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A review by millennial_dandy
King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
"There was a moment when we exchanged smiles. My smile was 'I'm happy to be here, amazed I lasted this long.' His smile was 'I'm going to kill you.'"
I'm still not sure, having finished 'King's Gambit', why Hoffman decided to give it this particular subheading, but this odd choice notwithstanding, it's an excellent quasi-ethnography of chess culture, and I really enjoyed my time with it.
No doubt in part because of his socialite positioning in New York, work in top editing positions for titles such as Discover and Britannica (plus a little bit of luck in some cases) Hoffman had opportunities to rub shoulders with all of the top players of the 2000s chess scene. As a result, he had some great anecdotes to tell of having dined with the likes of Kasparov and Karpov, a slew of world champions, and top women players like Jennifer Shahade and Irina Krush. Also, a few off the wall experiences like getting flown to Libya to interview and play chess against General Gaddafi and ending up playing the insane, chess-obsessed Kirsan Ilyumzhinov: funder of the infamous 'Chess City' and president of the republic of Kalmykia as well as FIDE's president from 2003 - 2018.
He gave us a colorful depiction of his time in Moscow as a chess journalist during which he was taken to a speakeasy located under a KGB building by several top players in the tournament he was covering.
And to what end are we regaled with these wild tales of neurotic players, corrupt officials, and prisoners playing at Grandmaster level while serving life sentences for murder? Well, it's to show just how wacky and weird the 'game of kings' can be. Throughout the text, Hoffman (as well as many of his subjects) muse over whether or not being sane and being a chess genius are mutually exclusive. Ultimately, he leaves the answer open-ended.
The structure of the book and the amount of time spent discussing chess strategies and moves leads me to think this is aimed at an audience already fairly familiar with the game (and certainly one must have an interest in its intricacies to want to follow along during these digressions). However, the time dedicated to a history of the game and vignettes of famous historical players would imply that this is a book someone just dipping into the world for the first time might pick up. So, a target audience is somewhat hard to pinpoint.
Indeed, many of the reviews seem to be split between old hats whinging about the lack of depth and casual readers complaining that it isn't friendly to a lay audience.
I think they're both right, which does make this a rather hard sell as it really is only for readers squarely in the middle.
That being said, as someone closer to the lay reader side of things, I still found it a page-turner, and didn't mind too much that the chess strategy stuff often went a bit over my head; I could still get the general idea, and he didn't do so much of this that it bogged down the reading experience too, too much.
What I do think fairly splits readers down the middle is the titular father and son story about Hoffman's relationship to his own father. He tried very hard to connect his tumultuous relationship with his father to chess, and sometimes he could. But large swathes of that plotline (if you will) really had nothing to do with the subject of 'the world's most dangerous game' as the title would lead one to believe. Hoffman is a good enough writer that I followed the little family saga with some interest, but I do wonder, considering that Hoffman has done a lot of work in editing, how that section made it into the final edit when it really felt like a completely separate story and topic that only once in a while tied back to memories of his playing chess growing up.
I get that he was trying to frame all the chess history and interviews and investigations with his own experiences as a player and trying not to succumb to the seduction of chess obsession, and in particular, not wanting to let chess get in the way of his relationship to his own son, and so on and so on. He's the reader's 'everyman' perspective. Makes sense. But still, there must have been a better way to streamline that because as it is, the genre of 'King's Gambit' is muddled.
Is it Hoffman's autobiography? Is it an ethnography of the culture of high-level chess playing interspliced with a bit of history and some dramatic tales of intrigue?
Well, it's trying to be both, so you really have to know that and be on board with that to like the book.
I didn't know that, but I'm pretty amicable, and so I did get on board, and I really enjoyed doing a bit of chess globetrotting and parasocial elbow rubbing with the who's-who of the chess world of the 2000s. So if you're interested in that more socio-psychology side of the game, this is a good springboard. Hoffman's bibliography and even just the way he brought high level but less uber-famous players to life offers fertile ground for those looking for further reading.
There are definitely sections I'll read again. His first-hand stories about the Kasparov/Karpov rivalry (really, all his stories involving either of the 'Ks') are a delight.
I'm still not sure, having finished 'King's Gambit', why Hoffman decided to give it this particular subheading, but this odd choice notwithstanding, it's an excellent quasi-ethnography of chess culture, and I really enjoyed my time with it.
No doubt in part because of his socialite positioning in New York, work in top editing positions for titles such as Discover and Britannica (plus a little bit of luck in some cases) Hoffman had opportunities to rub shoulders with all of the top players of the 2000s chess scene. As a result, he had some great anecdotes to tell of having dined with the likes of Kasparov and Karpov, a slew of world champions, and top women players like Jennifer Shahade and Irina Krush. Also, a few off the wall experiences like getting flown to Libya to interview and play chess against General Gaddafi and ending up playing the insane, chess-obsessed Kirsan Ilyumzhinov: funder of the infamous 'Chess City' and president of the republic of Kalmykia as well as FIDE's president from 2003 - 2018.
He gave us a colorful depiction of his time in Moscow as a chess journalist during which he was taken to a speakeasy located under a KGB building by several top players in the tournament he was covering.
And to what end are we regaled with these wild tales of neurotic players, corrupt officials, and prisoners playing at Grandmaster level while serving life sentences for murder? Well, it's to show just how wacky and weird the 'game of kings' can be. Throughout the text, Hoffman (as well as many of his subjects) muse over whether or not being sane and being a chess genius are mutually exclusive. Ultimately, he leaves the answer open-ended.
The structure of the book and the amount of time spent discussing chess strategies and moves leads me to think this is aimed at an audience already fairly familiar with the game (and certainly one must have an interest in its intricacies to want to follow along during these digressions). However, the time dedicated to a history of the game and vignettes of famous historical players would imply that this is a book someone just dipping into the world for the first time might pick up. So, a target audience is somewhat hard to pinpoint.
Indeed, many of the reviews seem to be split between old hats whinging about the lack of depth and casual readers complaining that it isn't friendly to a lay audience.
I think they're both right, which does make this a rather hard sell as it really is only for readers squarely in the middle.
That being said, as someone closer to the lay reader side of things, I still found it a page-turner, and didn't mind too much that the chess strategy stuff often went a bit over my head; I could still get the general idea, and he didn't do so much of this that it bogged down the reading experience too, too much.
What I do think fairly splits readers down the middle is the titular father and son story about Hoffman's relationship to his own father. He tried very hard to connect his tumultuous relationship with his father to chess, and sometimes he could. But large swathes of that plotline (if you will) really had nothing to do with the subject of 'the world's most dangerous game' as the title would lead one to believe. Hoffman is a good enough writer that I followed the little family saga with some interest, but I do wonder, considering that Hoffman has done a lot of work in editing, how that section made it into the final edit when it really felt like a completely separate story and topic that only once in a while tied back to memories of his playing chess growing up.
I get that he was trying to frame all the chess history and interviews and investigations with his own experiences as a player and trying not to succumb to the seduction of chess obsession, and in particular, not wanting to let chess get in the way of his relationship to his own son, and so on and so on. He's the reader's 'everyman' perspective. Makes sense. But still, there must have been a better way to streamline that because as it is, the genre of 'King's Gambit' is muddled.
Is it Hoffman's autobiography? Is it an ethnography of the culture of high-level chess playing interspliced with a bit of history and some dramatic tales of intrigue?
Well, it's trying to be both, so you really have to know that and be on board with that to like the book.
I didn't know that, but I'm pretty amicable, and so I did get on board, and I really enjoyed doing a bit of chess globetrotting and parasocial elbow rubbing with the who's-who of the chess world of the 2000s. So if you're interested in that more socio-psychology side of the game, this is a good springboard. Hoffman's bibliography and even just the way he brought high level but less uber-famous players to life offers fertile ground for those looking for further reading.
There are definitely sections I'll read again. His first-hand stories about the Kasparov/Karpov rivalry (really, all his stories involving either of the 'Ks') are a delight.