The Day Kasparov Quit: and other chess interviews

by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

What goes on in some of the sharpest minds on earth? Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam has collected a new series of intimate portraits of the top grandmasters of chess, winning the confidence of Garry Kasparov, Miguel Najdorf, Vishy Anand, Judit Polgar, David Bronstein, Hikaru Nakamura and many others. Anyone attracted by the mystique of the royal game will love the behind-the-scenes stories about the masters? struggle to win, their fear of losing, and the striking difference between the European and the American chess scene.

Genres: Chess, Nonfiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2006

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book when it first came out, but only got around to reading it in 2023. I enjoyed reading about chess masters in a past I've already lived through.

[Doc Kinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general the book was good. It is a collection of interviews that Geuzendam made for the periodical New in Chess in the late 90s and early 2000s. As such, it is interesting to see what the chess luminaries of the time thought might happen as the chess world fought to knit itself together from the Great GMA-FIDE Schism of the 90s. Most of the cautious optimism proved unfounded, save for the World Championship Unification Match, as the chess world continues under the disaster of the FIDE Presidency of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

I found the general interviews most interesting, and the interviews concentrating on a specific event somewhat less so. The book is critical and interesting for chess historians, but somewhat less so for other populations.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11545795

[John Da ega · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title says it. A couple of interesting bits but not overwhelming.