Hi Dave! I wish I'd seen it. But since Belgium has no real chess
tradition, the film was only for 2 weeks or so on the programme here
and I was then confined to my flat due to an accident. The novel by
Nabokov I've read twice and will reread it. It's very good. Much better
that Tevis' 'The Queen's Gambit' (she always plays the Sicilian!). The
prodigy and protagonist, Beth Harmon, is taught the moves by the
janitor of the institution she's in. He showed her the Sicilian. But...
Although chess-technically , Bruce Pandolfini supervised the novel, on
page 19 there's a serious mistake: "When White moves pawn to
QUEEN! four, Black (...). Then he (the janitor, jp) picked up the pawn
in front of the Black queen's bishop... Of course, it should be "When
White moves pawn to KING four...". This Bruce hasn't noticed.
On page 37, where Beth is giving a simul: "Metal chairs sat INSIDE the
U, facing the black pieces, but there were no chairs facing the white
ones". Perhaps it might occur now and then (but I've never seen it,
neither live, nor on photographs), it's logical that the simul-player
walks the INSIDE of the U (quite a difference in walking distance)!.
Two years ago Kasparov gave a simul here in Antwerp, and he also
walked the inside. Much ado about nothing? Maybe. 'The Queen's
Gambit' is fine relax-reading, but can't - from a chess point of view-
hardly be taken seriously. It's so unrealistic... The rising star, within a
couple of years, even playing and beating the Russian World
Champion.
By the way friends: Has anyone ever seen the (German) film 'Black
and White ('Schwarz und Weiss'😉? I liked that one very much. Jan
PS: Anyone out there who read the hilariously satirical 'The KIng -
Chess Pieces' by the late Dutch GM Jan Hein Donner? I don't want to
appaer big-headed, but you miss a lot if you don't. It's great and NOT
just because it's an Dutch GM (I'm Belgian-Flemish anyhow).
One spots such things by reading. Simple. If you know that the Sicilian
is 1.e4-c5 and you read 1. Queen's Pawn to Queen 4, then you know
that this stinks. I've also a habit of having a pencil ready and I just
mark these things. When it turns up in a Forum, or anywhere else for
that matter, as it did here, I take the book from its shelf and write
down my comment(s). Simple. Nothing special about it, is there?
Jan
The Luzhin Defense starred John Turturro, not Jeff Golfblum. It was
all right. Personally, it was a let down. "Searching For Bobby Fischer"
better captured the spirit of chess. "Luzhin" definitely captured the
addiction aspect... which is all too real. It's available to rent on VHS.
Forgot to mention... The book is not the LUHZIN DefenSe but just The
DefenCe. Lol. I'm continental European, so I stick to the English
English spelling. Just saw on the Web today there's a dictionary
English-American-English. Take for a good example the Dutch and
the Flemings: We do have different accents and ways to express
ourselves, but at least we have the same grammar AND exactly the
same spelling. That's Standard Dutch. Makes it easier.
By the way, a couple of months ago I made an awful discovery; one of
THE monuments of Britain is The Encyclopaedia Britannica and... it's
written in AMERICAN spelling and on top of that there's the Webster
Dictionary coming with it. Dreadful. Shame on Britain! Jan