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Chessville
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“As Tal
said, it was always too difficult for women to play chess There is no denying it; controversy sells. You want to get people’s attention? Say or do something outrageous. It’s the old “Dog bites Man” = boring, but “Man bites Dog” = news. And when it comes to the rather mundane world of chess, all it takes is a racy title and provocative photo to do the job. Jennifer Shahade’s new book, Chess Bitch uses both of these tactics on the cover to grab potential readers’ attention. First with the use of the “B” word in the title, and secondly with the provocative photo of Jennifer wearing a pink wig, gloves, scarf and tank top, along with a sultry “come hither” look. Oh yeah, and did I mention she is holding a book on chess tactics!? Of course, one could argue that if the point of the book is to drum up respect for the great intellectual prowess of women chess players, then putting yourself on the cover dressed as a floozy might not be the smartest move. I myself, being on the more conservative side, prefer the rather prosaic inside flap shot of Shahade sitting at the chess board with her hands tucked under her chin while smiling pleasantly at the camera. However, if your goal is to generate buzz and grab people’s attention, than there’s no denying that the chosen cover shot is your huckleberry. That said, my fear is that the book’s cover gives the impression that this is a one-sided, feminist spewing, male bashing, in-your-face type of book. Indeed, when I first contacted Jeremy Silman about reviewing it, he told me that he thought the book, “should ONLY be reviewed by a woman.” Say what!? Did Jeremy have so little faith in his fellow man that he didn’t think we could give the book an objective review? To my way of thinking, either a book is good or it’s not. While the content may be geared more toward one sex than the other, it is insulting to be told that “please don’t read this, as you are too stupid to get it, will miss the point, and end up slamming us.” Which, based on Jeremy’s response to my inquiry, is probably what already happened. [Editor: See Silman's rant over at Chess Cafe on the public & chess press' reaction to the title.]
There was something about her writing style that immediately captured my attention. For the next five days I found myself carrying her book with me everywhere I went. Whenever I had time between the various chess classes I teach here in L.A., or while waiting in line at the post office, and especially at night before bedtime, I would read a few more pages or even a chapter. I found it was more like reading a friend’s travel diary than a serious, heavy book; and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
Now let’s move on to the book’s content. In chapter one, titled, Playing like a girl, Shahade takes a look at some of the stereotypes that are attached to female chess players. For example, she quotes Kasparov as saying, “A women’s train of thought can be broken more easily by extraneous events, such as a baby crying upstairs.” And then she fires back: “To test Garry’s theory, I propose that a tournament with one hundred female and one hundred male participants be held underneath a baby nursery. It would then be possible to see how men and women react and adapt their play to the distracting cries of babies.” Score one for Shahade, as just the thought of having to listen to a bunch of crying babies would be enough to send me through the roof. Because Shahade is friends with a lot of the top players, she is able to get them to talk about extremely personal things, such as when she got the 2003 U.S. Champion, Alexander Shabalov, to reveal what he thinks about during a game: “In most games, I am thinking about girls for about fifty to seventy-five percent of the time, another fifteen percent goes to time management, and with what’s left over I am calculating.” Although I can’t help feel Shabalov was somewhat joking, I wish that GM Susan Polgar had been when she gave this somewhat dubious reason for why men are better strategically at chess than women: “Women are rarely given the freedom to think abstractly. Men are often afforded the luxury of having their basic tasks, like laundry and cooking, taken care of. Women are usually compelled to focus on the details of life. This is the root of why women are equal to men in tactics, but still lag behind men in strategy.” Not only do I find this statement absurd, I suspect that if a man had said it most female chess players would cry sexism in a heartbeat. Without doubt the most shocking section of chapter one is when Shahade says that Michael Khodarkovsky, a Russian trainer of none other than Kasparov, who while working with the women’s Olympic team said, “ I know that feminism is popular in the United States, but in Russia we understood that women and men play differently. With this in mind, you should never be ashamed to tell your trainers the most intimate details…or when you may not be able to play one hundred percent.” He was referring to menstruation! Shahade says that upon hearing this, she thought she had entered the twilight zone! And it didn’t help when GM Susan Polgar, a fellow teammate, followed up with, “Now, menstruation may not require that someone take a day off, but it might affect, for instance, the choice of opening.” Jennifer said she was offended by this sort of talk, and frankly I don’t blame her. She points out that, for instance, when it is her “time of the month” it doesn’t really affect her play at all. Secondly, she feels that when respected top woman players like Susan Polgar make these sort of statements, it creates a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy among women players—“Well of course I played badly…it was my time of the month.” After finishing chapter one, it was obvious that this was not going to be another typical chess book. Amen. Chapter two is about two pioneers of women’s chess, Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf, who were the two strongest female players during the 1920s-1940’s. I didn’t know much about these two strong personalities, and enjoyed learning about them. Apparently Graf, who was born in Munich, Germany in 1908, had an abundance of self-confidence, and didn’t give a damn what others thought of her. She even went on to write two books; Impressions of a Woman Chess player and I am Susann. However, it was the more passive (personality wise) and positionally oriented player, Menchik, who was the stronger of the two over the board. Here is a nice win by Vera over a male opponent in Karlsbad, 1929: Menchik,Vera - Becker,Albert
39.Nb5 Rd7 40.e6+ 1–0 Sadly, Menchik (along with her mother and sister) was killed by a Nazi bomb in London in 1944, just as the war was ending. Chapter three is about the great women chess players that have come from Georgia, starting with Nona Gaprindashvili, who won the women’s world championship in 1962. Apparently her competitiveness, determination, and serious demeanor didn’t make her the friendliest of players, especially when she lost a game. And her obstinance wasn’t just reserved for her opponents; one of her trainers, Gennady Zaitchick said, “She wanted me to analyze some hopeless opening variation for hours. She was always so stubborn. She wouldn’t respect my opinion as a grandmaster.” Another future women’s world champion to come out of Georgia was Maya Chiburdanidze, who was discovered and eventually trained by GM Eduard Gufeld. Apparently Maya was a true chess prodigy, and her shy, quiet personality was the opposite of Nona’s. Other Georgian women covered in this chapter are Elena Akmilovskaya, who, during the 1988 Thessaloniki Olympiad, ran off with IM John Donaldson, the captain of the US men’s team, and eloped. Currently the strongest woman Georgian player is Rusudan Goletiani, who plays for the U.S. women’s Olympic team and lives in New York. Chapter four is about women’s role models. Almira Skripchenko said she admired tennis player Steffi Graf, philosopher Ayn Rand, and Grandmaster Judit Polgar. Popular Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk said, “I have no heroes in chess. Maybe that’s because I want to become a hero myself.” Bulgarian GM Antoaneta Stefanova liked the young Fischer. Jennifer also talks candidly about dating in the chess world. She mentions that Victoria Cmilyte’s marriage with Alexei Shirov makes them the strongest and tallest union in chess history (both are over six feet tall and are rated 2450 and 2730 respectively). What’s more, she brings up the little talked about subject of how having a high chess rating is, well, sexy! It shows talent, determination, and drive, all of which serve to make the possessor of such a rating more attractive to others. Shahade reveals that: “Many women chess players find the prospect of dating a player weaker than they unpalatable.” And quotes Anna Hahn as saying: “I would just as soon date someone from outside the chess world than a weaker player than I.” Probing deeper, Shahade asks, “Does the desire to be with a strong man conflict with the desire for a woman to be strong herself? Is sleeping with someone who is a great player a consolation for not being a great player oneself?” Her astute conclusion: “Proximity to greatness becomes a substitute for greatness itself.” I found this material (as I did the entire book) to be both fresh and fascinating.
Shahade also interviewed Cathy Forbes, the 1994 Women's British Champion, who wrote a much maligned book on the Polgar sisters back in 1992. Although reluctant to talk about the book, she got Forbes to admit, “I wrote the book because I wanted to be them.”
She also talks about being on the 2004 U.S. Women’s Olympiad team along with Anna Zatonskih, Rusa Golentiani, Susan Polgar, and Irina Krush, and how they got to train with Kasparov...
...and what that experience was like. The chapter ends on a humorous note when Jennifer goes on a date, and her and the guy end up back at her apartment. Says Jennifer: “The topic of chess had not yet come up. Glancing around the room, the man noticed chess magazines and sets scattered around, and he began quizzing my roommate Eric on the game, assuming that the male of the house had to be the player. Eric, who is a strong amateur, noted my annoyance and tried to divert the questions to me, but the guy was not getting it.” This is a great story, and not the type to found in your average chess book. By the way, Jennifer was so annoyed that she decline to give the clueless guy her number! Chapter seven covers the explosion of the Chinese women in chess over the last decade, lead by the Women’s World Champion Xie Jun. Here is an example of one her games (taken from the back of the book) from the women’s world championship in Manila in 1991: Xie Jun (2465) - Chiburdanidze,Maya (2495)
Two quotes that I especially like from this chapter are on the topic of “talent versus training”:
“Systematically training players is more important than selecting them.”
“Overestimating the importance of genius understates In other words, talent is important, but nothing succeeds like hard work and following a systematic, well thought out training plan! As this review is getting quite long, I will not go over any more of the chapters; suffice it to say that if you have found the material interesting so far, you will enjoy the remaining six chapters. However, I should warn you that there are two sections in the second half of the book that are extremely controversial. The first has to do with a certain famous chess player’s sexual organ. Says Shahade on page 188: “Journalists and fans don’t go around commenting on the size of Kasparov’s c***. In the chess world, the sexuality of the top players is private and implied, while discussion of a woman’s sexuality is open to all.” This is easily the most jarring sentence in the book, as everything so far has been of a PG nature. It does seem to be for shock value more than anything else, and I can imagine more than a few chess parents will be unhappy with her choice of words. My feeling is that she has done such a good job using her extraordinary writing skills, that there was probably no need to throw this word in, as it does stand out like an isolated pawn. The second controversial section is chapter 12, whose subject is a transsexual chess player from Texas. Of all the chapters in the book, I found this one to be the least enjoyable, as the material was too personal in nature and really had nothing to do with chess. It sort of like you’re watching Oprah, when suddenly a segment from The Jerry Springer Show pops up! Anyway, be that as it may, I still enjoyed the book very much. However, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the book does contain several mistakes. While the grammatical errors and typos are annoying enough, the factual errors are considerably more egregious. I mean, it is common knowledge that Kasparov won the World Championship in 1985, NOT 1980 (when he would have been only 17 years old!), as listed on page 4. And on page 76 we have: “Moreover, he had recently been defeated by the Berlin system when Vladimir Kramnik used it in the 2002 world-championship match, ending Kasparov’s fifteen-year-long reign.” (The match took place in 2000.) While on page 135 it says: "Many women shave their heads to make a statement, including Indian feminist Adhuriti Roy, …” (Her name is Arundhati Roy.) I found several other mistakes/typos scattered throughout the book, too numerous to list here. The Bottom Line Jennifer Shahade has shown glimpses of her writing talent in the various articles she’s written for chess magazines over the years, but in this book, a true talent has emerged. Her writing is an extraordinary blend of honesty, curiosity, introspection, self-doubt, and feistiness. It is this mixture of feelings that she pours into each page that makes her journey so gripping. When she is unsure of herself in a particular situation, she is not afraid to admit it. When she is surprised or caught off guard by something someone she is interviewing says or does, she lets us know. And if she disagrees with something someone says or does, she is not afraid to say so. In an era when chess writing has for the most part become as bland as vanilla ice cream, Jennifer dishes out the Neapolitan in large scoops! Not only did I find myself carrying the book around with me for days, but I found that her words stayed with me long after reading them. And this is the highest compliment any writer can receive. Although the book does contain 56 games (in the back, unannotated), this is not the reason for buying it. The reason to go out and get this book is so you can take an enjoyable and fascinating ride through the world of women’s chess, where you will learn about the great players of the past and present, through the eyes of one of today’s top female stars. Needless to say, I highly recommend Chess Bitch. Lastly, I leave you with one of Jennifer’s games over another up and coming female chess talent:
Shahade,Jennifer (2337) - Abrahamyan,Tatev (2236)
31.Nd8!
1–0
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