Tim Krabbé's Chess Curiosities

July 12, 2008 3:58 PM

Dutch author Tim Krabbé, also an expert chess player, catalogues the unusual and sublime in chess: Tim Krabbé's Chess Curiosities.

Chess Records. The 110 greatest moves ever. Underpromotion in serious games. A poignant encounter with Garry Kasparov after a loss. Or you could just start at his Open Chess Diary and work your way back.
posted by shadow vector (20 comments total)

Chess Records.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:16 PM on July 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

flapjax, that's what I thought...
posted by aiq at 4:28 PM on July 12, 2008

Wu-Chess.
posted by box at 5:09 PM on July 12, 2008

"The Rider" is a classic tome amongst bike racers. I was shocked to learn it was published in English only recently.

And Tim still races his bike.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:13 PM on July 12, 2008

The Rider is really realy good.
posted by drezdn at 5:16 PM on July 12, 2008

The Rider changed my life, seriously.
posted by mathowie at 8:00 PM on July 12, 2008

Wow. That is some serious chess documentation. I could never even hope to keep up. Really interesting, though.
posted by rtboo at 8:19 PM on July 12, 2008

Yet another hateful reminder of the fact that I've never learned to really grok algebraic notation. Sigh.

Cool stuff, though.
posted by ubernostrum at 8:28 PM on July 12, 2008

The Rider.
posted by wobh at 8:32 PM on July 12, 2008

Nifty.
posted by Monochrome at 10:02 PM on July 12, 2008

Needs more punching.
posted by Artw at 10:11 PM on July 12, 2008

This site lets you watch the games.
posted by wolfewarrior at 11:02 PM on July 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Just copy and paste the move text of the list of the 110 greatest moves.
posted by wolfewarrior at 11:04 PM on July 12, 2008

The greatest chess move ever made belongs to my late friend Mark Coles.

At 13 Mark was good enough to be playing against some very high ranked opponents. So here is at the Philadelphia Open playing a 50 year old man and a much better chess player. After about 30 minutes of play, the old guy made a stupid mistake and Mark pounced. According to my friend, "he gave me 30 ways to beat him." His heart racing with the knowledge he had a good chance at beating this guy, he pulls himself close to the table, studying the board.

But as his opponent moved his piece, he kicked Mark as hard as he could in the shins under the table. An accident of course.

"It totally blew my concentration," said Mark. "I knew why he kicked me, he knew why he kicked me, but I couldn't do anything about it." Here he is, 13 years old, in a physical confrontation with a 50 year old man. Mark looses the game.

This happened in the 1970s. When I was told the story by Mark in 1985, he was six foot four and 300 pounds. And at the end of the story he says to me, with a smle, "One day, I'll play that guy again."

So as fortune would have it in the early 1990s my friend is in a tournament and ends up being paired with this now much older chess player. Mark goes "He of course didn't remember me."

Mark sandbags him for the first 30 minutes and then wham. "That's for Philadelphia in 1974" he says.

The old guy got up. Didn't say a word. Hobbled out of the room and left the tournament.
posted by three blind mice at 11:52 PM on July 12, 2008 [16 favorites]

My chess record faves:
Billy Stewart Summertime
Sugar Pie DeSanto Soulful dress
The Miracles Bad Girl which accodng to this youtube film, also was released on Motown, funny, I have it on a Chess recrords compilation.
posted by dabitch at 4:01 AM on July 13, 2008

(oh c'mon, please tell me that I made someone laugh, even if I just repeated flapjax' joke)
posted by dabitch at 4:03 AM on July 13, 2008

To non-derail, here's a QT of Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard, British Chess Champion demonstrating the Bowmore way to checkmate in just four moves.
posted by dabitch at 4:06 AM on July 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

I tell you, these top one hundred and ten lists are full of shit. I so cannot fucking believe that "Averbakh - Spassky, Leningrad 1956" gets the number one slot! "Topalov - Shirov, Linares 1998" is infinitely better!
posted by ZachsMind at 9:33 AM on July 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wu-Chess, parts two and three.

(Yeah, the Wu-Tang links aren't entirely on-topic, but, after hearing Rae's verse from 'C.R.E.A.M.' over 'Hold Your Head Up' on Feed the Animals, I've kinda got 'em on the brain lately.)
posted by box at 10:37 AM on July 13, 2008

Spoiler alert:






1-0.
posted by Bokononist at 2:22 PM on July 13, 2008