Play Chess With Your Heart
Certain players make me love chess more. Their love for the game is infectious! Among them I count Tal, Bronstein, Gufeld, Nezhmetdinov and older Teachers like Nimzowitsch and Tartakower. All the ones mentioned above write comments with the intention of inspiring players like me to enjoy chess more!
Other players who inspire me with their nobility of character are Keres, Rubinstein, Spassky and Schlechter.
Petrosian inspires me with his uniqueness. He is perhaps the most mysterious of all the chess players I have come across.
Lasker inspires me with his fighting spirit!
Polugaevsky inspires me with his candid sincerity and openness!
It is a testament to chess that a game so studied and analyzed still allows for the individual's soul to come forward, for the player's artistic style to be expressed.
Also, players of these generations have my heart, for they endured so much! The First and Second World Wars, the Soviet/Stalinist system. So many challenges they had! Yet they showed the resilience of the human spirit. I applaud them!
Before showing any chess games, I wish to share with you this song.....it is an old song, but the lyrics make it immortal!
"What A Wonderful World"
I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying
"I love you"
I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
They'll learn much more
Than I'll never know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Oh yeah
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And here is a video of Sir Tom Jones and Ruti Olajugbagbe, winner of the 2018 The Voice UK, singing this song.
Mikhail Tal
Tal was literally loved by everyone. He was accessible and friendly. He was humble. He was the purest genius. Of him it has been said that he was so brilliant, if he had gone into science instead of chess, he would have won a Nobel Prize. That is how brilliant Tal was!
Bronstein is perhaps my favorite player of all time. He was a kind person. He was also one of the most creative geniuses the game of chess has ever known. His contributions to chess theory AND practice are numerous! He championed Rapid Chess (in his time it was called Active Chess). The concept of time increments was Bronstein's suggestion, not Fischer!
GM Eduard Gufeld
Eduard Gufeld is also a great inspiration. When he writes, you can feel his love for the game and for the creative process. He is a great story teller! A wonderful man!
Rashid G. Nezhmetdinov
Nezhmetdinov started late in chess, but his genius is recognized by all!
Tigran V. Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian lost both parents during WWII. He would have starved if it wasn't for one of his aunts, who took care of him. His style is unique!
Peace!
