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The Chess Artist: Genius, Obsession, and the World's Oldest Game
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 794
EAN: 9780312333966
ISBN: 031233396X
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: November 14, 2004
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: October 14, 2004
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
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Editorial Review:
In the tiny Russian province of Kalmykia, obsession with chess has reached new heights. Its leader, a charismatic and eccentric millionaire/ex--car salesman named Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is a former chess prodigy and the most recent president of FIDE, the world's controlling chess body. Despite credible allegations of his involvement in drug running, embezzlement, and murder, the impoverished Kalmykian people have rallied around their leader's obsession---chess is played on Kalmykian prime-time television and is compulsory in Kalmykian schools. In addition, Kalmyk women have been known to alter their traditional costumes of pillbox hats and satin gowns to include chessboard-patterned sashes.The Chess Artist is both an intellectual journey and first-rate travel writing dedicated to the love of chess and all of its related oddities, writer and chess enthusiast J. C. Hallman explores the obsessive hold chess exerts on its followers by examining the history and evolution of the game and the people who dedicate their lives to it. Together with his friend Glenn Umstead, an African-American chessmaster who is arguably as chess obsessed as Ilyumzhinov, Hallman tours New York City's legendary chess district, crashes a Princeton Math Department game party, challenges a convicted murderer to a chess match in prison, and travels to Kalmykia, where they are confronted with members of the Russian intelligence service, beautiful translators who may be spies, seven-year-old chess prodigies, and the sad blight of a land struggling toward capitalism. In the tradition of The Professor and the Madman, Longitude, and The Orchid Thief, Hallman transforms an obsessive quest for obscure things into a compulsively readable and entertaining weaving of travelogue, journalism, and chess history.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The beauty of exploration
Time saver tip: only read this review if you have read at least 5 reviews already.
At the time of writing my review, there are 34 reviews already in, and the average rating is 4 stars. I don't need to tell you what you will find in the book (the facts and topics that it covers), since it's all out there, quite accurately. Therefore, I will only give you a few points that may only make sense after you have read a number of reviews.
I think the review that, as of this ... Read More
Rating:  - Well written and interesting but boring
The Chess Artist was a bit boring for me. I found the main characters in the book, Glenn Umstead and the author very intriguing. This book is really a diary of chess adventures of these two men. I found the telling of their exploits in America and the minor characters that they encounter in America very interesting. However, most of the story takes place in Kalmakya, Russia, and this did not keep my interest at all. So most of the book is pretty boring. In general, the writing is very good, so ... Read More
Rating: - A bit boring for me.
The Chess Artist was a bit boring to me. I found the main characters Glenn and the author very interesting. I found the telling of their exploits in America and the minor characters that they encounter in America very interesting. However, most of the story takes place in Kalmakia, Russia, and this did not keep my interest at all. In general, the writing is very good, so I may come back to this book at a later date.
Rating: - A peek inside the chess world
Chess players can be very intriguing. At the highest levels, it is difficult to imagine what they go through and why they do it. It is a competitive obsession.
The reader is led through the world of a competitive chess player with some great insights of the motivation and culture in which a chess player immerses himself/herself.
Rating: - Interesting at times, but it doesn't quite satisfy
The Chess Artist contains some interesting observations about the game, and the occasional worthwhile excursus, but it never quite closes in on an interesting story. This may be because so much of it is built on intentionally arbitrary encounters, events seemly engineered to generate something to write about (e.g. chess games played in prisons, or among a museum's Duchamp collection). I enjoyed it, and I learned something, but I had hoped for more.
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