|
Chessville
logo by
ChessPrints
Advertise
with
Chessville!!
Advertise to
thousands
of
chess
fans
for
as little
as $25.
Single insert:
$35
x4 insert:
@ $25 each.
From the
Chessville
Chess Store
From the
Chessville
Chess Store
|
20 QuestionsInterviews
with the Movers and Shakers of the Chess World
We like to play here at Chessville, and not only chess!
Join us, as we play 20 Questions with some of the movers and
shakers of the chess world. Hear their views on chess affairs, both
current and past, along with their thoughts on the future.
Our partners are not only players, but also chess
organizers, arbiters, politicians, and sponsors. Here are interviews
with...
GM Joel
Lautier
of the Association of Chess Professionals
 (December
2003) GM Joel Lautier, former World Junior Champion (1988), is
currently ranked #32 in the latest FIDE rating list at 2666, and is a
founding member of the Association of Chess Professionals. GM Lautier
recently agreed to play 20 Questions with Chessville. "I'd like to state
the obvious: the professional chess world is currently in a complete mess.
Matches for the reunification have been announced and cancelled several
times over the past year by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The
final result looks like a joke..."
GM Mark Taimanov
(April 2004) International Grandmaster Mark Taimanov
was one of the best chess-players in the world for more than half a
century. He was twice a World Championship Challenger (1953, 1971), Chess
Olympiad World Champion (1956), four times the European champion, World
Champion among students (1955), twice the Senior World Champion (1993,
1994), USSR Champion (1956), and the winner and/or prizewinner in more than
80 international tournaments. Taimanov is the author of more than 20 books
on the theory and practice of chess, and has been published in many
different countries and languages.
Taimanov's parallel career as a concert pianist was also of
world-class stature. He and his long-time partner, Lyubov Bruk, were
recognized as the best piano ensemble of the Twentieth century, and were
included in the series "Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century" by the
Philips and Steinway companies.
|
Chessville is both fortunate and honored to have been
joined in preparing these first two interviews by
Dr. William Hyde, who previously wrote for the now defunct Kasparov
Chess site..
Dr. Hyde is currently a research scientist at Duke University.
In the past seventeen years he has held academic or research positions
at Goddard Space Flight Center, Dalhousie University, and Texas A&M
University.
Chess history has interested him "ever since he noticed that Staunton
won quite a few matches without, according to Horowitz, Chernev, et al,
really knowing how the pieces moved. Into his then-young mind came the
thought that perhaps chess history books tended to be slightly less than
reliable. This inspired a change in his chess-related reading, so
that he now knows more about, e.g. Lasker than about Lasker's defense." |
USCF President Beatriz
Marinello
(June 2004) USCF PResident Beatriz Marinello is the first woman to
hold that post, and the strongest chess player to hold the post since GM Max
Dlugy. A National Woman's Champion of Chile, her native country, at
age 16, she became an WIM in 1985. She started organizing chess events
at the age of 20, and befcame involved in promoting Scholastic Chess in
1991. She takes over the righns of the USCF at a crossroads in the
organization's future. Decreasing membership, financial instability,
controversy ofer the selection of the Women's Olympiad team - she has plenty
on her plate these days. Chessville appreciates her taking time to
play 20 Questions!
GM Susan Polgar
(July 2004)
GM Susan Polgar, 4-time World Chess Champion and 3-time Olympic Champion,
and a living legend in the chess world, despite her still young age.
The list of her achievements and firsts in chess is truly impressive, not
the least of which is being the only World Champion (male or female) to win the
Triple-Crown in Chess: Rapid, Blitz and Standard Time Control World
Championships. See what she has to say on topics like: her
upbringing, her goals and aspirations for promoting chess, training with
the World's #1 Garry Kasparov, the state of chess (and chess politics!)
in the US, training secrets, the use of technology in chess, and much
more.
Taylor Kingston
For the past several years, Taylor Kingston has been a frequent contributor
to chess literature, as a reviewer, reporter, analyst, author of historical
articles, and book editor. His book credits include Heroic Tales:
The Best of ChessCafe.com 1996-2001, which he edited and
co-wrote, and The Life and Games of Carlos Torre by Gabriel Velasco,
which he translated from Spanish. An avid student of chess history,
his historical articles have appeared in Chess Life, Inside Chess,
Kingpin, and Chess Horizons, and his many book reviews at
www.chesscafe.com have earned him a reputation for both fairness and
stern candor. He has ranked among USCF’s top 50 correspondence
masters, and is a Class A OTB player. A native of San Diego,
California (born 1949), Kingston now lives in Vermont with his wife and two
daughters, and works as a computer programmer in the banking industry.
Tim Krabbé
It was some years ago that I had first had
the pleasure of discovering Tim Krabbé ’s wonderful Chess Curiosities site
at
http://www.timkrabbe.nl/chess. What a wealth of information!
Problems, studies, games, comments on current chess events ~ all instructive
and entertaining, and often provocative. Like Tim Krabbé himself. Tim
Krabbé writes of himself: Born 13 April 1943, writer, chess lover, former bicycle racer.
Claim to fame in cycling: my novel The Rider. Claim to fame in
chess: my web-site Chess Curiosities.
Good friend & ex-wife Liz gave me 1 son: Esra (17) who speaks, understands,
reads and writes Japanese fluently. Hats off! For more, see
http://www.timkrabbe.nl/text/bibleng.html or
http://www.timkrabbe.nl/chess/bio.htm.
GM Maurice Ashley
|
 |
Born
March 6, 1966 in St. Andrew, Jamaica, Maurice's family moved to Brooklyn
when he was 12. He is the first and only African-American to attain
chess’ highest title of International Grandmaster. Active in many
different areas of chess promotion now, Ashley remains dedicated to
promoting chess with children. Find out who motivates him, what
challenges he faced as a pioneering Black chess player in the USA, the
latest in his fight against the so-called "GM-draw", what he thinks
needs to change for the US to produce more home-grown GMs, and what he
thinks is really going to make the difference in chess. |
GM András Adorján
|
This fascinating interview with the famous author of Black Is OK! runs
nearly 15,000 words! Former World Championship Candidate, he was also
European Junior Champion and finished 2nd behind Anatoli Karpov at the World
Junior Championship in 1969. Read in Part One
what he has to say about working as second to Kasparov & Leko, China's
emergence as a world chess power, short draws, the world championship, and
teaching chess to young people, among other topics. In
Part Two,
GM Adorján expounds on such subjects as the state of chess in his
native Hungary, his Black is OK! philosophy, match preparation,
the Elo system, chess psychology, plans for the future, and more,
including two of his poems! |
 |
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
|
 |
Alexandra was officially awarded the GM (men's) title at
the 2004 FIDE Congress.
She is the 10th woman in history to
get that title, and the first Russian. She recently became the 2005 Russian Woman's Champion
with an incredible result or 9/11. Chessville appreciates
Alexandra's willingness to play 20 Questions with us! Read what
she has to say about childhood heroes, her twin careers as GM &
Super-Model, the tension of playing against male chessplayers, family
and more! |
GM Raymond Keene
| GM Keene has been an influential figure
on the world chess scene for over thirty years, as a player, organizer,
and author. Read about smuggling secrets
past the KGB, see what he thinks about the "modern" game of chess, his
most-feared opponent, and why Kasparov dominated chess for so long.
Find out his prediction for which country will soon surpass Russia as
the dominate chess power in the world, the critical challenge facing
FIDE, and what he found amidst a cache of chess materiel discovered at
the home of Marcel Duchamp, in France. |
 |
Bessel
Kok
| The FIDE Presidential Candidate is interviewed by Phil
Innes. Learn Kok's views on the fairness of the current election
process; his opponent and whether or not he has ever been up in a space
ship, as Kirsan Ilyumzhinov claims to have been. Regarding ideas
of a breakaway organization, Kok says, "Whatever the result of the
outcome of the election, FIDE has to undergo major surgery in its
management team. I think Kirsan already has started to understand this."
Plans for the World Championship system are in the planning stages,
learn who is helping Bessel with that! All this and much more, as
Chessville plays 20 Questions with Bessel
Kok! |
 |
Paul Truong
 Mr. Paul Truong,
Vice President, Susan Polgar Foundation, interviewed by Phil Innes, et al.
"When the interviewee agreed to Answer a set of Questions, a surprise
factor was not revealed to him! He might recognize a few names of the
questioners below, who all recognize his own achievements in chess and ask
correspondingly serious questions about the evolution of our game.
Many of the questions in this interview concern issues which are difficult,
and responses equally so, to the extent that the judgment of Solomon or Lao
Tzu is necessary to answer: nevertheless we honor Mr. Truong in asking him
to address critical factors in especially scholastic chess in the USA for
the C21st..." |
Rick Kennedy
 Author.
Reviewer. Jerome Gambit true believer. Chessville plays 20
Questions with Mr. Kennedy on the occasion of the publication of his 100th
review for us here at Chessville. Rick has also written a number of
pieces of chess-themed fiction which we have featured here, including hiw
best known series -
The Kennedy
Kids: Mary Elizabeth, Jon & Matt.
Of himself, Rick writes, "I’m a 56 year old social worker, counseling
families at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. My wife
of 31 years, Libby, is a school psychologist with the city schools. We
have three children: Matt, Mary and Jon..." Of course, The Kids.
Read the entire interview, and learn more about this great friend of
Chessville's, and my favorite author - Mr. Rick Kennedy. |
Mr. Paul Truong (again!)
|
(3/2/2008)
Interview: Chessville once again
plays 20 Questions with USCF Executive
Board Member Paul Truong. Last year USCF's members
overwhelmingly elected Paul Truong, and several other new members, to their
Board, presumably in the hopes of reforming what was seen as a dysfunctional
organization. Since then there have been even more accusations and
lawsuits, and little seems to be happening in the way of actually promoting
chess in the US. Recently we invited Paul Truong, who seems to be at
the center of the storm, to talk about what is really going on, and his
views on chess promotion in the US. Phil Innes directs the questions,
with input from the Chessville Editorial team. |
GM Michael Adams
|
Chessville interviews the famous English GM,
including some surprise contributions from three Grandmasters, The
English Chess Federation, Chessville's own Forum Members, and a
Cornish Grandmother! See what 'Mickey' has to say about the
value of "wacko" openings, FIDE's handling of the World Championship
cycle, how he spends his preparation time, whom he'd most like to play
chess with from Caisa's storied past, and his advice for aspiring
junior players. All this and much more, as we play 20 Questions
with Michael Adams. |
 |
|
Alekhine's Parrot
|
Chessville plays 20-Questions with
Alekhine's Parrot on the occasion of the publication of the 200th edition of
Alekhine's Parrot's column. "The
very highest thing anyone can do in journalism, according to the best
journalist in the English language, Oberon Waugh, is to not become attached
to any result, but – at genius level – simply to shift people from whatever
their current opinion, to consider this too. And that ‘this’
is what you write..." |
.jpg) |
|
Other Interviews at Chessville
|
search tips
The
Chessville
Chess Store
Reference
Center
The Chessville
Weekly
The Best Free
Chess
Newsletter
On the Planet!
Subscribe
Today -
It's Free!!
The
Chessville
Weekly
Archives
Discussion
Forum
Chess Links
Chess Rules
Visit the
Chessville
Chess Store
|
