The following are excerpts by the Telegraph columnist Nigel Short. The
links given below each section lead to the full stories. Note that you have
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Nigel Short on the virtues of slavery
23.11.2003 Pharaonic Egypt and Periclean Athens were great civilisations built
on the firm foundation of slavery. Regrettably, bondage - of at least that
variety - has gone out of fashion these days, and even indentured labour is
considered to be somewhat morally repugnant. But I ask you, how is one supposed
to produce monumental architecture and think philosophically if one also has
to do the shopping, clean the house and mow the lawn? A bit of home help certainly
does not come amiss – a point ignored by those myopic 19th-century Christian
abolitionists. Most of the higher things in life require total dedication.
Chess is no different. Indeed, the game is so profound and complex that teamwork
is far more likely to succeed than solitary endeavour. Thus, over the years
I have employed all manner of coaches, trainers, seconds and analysts to assist
me in my preparation. Some have been good, some have been not so good, some
have been industrious, some have been bone-idle, but they have all required
gentle handling and payment. Finally I have found a helper who answers almost
all my needs!
He doesn't eat and he doesn't sleep and is therefore very economical. I can
abuse him, give him the most humiliating and degrading tasks, and he sets about
them uncomplainingly. As to his ability? Well, he also has just about the sharpest
tactical vision of anyone I know. Recently a close relative of my silicon slave,
Fritz, played a match against Garry Kasparov, which he drew 2-2. He held the
first game comfortably despite having a dodgy position an exchange down. In
the second game he shuffled around aimlessly waiting for Garry to blunder,
which the great man duly did. In the third my silicon friend lost in a way
that only computers know how.
The fourth was a very sharp but short draw - a result that neither camp would
have been averse to, given the lucrative prospect of a rematch and another
massive dose of publicity.
Nigel Short on a Tony Miles hagiography
30.11.2003: Some reading recommendations for your Christmas stocking. First,
Tony Miles: It’s only Me – compiled by Geoff Lawton (Batsford,
£17.99). Tony was a giant figure in British chess and his death, at the
age of 46, was a terrible loss. The book is a warm and heartfelt tribute to
the highly idiosyncratic grandmaster. As a hagiography,
one cannot fault it. Indeed, there is ample testimony that Tony could be charming
to – and was admired by – those who posed him not the slightest
threat.
As a biography however, the book is glaringly deficient – unless you
think that Tony’s well-documented mental illness was not worth mentioning.
Tony was insanely jealous of my success, and his inability to accept that he
was no longer Britain’s number one was an indication of, if not a trigger
for, his descent into madness. His first psychiatric internment came in 1987,
and he was in and (usually) out of institutions for the remainder of his days.
Thankfully, there was much more to him than that.
As a writer he was usually witty, irreverent and often educational. He was
impossible to ignore, whether one was on the sharp end of his tongue (as in
my case) or not.
Secrets of Opening Surprises by Jeroen Bosch (New in Chess, £14.95)
is a refreshing change from the usual dreary technical works and is definitely
not for the bovine. His recommendations are a mixed bag: some are good, some
are pretty awful. All are original or, at the very least, unusual. Nevertheless,
Bosch is someone who clearly thinks about his chess, a quality that distinguishes
him from 99 per cent of authors.
Which brings me to Bobby Fischer Rediscovered by the prolific author,
Andrew Soltis (Batsford, £15.99). It is not a totally original work but
I doubt whether most readers have seen Fischer's fascinating annotations from
American Chess Quarterly, Chess Life or Boy's Life – the magazine of
the American boy scouts. Soltis sorts, selects, and adds his own clear perspective.
There are times when he disagrees with Fischer's analysis although in general
he is suitably deferential.
Nigel Short on the dangers of chess travel
16.11.2003 Travelling to chess tournaments can be a distinctly unhealthy affair,
as I discovered after being laid low by a rancid fish curry on a simultaneous
exhibition tour of Malaysia last year. I was so ill that I had to be taken
to the doctor in a wheelchair because I was physically unable to stand up.
After returning home to Egypt from last month’s African Games in Abuja,
Nigeria, Esam Aly Ahmed, a 38-year-old International Master ranked sixth in
his country, dropped dead from cerebral malaria. The 60-year-old head of delegation
did likewise the following day. The disease, which requires urgent treatment,
had not been detected in time.
Another Egyptian talent, IM Ahmed Adly, whom I played in Tripoli earlier this
year, fared somewhat better. Ironically, he was saved because he travelled
straight from Nigeria to Greece, to participate in the World Youth Championship.
A sharp-eyed doctor spotted Adly’s parlous condition during the first
round and immediately whisked him off to Thessaloniki’s Special Diseases
Hospital. His coach, Hassan Khaled, was admitted the next day. This poor gentleman
had suffered the additional indignity of having been bitten by a scorpion in
Abuja. Thankfully, both of them have now recovered fully from their terrible
ordeal.