London Review of Books article

[Richard James]

An article from the London Review of Books.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n03 ... rson/diary

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you, Richard. A lovely article, really well written, that beautifully captures many aspects of chess at many levels.

The article is On the Chess Circuit by Nicholas Pearson (an editor at John Murray) that is in large part about his son's journey into chess, but also quite a bit about the most recent two World Championship Finals.

[Simon Myles]

A nice read. A large part of the article is about his son Charlie, who I note came joint 1st in a rated section at last weeks' Blackpool congress, so it is seemingly no longer just long days in draughty church halls and school gymnasiums on the outskirts of London!

[Paul Cooksey]

Maybe I am gatekeeping, but I always find chess parent accounts a bit odd. A bit like someone writing a movie review focusing on what the cinema is like rather than the film.

[Angus French]

Maybe I am gatekeeping, but I always find chess parent accounts a bit odd. A bit like someone writing a movie review focusing on what the cinema is like rather than the film.

I think others - non-competitive players, parents of players... - are allowed their take. I like that Charlie is keen and enjoying playing - with a supportive Dad. Also, in my view, it's a well-constructed piece and I can relate, some, to the recounting of watching the last two world championship matches.

[Brian Beattie]

A nice read. A large part of the article is about his son Charlie, who I note came joint 1st in a rated section at last weeks' Blackpool congress, so it is seemingly no longer just long days in draughty church halls and school gymnasiums on the outskirts of London!

Blackpool is one of only a few tournaments where kids who perform well can become a candidate for a junior England team. As my son was the antagonist at the end of the article who prevented Charlie from achieving this feat at the LJCC I am happy that it appears Charlie was able to achieve this at Blackpool. I was unaware that Charlie has only been playing for two years as I thought he was just a younger player playing up. As such he should be quite proud of the achievement. As a chess parent myself I quite enjoyed the article certainly not expecting the ending.