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Chessville
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Interviewed by Robert T. Tuohey
While researching an upcoming article for Chessville, I had need of the advice of a problems-expert, and naturally thought of Tim Krabbé . He was kind enough not only to answer my question, but further consented to the following interview (ok, I’m a bit pushy). And, what’s more, generously provided an annotated game of his and one of his problems (I mean, hey, if your gonna ask, go for the gold, right?) Hold onto your chessboards, boys and girls, because Tim Krabbé has a few things to say! ______________________________________________________________________________________ Chessville: For those of our readers unfamiliar with you, could you please give us a little essential background information to get us started? Tim Krabbé: 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. (http://www.timkrabbe.nl/chess) 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.
Chessville: As seen on your excellent site, you are deep into chess problems. How did you become involved with this rather specialized aspect of chess? TK: I'm deep into all forms of chess beauty - games, endgame studies, problems. Perhaps an eye-opener for problems was my being shown, at 18 (and solving it, together with a few other converts-to-be) the famous Bristol problem. See Milan Vukcevich's wonderful article "The Beauty of Bristol" For studies, it was seeing the Saavedra position in an Euwe endgame book. (Type "Saavedra" in the search engine on my site.) Chessville: A great many chess players feel intimidated by the complexities of modern chess problems. Could you give us some insight into the major themes and concepts being worked on currently? TK: They should keep feeling intimidated. I know very little about the complexities of the modern two-mover, and as far as I do, I abhor these cerebral concoctions into which depth is force-fed by unartistic composers. In games, the pieces are like animals in the wild; in good studies and problems they are like animals in a circus and in modern 2- and 3-movers, they are vivisected. Art is timeless. Why read 'moderns' if you can read Tolstoy and Flaubert? One of my favorite composers is Sam Loyd - and he lived from 1841 to 1911. Chessville: If your average player wanted to learn a bit more about problems, could you recommend any beginner books, articles, or sites? TK: A good advice to beginners is: avoid beginner's books. My site would be a good place to start; type "problem" or "study" in my search engine. A very nice recent book is Drieklang by the Austrian composers Johandl, Wenda & Chlubna. It's in German, it's not aimed at beginners, and half of it is about Fairy Chess which I don't care about, but what joy to look at the other half of the problems. Zepler & Kraemer have published wonderful books, Breuer's problem bible is wonderful, but these books are antiquarian. For endgame studies, I would recommend Endgame Challenge by John Nunn. Chessville: Aesthetically, what criteria are used to judge a problem? In other words, why would you say one problem is beautiful and another ugly? TK: To enjoy beauty, not to define it! Chessville: How many problems have you published to date? And please give us one of your favorites! TK: I have
published around 15 problems and one endgame study, almost all from
1974-1976. I'm glad I escaped - it's too addictive. Here is one
I really like. I thought of it and made a first version in 1976, but I
completed it only in 1985, for my book Chess Curiosities.
Mate in 22, Tim Krabbé, 1985
Chessville: Who are some of your favorite problem composers? TK: Leonid Yarosh of course, the sorcerer who first created the Babson Task, is my great hero. (Do "Babson" or "Yarosh" in my search engine.) Others: Loyd, Popandopulo, Halumbirek, Siers, Schneider, Johandl, Feoktistov, Rehm, Bouma, Leontyeva, Kraemer, Zepler. For endgames: Gurgenidze, Kalandadze, Troitzky, Mitrofanov, Kasparyan. Just do "problem" or "endgame study" in my search engine, and you will see who else I like. Chessville: As a professional writer and expert problemist, do you see any relationship between these two arts? TK: A strong link is in the desire to express an idea in an economic way. The most rewarding review I ever had (about my book The Vanishing, which is 100 pages) said: "A lesser writer would have made a 300-page novel out of this." Chessville: One of the most interesting aspects of your site is your “Open Chess Diary”. What gave you the idea for this, and what kind of responses have you gotten from the chess community? TK: I saw it as a nice way to quickly publish short pieces on chess. I get reactions from all over the world, with more examples of what I showed, new ideas to write about, or just comments. I appreciate that very much - it makes the Diary a living showcase of chess beauty. Chessville: You’ve given some hard, indeed mocking, comments regarding the recent world championship match between Kramnik and Leko. Actually, many chess players were dissatisfied with the match. What do you think was the behind this lackluster event? TK: Cowardice. Chessville: On the up side, chess enthusiasts worldwide have just had the pleasure of the well-fought Russian Championship, won by Garry Kasparov. Do you have any comments on this tournament? TK: I liked it that Kasparov won. Although these days he reminds one more of a plodding buffalo than of the light-footed kung fu fighter he once was, it is wonderful that such a great player can win such a strong tournament at 41. Chessville: Among the current crop of GMs, do you have any favorites? And, who among the by-gone players would be your number one? TK: I like imaginative fighters, like Morozevich, Shirov, Polgar, Kasparov. Anand too - and Carlsen is promising in this respect as well. Among the dead, nobody compares with Tal. Chessville: There seems to be a slow, but steady increase in the interest in Fischer Random Chess, or some variant thereof. In fact, some regard FRC as the current “cutting edge” in chess innovation. Any comments? TK: For one thing, "Fischer Random Chess" is not an innovation - the idea of shuffling the pieces on the first rank dates back to the 18th century. It is amazing that Fischer managed to get his name attached to it. Benkö showed it to him in the 60's, and all Fischer did was spoil it by introducing an idiotic electronic shuffler to determine the starting position. Imagine two Fischer Random players on a desert island - even if they had board and pieces, they still couldn't play, until such a shuffler washed ashore. People should be ashamed of playing "Fischer Random Chess" - it stems from his paranoia. He invented it because in classic chess, as you know, all grandmaster games have been fixed since1972. The randomizer is needed because if the shuffling was left (as in Benkö's idea) to the players themselves, they would still fix the games. Finally, any form of shuffle chess puts chess back 200 years - see my Diary, item 123. Chessville: You are one of the very few people in the chess media today who openly mocks the way computers play. Any comments on this near-ubiquitous love of silicon? TK: Anyone who does not see that computers do not "play chess", is either a computer himself, or a computer seller. See http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/honor.htm for some nice examples. Feed "computers can't play chess" into my search engine for some more. Chessville: To what degree, if at all, do you use any programs to check your own chess analysis? TK: I use them a lot. They're fantastic analyzers. Chessville: Do you continue to play OTB tournaments? Correspondence? TK: No tournaments, no correspondence chess. I just read and write chess - a lot. Chessville: Might we have the pleasure of encountering Tim Krabbé on any of the chess servers? TK: You might, but you wouldn't know - I'm keeping my handles private. Anyway, I've managed to largely kick this habit - it was a great addiction right from when I discovered it in February 1995. Now, I hardly play anymore. Chessville: Your site is not only remarkable for the quantity of chess info, but also the detailed analysis. Could you give us some idea how much time, say, weekly you invest in it? TK: Too much! At least half a day every week. Chessville: Do you have any recent publications or other projects you would like to tell our readers about? TK: My Dutch readers should read Drie slechte schaatsers; Germans should read Kathys Tochter and English-speakers should buy The Rider. Chessville: As alluded to, your site is notable for the candid views expressed. I think this excellent, as a great deal that passes for “chess news” is just pre-packaged pabulum. Mr. Krabbé, please, go ahead and use this last opportunity to take a good, healthy pot-shot at whoever or whatever in the chess world that’s bugging you at the moment. TK: Speaking of pot ~ drug testing is the insanest thing that ever happened to chess. Anyone who complies with it or advocates it, is hereby denied access to my site. You asked for a game, too - here it is.
Once again, many thanks
to Tim Krabbé for providing the interview, and remember to visit
Chess
Curiosities. Return to Index of 20
Questions Interviews
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