THE IMMORTAL GAME: A HISTORY OF CHESS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

David Shenk | 352 pages | 13 Oct 2008 | Souvenir Press Ltd | 9780285638327 | English | London, United Kingdom The Immortal Game: A History of Chess PDF Download

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3. Category : Immortal game. Namespaces File Discussion. Views View Edit History. Main page Welcome Community portal Village pump Help center. Upload file Recent changes Latest files Random file Contact us. Download as PDF Printable version. Animation of the Immortal Game. Transferred from en. Karophyr at English Wikipedia. Attribution: Karophyr at English Wikipedia. Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its thirty-two figurative pieces, moving about its sixty-four black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1, years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful educational tool? Nearly everyone has played chess at some point in their lives. Its rules and pieces have served as a metaphor for society including military strategy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, literature, and the arts. In his wide-ranging and ever fascinating examination of chess, David Shenk gleefully unearths the hidden history of a game that seems so simple yet contains infinity. From its invention somewhere in India around A. Indeed as Shenk shows, some neuroscientists believe that playing chess may actually alter the structure of the brain, that it may for individuals be what it has been for civilization: a virus that makes us smarter. Read More. Nf5 c6 Sacrificing the bishop to gain the initiative, and to take advantage of the placement of black queen. Qf3 Ng8. Black is walking on ice - the knight retreat was necessary to avoid getting the black queen trapped. Position after White is ready for the attack! All of the black pieces have returned home except the queen - while white is getting fully developed and getting ready to attack. Both white knights are well posted and the pieces are starting to swarm around the black king. Offering up the a1 rook as bait - with check! White is weaving a mating net. Qxa1 A pawn move to cut the coordination of the black queen from the black position. Adolf Anderssen was one of the strongest players of his time and was considered by many to be the world champion after winning the London tournament. Kieseritzky was well known for being able to beat lesser players despite handicapping himself — by playing without his queen, for example. Played between the two great players at the Simpson's-in-the-Strand Divan in London, the immortal game was an informal one played during a break in a formal tournament. NPR Choice page

Position after 7. The black king in the center will come under heavy attack! Ignoring the rule knights on the rim are grim. Nh4 Qg5 9. Nf5 c6 Sacrificing the bishop to gain the initiative, and to take advantage of the placement of black queen. Qf3 Ng8. Black is walking on ice - the knight retreat was necessary to avoid getting the black queen trapped. Position after White is ready for the attack! All of the black pieces have returned home except the queen - while white is getting fully developed and getting ready to attack. Both white knights are well posted and the pieces are starting to swarm around the black king. Offering up the a1 rook as bait - with check! White is weaving a mating net. Qxa1 From history, Shenk moves into cognitive science, i. He acknowledges the great eras of chess play Romantic, Scientific, Hypermodern, and New Dynamism and offers respective strategies—his own forebear Samuel Rosenthal was a grandmaster. Analyzing his craft, a careful craftsman urges with Thoreauvian conviction that writers should simplify, simplify, simplify. In the early sections, the author ignores traditional paragraphing so that the text resembles a long free-verse poem. Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 "disinterested" means impartial — period , Strunk is in the last analysis Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in and revised by his student E. White in , that "little book" is back again with more White updatings. Already have an account? Log in. Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials. Sign Up. On the Silk Road, merchants transported cinnamon, pepper, horses, porcelain, gold, silver, silk, and other useful and exotic goods; they also inevitably blended customs picked up from various locales. It was the information highway of the age. No doubt many other games were invented and transported by the same roving merchants. But there was something different about chaturanga and chatrang. In a critical departure from previous board games from the region, these games contained no dice or other instruments of chance. Skill alone determined the outcome. In a world that had been forever defined by chaos and violence, this seemed to be a significant turn. It is clearly no coincidence that chaturanga's emergence happened around the same time as India's revolutionary new numeral system, rooted in the invention of the number zero. India's decimal arithmetic was the foundation of the modern numeral system, which served as a critical building block for the advancement of civilization. The new numeral system was a great breakthrough. But who or what could effectively convey it, in all of its nuance, to others? In the centuries to follow, chess carried the new math across the world. The early Islamic chess master al-Adli mentioned using a chessboard as an abacus—that is, as a tool to perform calculations based on the new Indian numerals. The Chinese and Europeans later used the chessboard in exactly the same way. In medieval England, accounts were settled on tables resembling chessboards, and the minister of finance was given the playful title "Chancellor of the Exchequer. Moreover, as in chess the battle is fought between Kings, so in this it is chiefly between two that the conflict takes place and the war is waged,--the treasurer, namely, and the sheriff who sits there to render account. Chess, like any great teaching tool, didn't create these sublime notions and complex systems, but helped make them visible. Math and other abstractions were just slippery notions floating in the air; chess, with its simple squares and finite borders, could represent them in a visual narrative played out on a tiny, accessible stage. Chess could bring difficult notions to life. Understanding, just as the ancient text said, was the essential weapon. Home 1 Books 2. Read an excerpt of this book! Add to Wishlist. Sign in to Purchase Instantly. Members save with free shipping everyday! See details. Overview A fresh, engaging look at how 32 carved pieces on a board forever changed our understanding of war, art, science, and the human brain. Read an Excerpt 1. Show More. Related Searches. Today, the basic precepts of criminal investigation—fingerprints, DNA, blood evidence—are known among professionals and lay Today, the basic precepts of criminal investigation—fingerprints, DNA, blood evidence—are known among professionals and lay people alike. But behind each of these familiar concepts is a fascinating story of the evolution of science and law, spearheaded by innovative thinkers, many View Product. A former Harvard professor of decision science and game theory draws on those disciplines in A former Harvard professor of decision science and game theory draws on those disciplines in this review of controversial strategic and tactical decisions of World War II. Allied leaders--although outstanding in many ways--sometimes botched what now is termed meta-decision making The Favorite Game. In this unforgettable novel, Leonard Cohen boldly etches the youth and early manhood of Lawrence In this unforgettable novel, Leonard Cohen boldly etches the youth and early manhood of Lawrence Breavman, only son of an old Jewish family in Montreal. Life for Breavman is made up of dazzling colour — a series of motion pictures Game Science in Hybrid Learning Spaces. Game Science in Hybrid Learning Spaces explores the potential, implications, and impact of game-based approaches Game Science in Hybrid Learning Spaces explores the potential, implications, and impact of game-based approaches and interventions in response to the blurring of boundaries between digital and physical as well as formal and informal learning spaces and contexts. The Immortal Game by David Shenk | Penguin Random House Audio

NOOK Book. A fresh, engaging look at how 32 carved pieces on a board forever changed our understanding of war, art, science, and the human brain. Chess is the most enduring and universal game in history. Here, bestselling author David Shenk chronicles its intriguing saga, from ancient Persia to medieval Europe to the dens of Benjamin Franklin and Norman Schwarzkopf. Along the way, he examines a single legendary game that took place in London in between two masters of the time, and relays his own attempts to become as skilled as his Polish ancestor Samuel Rosenthal, a nineteenth-century champion. He lives in Brooklyn. He ordered that it should be preserved in the temples, and held it the best thing that he knew as a training in the art of war, a glory to religion and the world, and the foundation of all justice. It is said that in ancient India, a queen had designated her only son as heir to the throne. When the son was assassinated, the queen's council searched for the proper way to convey the tragic news to her. They approached a philosopher with their predicament. He sat for three days in silent thought, and then said: "Summon a carpenter with wood of two colors, white and black. The philosopher instructed him to carve thirty-two small figurines from the wood. After this was done, the philosopher said to the carpenter, "Bring me tanned leather," and directed him to cut it into the shape of a square and to etch it with sixty-four smaller squares. He then arranged the pieces on the board and studied them silently. Finally, he turned to his disciple and announced, "This is war without bloodshed. Word quickly spread about the mysterious new invention, and the queen herself summoned the philosopher for a demonstration. She sat quietly, watching the philosopher and his student play a game. When it was over, one side having checkmated the other, the queen understood the intended message. She turned to the philosopher and said, "My son is dead. The queen turned to the doorkeeper and said, "Let the people enter to comfort me. Over and over, chess was said to have been invented to explain the unexplainable, to make visible the purely abstract, to see simple truths in complex worlds. Pythagoras, the ancient mathematician heralded as the father of numbers, was supposed to have created the game to convey the abstract realities of mathematics. The Greek warrior Palamedes, commander of troops at the siege of Troy, purportedly invented chess as a demonstration of the art of battle positions. Moses, in his posture as Jewish sage, was said to have invented it as a part of an all-purpose educational package, along with astronomy, astrology, and the alphabet. Chess was also considered a window into other people's unique thoughts. There is the legend of the great medieval rebbe, also a cunning chess player, whose son had been taken away as a young boy and never found. Many decades later, the rebbe was granted an audience with the pope. The two spoke for a while, and then decided to play a game of chess. In their game the pope played a very unusual combination of moves which, to any other opponent, would have been astonishing and overpowering. But the strange combination was not new to the rebbe; he had invented it, in fact, and had shared it only with his young son. The pope, they both instantly realized, was the rebbe's long lost child. And there are hundreds—maybe thousands—more. Hearing these stories, we care less about whether they are completely true and more about what they say. Myths, said Joseph Campbell, "represent that wisdom of the species by which man has weathered the millenniums. While chess is ostensibly about war, it has for 1, years been deployed as a metaphor to explore everything from romantic love to economics. Historians routinely stumble across chess stories from nearly every culture and era—stories dealing with class consciousness, free will, political struggle, the frontiers of the mind, the mystery of the divine, the nature of competition, and, perhaps most fundamentally, the emergence of a world where brains often overcome brawn. One need not have any passion for the game itself to be utterly captivated by its centuries of compelling tales, and to appreciate its importance as a thought tool for an emerging civilization. Chess is a teaching and learning instrument older than chalkboards, printed books, the compass, and the telescope. As a miniature reflection of society, it was also considered a moral guidepost. Yet another myth has chess invented to cure the cruelty of Evil-Merodach, a vile Babylonian king from the sixth century b. Desperate to curb the brutality of his new leader, the wise man Xerxes created chess in order to instill virtues and transform him into a just and moral ruler: Here is how a king behaves toward his subjects, and here is how his grateful subjects defend their just king. Separately, each chess myth conveys a thousand truths about a particular moment in time where a society longed to understand something difficult about its own past—the source of some idea or tool or tradition. Taken together, they document our quest to understand—and explain—abstraction and complexity in the world around us. The paradox of illuminating complexity is that it is inherently difficult to do so without erasing all of the nuance. As our developing civilization faced more intricate facts and ideas in the early Middle Ages, this was a fundamental challenge: to find a way to represent dense truths without washing out their essence. This ancient challenge is, of course, also very contemporary, and, as we will see, makes chess fundamentally relevant in the Age of Information. The very oldest chess myths point toward its actual origins. One story portrays two successive Indian kings, Hashran and Balhait. The first asked his sage to invent a game symbolizing man's dependence on destiny and fate; he invented nard, the dice-based predecessor to backgammon. The subsequent monarch needed a game which would embrace his belief in free will and intelligence. He made mathematical calculations on chess, and wrote a book on it. He often played chess with the wise men of his court, and it was he who represented the pieces by the figures of men and animals, and assigned them grades and ranks. The game of chess became a school of government and defense; it was consulted in time of war, when military tactics were about to be employed, to study the more or less rapid movements of troops. The reference to "mathematical calculations" is particularly noteworthy, as math comes up over and over again in many of the oldest chess legends. One tale, known as "The Doubling of the Squares," tells of a king presented with an intriguing new sixty-four-square board game by his court philosopher. The king is so delighted by chess that he invites the inventor to name his own reward. Oh, I don't want much , replies the philosopher, pointing to the chessboard. Just give me one grain of wheat for the first square of the board, two grains for the second square, four grains for the third square, and so on, doubling the number of grains for each successive square, up to the sixty-fourth square. The king is shocked, and even insulted, by what seems like such a modest request. He doesn't realize that through the hidden power of geometric progression, his court philosopher has just requested 18,,,,,, eighteen quintillion grains of wheat--more than exists on the entire planet. The king has not only just been given a fascinating new game; he's also been treated to a powerful numbers lesson. This widely repeated story is obviously apocryphal, but the facts of geometric progression are real. Such mathematical concepts were crucial to the advancement of technology and civilization--but were useless unless they could be understood. The advancement of big ideas required not just clever inventors, but also great teachers and vivid presentation vehicles. That's apparently where chess came in: it used the highly accessible idea of war to convey far less concrete ideas. Chess was, in a sense, medieval presentation software—the PowerPoint of the Middle Ages. As a chess novice, I found this view eye-opening. This is an excellent work for anyone who plays chess or even just has a passing interest in a game that practically marks modern civilization. Jan 20, Gabriel Congdon rated it liked it. Yeah I really got bring out my A material here. This book as reviews and 3 likes gets ya top billing. Tough crowd. The writer places themselves at the center. The town elders went to the philosopher to ask how they should break the news to the queen. The philosopher thought for three days then asked the palace carpenter to whip together a checker board with some figurines. Thank you for telling me in such a cool way. Tell the people I am ready for them to comfort me in my grief. The two pieces that have remained the same from the earliest form of the game……drum roll please, this is my best anecdote……the knight and the rook! The bishop use to be an elephant that could jump a space a flying elephant. And the queen, back in her wayward years, used to be a jester. That is, until the reign of Isabelle I of Castile. Duchamp and Beckett, chess BFFs. Aint that fit as a fiddle? In the first Harry Potter movie, when they have the chess match, that sequence is so lame. Voltaire loved chess and played the unusual tactic of using his king as his primary offense. Some games, it was the only piece he played. He also made the habit of playing on the graves of his enemies. Marx loved chess and often tried to queen every one of his pawns. It was an idea that had a profound effect on his chess game and why no one wanted to play with him. But I did lose at lot of those matches, so the better kid won. View 2 comments. Sep 02, Benjamin Zapata rated it it was amazing. A well-researched charming introduction to the beautiful game of chess,a game that has captivated people for nearly 1, years. David Shenk takes us on a trip millennia back and light-years ahead to find out how 32 carved pieces on a board illuminated our understanding of almost everything,from religion,art,mathematics,literature,to artificial intelligence and beyond. Indeed,as Shenk shows,some neuroscientists believe that playing chess may actually alter the structure of the brain,that it may b A well-researched charming introduction to the beautiful game of chess,a game that has captivated people for nearly 1, years. Indeed,as Shenk shows,some neuroscientists believe that playing chess may actually alter the structure of the brain,that it may be for individuals what it has been for civilization:a virus that makes us smarter. Awesome indeed, Being a chessplayer myself,I really enjoyed this book,fresh and smart. It was a revelation to see how chess took over the life of Marcel Duchamp,with him going so far as to give up his art,which had made him the most influential artist of the twentieth century,even his wife,in Duchamp married Lydia Sarazin-Lavassor,a young heiress. On their honeymoon he spent the entire week studying chess problems. Infuriated,his bride plotted her revenge. When Duchamp finally drifted off to sleep late one night,Lydia glued all of the pieces to the board. They were divorced three months later. Full of wonderful anecdotes,this book is a strong move,wonderful reading! View 1 comment. Jan 26, Ciro rated it it was amazing. Chess is the simply the most important game in the history of the world. Bobby Fischer did nothing wrong. Nov 18, Chelsea rated it liked it. The Immortal Game covers the long and meandering history of chess in an easy to read narrative that parallels a particular game played by two chess masters in the mid s in London. The book includes detailed discussions on the rules and strategies of chess as well as its significance in relation to human understanding at different points in history. The Immortal Game of the title seems to end anticlimactically, echoing a somewhat stilted conclusion to the otherwise graceful narrative. Additi The Immortal Game covers the long and meandering history of chess in an easy to read narrative that parallels a particular game played by two chess masters in the mid s in London. Additionally, there are sections where the parallel between the particular game moves and the accompanying history are more awkward than others, but overall the evidence is strong and the argument eloquent. While the author's personal involvement in the story is established early in the book, his rhetorical struggle with his own feelings about the game seem a bit indulgent and interrupt the story. Thankfully, these interruptions are few and brief. The average player is not likely to improve his or her game by reading this book, however, most readers from non-player to advanced will gain a greater understanding of how chess has shaped different facets or our global society from the time of it's invention and why people continue to play this complex game nearly two thousand years later. Oct 09, Mauricio rated it it was amazing Shelves: history , sports-games. Yes this book gets into the History of Chess but really it is about a specific game played on June 21, between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky, two world chess champion candidates playing a tune-up match in a pub in London. The author sets the stage and describes the game move-by-move. You don't have to be an expert to appreciate the beauty of this particular game, it was won with brilliant sacrifice and combination in a wide open style. Halfway through this book I knew I was going t Yes this book gets into the History of Chess but really it is about a specific game played on June 21, between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky, two world chess champion candidates playing a tune-up match in a pub in London. Halfway through this book I knew I was going to learn and start playing this game, my only regret is that I started playing so late in life. Starting so late, I know I will never become an expert at chess but I don't think I will mind that so much. Oct 27, Ken rated it really liked it. I picked this up from the library based on a recommendation from Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics blog. I've always had a fascination with chess as a cultural phenomenon, although I've never been more than an occasional, mediocre player. Anyhow, this is a really fascinating history of chess, told in that post-modern way of jumping back and forth in time, between the ""straight"" historical account, the author's own experience with the game, and a move-by-move account of a famous game -- the so-ca I picked this up from the library based on a recommendation from Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics blog. Anyhow, this is a really fascinating history of chess, told in that post-modern way of jumping back and forth in time, between the ""straight"" historical account, the author's own experience with the game, and a move-by-move account of a famous game -- the so-called ""Immortal Game"" between Anderssen and Kieseritzky in a London cafe in Along the way are dozens of neat anecdotes and analyses of chess in history. How did the game evolve over time? How did the Russians and Nazis both attach cultural significance to the game? Why did so many Jewish players make seminal contributions to the game? In a way, this book becomes one of those fun kinds of history books; we meet figures from Marcel Duchamp to Benjamin Franklin, as well as several Middle Eastern kings. It's history told through a narrow lens, which we've seen before in books like ""Cod"" and ""Salt"" and a bunch of others, but because of Chess' more broad penetration Chess is today known in every corner of the Globe, says Shenk it comes across as a more useful perspective than some others. Feb 08, Christian rated it really liked it. For the next six weeks, I'll be teaching chess to elementary students as part of an after-school program. Since I'm not much of a chess player, I decided to take a crash course in the game and familiarize myself with some of its broad concepts. This book is pretty much exactly what I needed. Shenk tells the stories of chess from its origins probably in Persia, maybe in India to the present day and beyond. His touch is light, which lets him cover a huge amount of information without bogging do For the next six weeks, I'll be teaching chess to elementary students as part of an after-school program. His touch is light, which lets him cover a huge amount of information without bogging down at all. The role of chess in world history is maybe a teensy bit overstated, but, as the showdown in '72 between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky suggested, the immortal game continues to be a perfect metaphor for conflict, debate, intrigue, a battle of minds - you name it. And, conveniently, Shenk spends a little time in a classroom at the end of the book, observing a chess teacher explain the game to a group of elementary students as part of an after-school program. So yes, pretty much exactly what I needed. Jun 23, Chris rated it it was ok. If it hadn't been for the glowing reviews, I probably wouldn't taken the chance on this. Chess certainly can be overexposed, but this promised good writing with fresh incites that revitalized our perspective on the game. At best is was an ok magazine article. Not that the subject isn't worthy. I just found the writing thin, without the author bringing much to the table then his own family history's link with chess and his recent attempts to retake up the game. All the relevant material Yikes. All the relevant material was drawn from previous books, without any new conclusions based on this collected information. At times it felt more like a book report: this book talks about this, this author writes that, therefore, I think so too. It was the type of book that made you want to read the sources to get to the real meat. Call it a chess beach read. Apr 30, Colin Gooding rated it it was amazing. This was a surprisingly fantastic book. I love the way it's written, something about the language just made my want to keep reading and the structure of using parts of the Immortal Game to introduce new topics and aspects of the game of chess was a really neat device, and the way he described the Immortal Game itself made me keep reading through the beginning of the next chapter before stopping for the night. It also helps that the author seems to have the same outlook on chess as I do: He finds This was a surprisingly fantastic book. It also helps that the author seems to have the same outlook on chess as I do: He finds it fascinating, but daunting. He'd like to be good at it, but he wants to play without studying opening moves and established strategy. Apr 24, Paul rated it it was amazing Shelves: chess. This is a great book that is accessible to all, not just chess nerds. The author structures it around the most famous game of chess maybe ever the Immortal Game. This is a clever technique and I highly recommend this book. Aug 21, robomatey rated it really liked it. I've recently become geeked out about chess. Most of the stuff I've read has felt as grueling as a textbook, but Shenk's book is engaging and enthusiastic. On my last trip to the library, I did something I almost never do: I chose a book simply because it sounded interesting. Because I can only accept so much spontaneity, however, I did verify that it had a decent Goodreads rating before taking a chance on it. I wanted to listen to some nonfiction, so why not a history of a chess. Reader, I made the right choice. David Shenk finds that he has a personal connection to the game of chess, as one of his ancestors was a chessmaster. And so he delves int On my last trip to the library, I did something I almost never do: I chose a book simply because it sounded interesting. And so he delves into the history of the game and we are all the more enlightened for his sharing of his findings. Shenk begins at the beginning, sifting through multiple origin stories, none of which can be the whole truth but all of which come together to evoke an appealing narrative of how the game was born, be it in India or Persia or both independently. We follow the game as it reaches Europe and evolves in the sort of cultural appropriation I would say cultural exchange, but it's not like the Europeans gave anything back to the brown people who invented the game that has peppered world history in the Shenk does not interrogate this aspect of the history of chess too deeply, though he does make an ironic observation about Christians playing chess during the Crusades to relax after slaughtering the Muslims who invented the game. Tracking the game throughout world history was fascinating enough, but a large chunk of the book focuses on what the game means beyond those 32 carved pieces on a board. The obvious metaphorical implications and its connection to war. The strategies involved and how it helps us understand how the human brain works did you know chess is responsible for cognitive science as a field. The basic philosophies of chess and its interpretation by artists in various media. It's just a simple game, but, as Shenk points out early on, what other game has endured for years? To tie the book together with a narrative backbone, Shenk takes us through the titular Immortal Game, a famous chess game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky in London in Move by move, he explains how and why each player does what he does, in addition to expounding upon the rules and strategies of chess and their evolution and study through the years like entire books being written on opening moves [by which I mean a book on an opening move]. While John H. Mayer's audio recording is always engaging, finding the perfect balance of simple narration and personality, I did have some trouble following descriptions of chess moves; I assume the print book has accompanying visuals to guide the reader. Regardless, toward the end of game, I was literally cursing and shouting at the moves being made and screaming when a chapter ended on a cliffhanger. I've never been so fucking invested in a chess game, what the hell. For anyone looking for a great nonfiction book that highlights both individuals and culture and touches on art and science while also giving a greater appreciation for a topic you've never thought too deeply about, I absolutely recommend The Immortal Game. It made me want to play some fucking chess for the first time in years, and I can't think of a better endorsement. I loved this book. Probably it is only 4 stars if you don't care much about chess and 3 stars if you don't know a bishop from pawn, but that is still saying something about how well done the book is. The history of chess and how an ancient game is interwoven with the development of so many other aspects of the evolution of thought, innovation, societal and cultural evolution, the understanding of human memory, and it's huge significance in the development and measurement of computing power and a I loved this book. The history of chess and how an ancient game is interwoven with the development of so many other aspects of the evolution of thought, innovation, societal and cultural evolution, the understanding of human memory, and it's huge significance in the development and measurement of computing power and artificial intelligence was sort of astonishing to me. I was playing chess as a child further back than I can remember reading. I have very early memories of discovering new tactics losing to my older brothers and my Grandmother, who played so fiercely with her knights that she would happily sacrifice her queen to preserve them. So I largely have taken Chess for granted. This book, which I picked up by chance at Half Price Books after playing more frequently with my son, has given me new appreciation. The author's great great grandfather was a legendary player in France in the 19th Century. He was one of those astonishing masters who would play a roomful of people simultaneously while blindfolded. While not a focus of the book, that story is interesting too. Shenk weaves into the narrative of each chapter one of the most famous chess matches ever played, Anderssen vs Kieseritzky , and it is a truly delightful way to demonstrate the beauty of chess as the book progresses. I hope to share this book with friends who have any interest in reading to see if they enjoy it even half as much as I did, which would still be a great amount. This was a great read! I learned how to play chess as a kid but never got that good. As soon as my little brother was regularly beating me in chess I stopped. Then several years ago, I think in the early-mid s, a group of friends started playing app-based internet chess non-stop including my little brother, who still consistently beat me. Like, sooo many concurrent and simultaneous games, sometimes multiple games against a single person at once. I think this book has re-ignited that This was a great read! I think this book has re-ignited that interest. This was a great little history of the game. The book is laid out as follows: chapter by chapter, Shenk walks you through the history of chess. At the end of each chapter, he walks you through a few moves of "The Immortal Game", which apparently was Adolf Anderssen v. Lionel Kieseritzky, played in London in The history was light, interesting and engaging and "playing out" the Immortal Game was an incredible way to create some tension in a non-fiction book! Shenk hinted at the outcome but I was eager to finish each chapter to see what the next moves were. For both the history and the game walkthrough, I think I was the right audience level, someone with an interest but no expertise. Shenk gives the beginner a primer on written chess notation, but there are pictures for every move, and he does a great job bringing the game to life and creating suspense around the outcome. Thanks Joel for the rec! View all 4 comments. Nov 28, Opetoritse rated it really liked it. A brisk yet engaging tour through chess's long and storied history. Shenk gives ample attention to the intellectual, philosophical, and at times almost spiritual qualities of the game, accessibly illustrating how it has remained relevant for over 1, years. I was pleased that a fair amount of attention is given to the ancient Indian and Middle Eastern societies in which the game originated and flourished for the first third of its life. Shenk's inclusion of his personal journey with the game f A brisk yet engaging tour through chess's long and storied history. Shenk's inclusion of his personal journey with the game further humanized the narrative, at times giving the impression that he is learning right along side you. His account of the eponymous Immortal Game is at times blended into the themes of the surrounding chapters, but at others feels choppy and of place. The appendix also contains many useful resources including Benjamin Franklin's "The Moral of Chess" and a selection of famous games. Jun 27, Matthew rated it liked it. Quick easy read, lacking in real meat, but not without interest. Don't regret reading it, but at the same time there must be better books on the subject. Has some good information. Despite being put off initially I came to enjoy the structure: immortal game vs. Flabby writing to the point I almost gave up, often overly adjectival and superlative. Jul 28, Yesmo rated it liked it. Yeah, I liked it. An excellent an indispensable history of the game. The author weaves together his centuries-long narrative with the moves played in in London between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritsky that journalists quickly and presciently dubbed "The Immortal Game. Dec 20, Lew Watts rated it really liked it.

Immortal Game - Wikipedia

Pub Date: Sept. Page Count: Publisher: Doubleday. No Comments Yet. More by David Shenk. Pub Date: Aug. Page Count: Publisher: Knopf. Show all comments. More by Verlyn Klinkenborg. Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 "disinterested" means impartial — period , Strunk is in the last analysis whoops — "A bankrupt expression" a unique guide which means "without like or equal". Page Count: Publisher: Macmillan. Review Posted Online: Oct. Please sign up to continue. Truths and ideas on how these truths connect together, relate to us, affect the culture where they developed and impact mankind in general. The perfunctory, even if astutely written, history presented by Mr. Shenk was a necessary feature particularly since the book is targeted towards the general population. But the history contains only the facts and telling facts was not the book's raison d'etre. The power of this book, and the thing that kept me turning it's pages, was the perceptive, and sometimes surprising, glimpses into some of the truths that the history conceals. Nxe7 seems a much better move Rf1 Rf8. We follow Mr. Shenk as he sketches chess on its long migratory sojourn from Persia to Spain accompanying the caches of ancient knowledge, often as a means of conveying, or at the least reflecting, that knowledge. We follow him as he traces chess through time with such diverse guides as Fra Jacobus de Cessolis, John Locke, Alfred Binet, Ben Franklin, Marcel Duchamp and Vladimir Nabokov until we reach the present and anticipate the future of this seemingly endless, nearly infinite , immortal game. The End Game. This game really has no striking endgame phase as it ends abruptly with a tactical coup. Nbd2, such a quiet move Within the framework of Anderssen's Immortal Game, Mr. Shenk employed a sub-text of his own venture into the world of Chess, trying to understand its connection to the cultures it touched as well as his own personal connection to his ancestor, Samuel Rosenthal. As his understanding grew, mirroring the historic developmental stages of the game, he became increasing aware of the complexity, the depth and the potentially addictive appeal that chess possesses - something one can only really taste through immersion. Qe7 But the end is just a new beginning. Today, it's still a game for the intellect, even a scale on which to measure the intellect. New technology, technology that chess helped to develop, has in turn changed the way chess is played as well as the direction chess is likely to follow. The Post - Mortem. Chess, out of respect and necessity, is generally played in austere silence. This is the post-mortem phase where the game is analyzed and discussed. The Immortal Game , comprised of pages, seems too thin for its contents. This can only be explained by the tightness of Mr. Shenk's writing. The cover features an immense black rook with the title a long title reminiscent of those of early chess books presented in an eternal circle. A content list in the front and an index in the back help in navigating the pages. In addition to the text of the book, Mr. Switch to the ebook. A surprising, charming, and ever-fascinating history of the seemingly simple game that has had a profound effect on societies the world over. Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its thirty-two figurative pieces, moving about its sixty-four black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1, years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful educational tool? Nearly everyone has played chess at some point in their lives. Its rules and pieces have served as a metaphor for society including military strategy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, literature, and the arts.

https://files8.webydo.com/9585903/UploadedFiles/A5C32A7B-7310-F4F2-3E95-7C825089E859.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9588745/UploadedFiles/ECCED09A-26B4-FD1F-5673-FDD9EF25D66F.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4640303/normal_6021398511c16.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4642163/normal_60214ef292145.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9586331/UploadedFiles/52425403-A122-CF18-E21C-50B7C593D5CF.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4637359/normal_601f9bede33ff.pdf https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/b51cfc08-6a47-47e8-a9d5-d6be8c085198/der-entwicklungsgang-des-deutschen-schauspiels-1879- 352.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9587903/UploadedFiles/3ED844CE-7DAB-8628-1AF9-F1BC673A149A.pdf