The inner game

by Dominic Lawson

‘A wonderful achievement… so tense, so gripping and so readable’ STEPHEN FRY ‘A remarkable book – The Inner Game has all the compulsion of a good thriller’ ROBERT HARRIS *** The 1993 World Chess Championship was one of the most eagerly anticipated clashes in the game’s rich history. On one side was Garri Kasparov, the greatest in a long line of Russian World Champions and a player whose remorseless aggression both in play and in person seemed to terrify his opponents. Across the board was Nigel Short, a bespectacled, guitar-playing 28-year-old Lancastrian who had earned his place in the contest over a gruelling three-year qualification campaign. Their epic duel of the intellect was fought out in the full glare of the world’s media and the intricacies of the battle captivated observers around the world – chess experts and novices alike. The Inner Game is an intimate and gripping insider’s account of this unique sporting contest. It reveals the secrets of chess at the highest level, from dirty tricks behind the scenes to bugged conversations, stolen tapes and sexual intrigue, and opens up the strange inner world of the Chess Grandmasters, men of a narrow but all-consuming passion. ‘Gripping narrative… absorbing between-the-synapses account of an epic drama to which (Lawson) had unique access’ Sunday Times ‘Brilliantly written’ Guardian ‘Perhaps the most intimate portrait of a chess genius ever written’ ROBERT HARRIS ‘Lawson creates great drama out of his material… the tension is brilliantly sustained. And no, you don’t have to be a chess expert or even to have played the game at all to enjoy this book’ Independent on Sunday ‘A riveting narrative’ Observer ‘Immensely readable… The characters come through very precisely’ Daily Telegraph ‘An engrossing study of a rarified world of eccentricity and achievement… [a] tale of guile and bugged rooms, bribed coaches, tapped telephones, bluff and counterbluff. Much of it reads like a le Carré novel… A closely observed and hugely entertaining portrait of a prodigious British talent’ Sunday Telegraph ‘If Nigel Short is the John Major of chess, Dominic Lawson is the Jeffrey Archer… Whether you like Archer or not, you’ll love Lawson’ The Times ‘Lawson does a superb job of evoking tension and narrative in a way that all the coverage at the time failed to do… the real flavour of the effort of analysis is captured and the dirty tricks and psychological warfare make good, sensational reading ’ Literary Review *** DOMINIC LAWSON is best known as a former newspaper editor and now weekly leader page columnist for the Sunday Times and Daily Mail . But chess is his passion, as he demonstrated with several series as the presenter of ‘Across the Board’ for BBC Radio 4, in which he simultaneously interviewed and played against such giants of the game as Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov and the world’s strongest woman player, Hou Yifan. Since 2014 he has been the elected President of the English Chess Federation.

Genres: Chess

288 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 1993

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not, a historian by training, is invariably dismissive of books that describe recent events. No perspective, she says; she'll wait until people have had a chance to weigh the evidence dispassionately. Well, The Inner Game is certainly a good illustration of Not's thesis. It's an account of the 1993 World Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short. The match was played in September and October, and the book appeared in December. To make things worse, Lawson was friendly with Short. The result is about as dismally far from an objective record as one would expect.

Kasparov's most famous witticism is a prediction about this event. Early in the qualification cycle, a journalist asked him what he thought would happen. Kasparov replied "My opponent, and the match, will be Short". (This is sometimes quoted as "My opponent will be Short, and the match will be short"). Kasparov turned out to be absolutely right. Short surprised many people by beating Karpov in the final of the Candidates Tournament, but was then annihilated by Kasparov. He lost three of the first four games, after which the twenty-four game match was effectively already over. Lawson is unwilling to accept this all too obvious narrative and shamelessly rearranges events to present a version more flattering to his friend. He divides the twenty games actually played into two halves, and tells us that while Kasparov won the first half 7½-2½, Short recovered his honor by drawing the second half 5-5.

This, of course, is utter nonsense. By the halfway mark, Kasparov no longer had any reason to try hard. He was five points ahead, and the only way he was going to lose was by playing exciting, risky chess and overreaching. He'd learned the hard way in his 1986 match with Karpov, where he had been three points up and then lost three exciting games in a row; he had to play very well at the end to retain his title. He certainly wasn't going to let that happen again, so he took his foot off the pedal and coasted to a sure victory.

Sigh. Dominic, you should have known better. Not, you are right.

[George Eraclides · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the match between Nigel Short (Challenger) and Gary Kasparov (Champion) for the title of World Champion in 1993. Good on the details and quite insightful. Reasonable analysis and well written. I had the good fortune to meet Nigel Short in 2019 when he came to Melbourne for exhibitions and lectures. I played him in a 30 player simul and lost of course (although I was last to finish, which is some plus I guess). I liked his self-deprecating humour and the ability to judge (and explain) the essentials of a position. The title 'Inner Game' really is perfect. Chess at the top level is a mind game; personality makes a difference in the end. Resilience, attitude, self esteem. The differences in ability (native talent) among the best of the best seems negligible if even detectable. So why do some win, thrive and others fall just short of the mark? There has not been enough research on this aspect of chess. You get the impression that Short was unnecessarily overawed by Kasparov in the first half of the match, which is where he lost it. In the second half, he broke even. Pure psychology. A good book.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A top Goodreads review for this book about the 1993 Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short knocks it on two counts — first for being biased, being written by a friend of Nigel Short, and second for being written too soon after the event, resulting in a lack of historical perspective.

I don't understand either criticism. Lawson makes it explicitly clear that he is writing as an insider of the Short camp. There is no pretense of presenting an unbiased account of the match. When reading an autobiography, I understand that I am being presented a version of a life that the writer wants to project. The same is true here. It's precisely Lawson's insider perspective that made this such an interesting read.

As for being written too soon after the event, I also do not understand this charge. I am reminded of my experience reading James Michener's account of the Kent State tragedy. Michener's book was published in January 1971, a mere seven months after the event. Because of its temporal proximity, Michener's book really placed me in that moment. I really felt like I was there, experiencing all the political tension of the time and the horror of the event. Of course, if I want a more thorough, comprehensive perspective, I'll find another book that has the advantage of temporal perspective. But it would be a different book.

[James Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about the chess game that made me a chess player. Nigel Short, the UK's finest ever player, battled with the legendary Garry Kasparov for the World Championship in London in 1993. I remember watching this on Channel 4, then the first re-run of the Prisoner since the 60s! Good times. However, this isn't just a nostalgia-fest, this is a great book about the pressure and the mental turmoil that surround elite-level chess. No wonder so many grandmasters suffer mental health issues. Absorbingly written, primarily from the point of view of Short and his camp- which is where Lawson was situated- and it makes for a fascinating glimpse into a surreal and complex world of minds. For that reason, it is as gripping as a psychological thriller.

[Jonathan Levitt]

A very well written and exciting account of the Short-Kasparov world chess championship match. The author is a friend of the English contender and had inside information from the camp. He tackles the psychological aspects of the battle with great insight and has achieved the not-so-easy result of writing a book that people who do not play chess can really enjoy.

[Sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read about Nigel Short's attempt to win the world championship against Kasparov in 1993 at the Savoy, the effort leading upto it, and their founding of the Professional Chess Association!!