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Chessville
Advertise to Single insert:
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Jan Hein Donner (1927 - 1988), Dutch grandmaster and chess journalist, could easily be mistaken for that curmudgeonly, green television character – as well as occasionally Oscar the Wilde, and even Oscar the Madison. If there were an Oscar for chess columns and commentary, he’d have pocketed that, too.
It could also be argued* that his words were often as deadly as his opening preparation. As Tim Krabbé and Max Pam wrote in their Introduction to The King, “It can safely be said that anyone not insulted by Donner in SB [Schaakbulletin] cannot have been of any importance in Dutch chess life.” Frequently, though, the target of the author’s machine gun typewriter was – himself. There is no misery quite like chess misery, especially when it is self-inflicted. One reviewer compared Donner’s style favorably to both Hunter S. Thompson and H.L. Mencken. Quite so. The King is a collection of over 160 articles (news, opinions, essays and annotated games), presented chronologically, from four decades of Donner’s writing about chess in chess-related and non-chess periodicals. Krabbé and Pam note that in making their selection for the book they had over a thousand pieces to choose from. Readers can be both pleased with what they find within, and hopeful that there might be another volume forthcoming some day. A quick glance at the Table of Contents is tantalizing. There is plenty to think about: e.g. “On the Justice of Chess”; “The Limitations of Great Ideas”; “Chess is Only Chess”; “Chess Cannot be Compared with Anything Else.” There is also plenty of provocation: e.g. “Are Bystanders Allowed to Think?”; “Bobby Fischer is Insane”; “Such Feeble, Such Cowardly Chess”; “Women Cannot Play Chess”. And there is a whole lot more! There are also annotated games and commented-upon positions, including one especially bright sparkler from a Tal - Spassky game which is reported by Donner as if it were a heavyweight boxing match. The author discusses the greats, including Petrosian (“This is chess in the manner of ‘rather not’”), Tal (“adheres to the methodical, too, even though he has given up the principle of correctness”), Spassky (“a good psychologist”), the young Fischer (“He makes the impression of a dissatisfied lout”), Kortchnoi (“a peculiar character”) and Miles (“a bulldog mentality not at all to be expected from someone with his cherubic appearance”). Not unexpectedly, Donner was especially fascinated by Fischer -- he described the Bobby's match with Spassky as "manic chess versus depressive chess" -- a case of one iconoclast learning to appreciate another. My copy of The King is full of sticky notes marking passages that I wanted to include in this review. Unfortunately, that would triple the length of what you are reading and still leave me regretting what I’d left out. Here’s a colorful description of a colorful chess player – verbal photography: can’t you see him?
While Donner has our ear, as he has for all of The King, a while later he leans forward and begins to whisper into it, out of the pages of Schaakbulletin: The truth can be said in this magazine for chess players; we are amongst ourselves now and there is no need to be ashamed, but playing chess is not the same as working, of course. It goes without saying that we will always claim the opposite to the outside world; loudly, we’ll complain about the ‘heavy toll’ that we’re condemned to and the paltry wage we receive for it…
De Koning was first published in Dutch in 1987. Ten years later,
selections of that masterpiece appeared in English in an attractive, if a
bit pricey, limited edition. Ten years further on, we have the current
version of The King which is unabridged, affordable, and
un-miss-able. It is a perfect gift for any chessfriend who likes a good tale
told with verve and a fresh perspective. (Would-be chess journalists, take
note.) Do pick up a couple of copies, though – if you peek inside, you might
not want to let go of the first one! *
”Only shallow minds will avoid a battle of words.” – Donner
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Imagine,
if you will, Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch. With a 2500 Elo
rating. And a degree in literature. Sucking on a lemon …
Not
that Donner wasn’t a player. He saw himself as the Netherlands’s first chess
professional. Donner battled masters and grandmasters at home and on foreign
soil, winning the Dutch championship in 1954, 1956 and 1957 and taking first
place at the international tournaments at Hoogoven (1963) and Venice (1967).
His writings are informed by his knowledge, his experience, and his contacts
as a grandmaster.
