film form, typically straddle the insider/outsider line”.

Howard and Irena Burton launched the multimedia initiative Ideas Roadshow a little more than a decade ago.

“The initial focus was on making frontline academic research accessible to a broad audience while at the same time capturing the inspirations and personal journeys behind the research through carefully-edited, long-format conversations. Over the years they have developed a wide range of award-winning pedagogical resources for both universities and schools but the focus has shifted a few years ago to produce ideas-driven documentary films on a wide range of fascinating topics for a broad general audience. Through the Mirror of Chess: A Cultural Exploration is our second such project.”

“Howard Burton adds the following, “ As I wrote in the introduction to Chessays – the related book of essays that, together with the films, makes up the entire project – I’ve long been intrigued by chess. Not so much as a competitive player, but more in the sense of being captivated by the beauty and artistry of the game, which had long struck me as curiously unique. I had also been aware, although naturally relatively dimly compared to what I have become aware of after having plunged into the chess world, of chess’ remarkably broad socio-cultural impact, which made me think that it would be an intriguing focal point for such inquiries.”

There was also one other thing that I didn’t write about in Chessays, but was lingering in my mind: the potential sociological impact that the game might have.

“The target audience is a very general one, including both chess aficionados who are keen to be exposed to a comprehensive contextual survey of chess and a general non-chess playing audience (or not particularly intensely chess-playing audience) interested in broader cultural issues. A subtext of the project is that games are a particularly valuable—and often overlooked/underutilized—window on both past and present societies, and that, due to its particularly influential and long history, chess is a paradigmatic example of this key idea. As such, our hope and expectation is that there will be much there for all curious people, and hopefully all can take away something from the experience that makes them think a bit differently about many aspects of games and societies, as well as the impact of chess in particular.”

That very same target audience, effectively the global chess community, if inclusive of subscribers to online platforms, would place it equal with The Philippines, in population terms: 116 million!

Anyone salivated by the wholesome feast laid out can find more information at https://ideasroadshow.com/chessays/about the book and https://ideasroadshow.com/chess/ for the film series..

Prices are as follows:

For the book:
Paperback: £12.99
Hardcover: £20.99
Electronic format: £7.99

For the film series:

(Pricing will be automatically converted into different currencies:)
One-week rental of the full series: $9.99 USD
Purchase of the full series: $19.99 USD

For further delectation, two games by the mercurial genius Paul Morphy, who would have undoubtedly appreciated the wide ambit of the Burton venture? Here was a man who believed in challenging himself; after all other challenges had been dispensed with.

The first was played in a blindfolded simultaneous display: Paul Morphy vs Celso Golmayo Zupide

Morphy ceased completely after 1869 and in his very last games he insisted on giving knight odds, so White’s QN must be removed from the board before play commences. One example is the following miniature: Paul Morphy vs Charles Maurian

Raymond Keene’s latest book “Fifty Shades of Ray: Chess in the year of the Coronavirus”, containing some of his best pieces from TheArticle, is now available from Blackwell’s. His 206th book, Chess in the Year of the King, with a foreword by The Article contributor Patrick Heren, and written in collaboration with former Reuters chess correspondent, Adam Black, is in preparation. It will be published later this year.

 

A Message from TheArticle

We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout these hard economic times. So please, make a donation.