Older readers may remember me as a member of the chess community in the late 20th Century. I was active as a player, but also an author and chess teacher as well as a problem composer. For health reasons I retired from active play when I was about 40, making only the occasional ‘comeback’, as one does (if one can) …These days I still look at chess composition and discuss it on social media. I sometimes play online blitz, but I struggle a bit with mouse control due to some arthritis in my wrists.

In the last few weeks, having never done anything of the kind before, I have written lyrics for no less than four songs. How did this come about? Personally, I blame my wife, Maria. I think she has to take some responsibility for this. A few months earlier she initiated a routine where we read a little poetry to each other before going to sleep. One thing led to another and after a while I tried writing a poem for myself (not something I had done in any serious way before). The poem is about the ways we like to define or think about ourselves. I posted it on X (formerly known as Twitter), almost expecting some harsh, critical comments…Instead, not more than a few hours later, a chap called ‘kramnikstudent’ replied with the following link to a song and video which uses my poem as lyrics!

I was amazed. I had some earlier exchanges with ‘kramnikstudent’ regarding chess posts and knew he was a talented chess enthusiast, but at that stage I knew nothing more about him. I rather liked the music and video he had produced and of course, it flattered my ego that he had chosen to create it based on my little poem. I messaged him and asked him about how he had done such a thing, and so quickly! I was wondering if he played 22 different instruments and was a genius singer too. Turns out he does the video editing by hand, and the music he creates with the help of AI. I had no idea that was even possible (at least, not to that standard), and was still impressed, even after this admission that he was not some kind of musical genius.

I had a look at other chess-related song/videos that kramnikstudent had done. He had a whole channel of them, a significant body of work. The quality of the videos and music was, in general, excellent. The lyrics, mainly done with the help of AI, were much more variable. Sometimes good, sometimes not…Various chess related topics were covered, from famous players of old to recent controversies. You can click on the link from the above video to kramnikstudent’s channel if you want to see some of this material (it is nothing to do with me and, indeed, a week earlier I was not even aware these video/songs existed). Even if you dislike the music and lyrics, the video footage should be of real interest to chess players. There is even one about the history of ChessBase coming soon…(I am writing this article on March 24th 2025).

My curiosity was piqued…I worked on some lyrics for a song about Bobby Fischer and decided to message him again and ask if he would be interested in trying to turn it into another song/video. Fischer had always fascinated me.

Bobby Fischer in 1957 | Photo: Robert Walker, New York Times

Master Class Vol.1: Bobby Fischer

No other World Champion was more infamous both inside and outside the chess world than Bobby Fischer. On this DVD, a team of experts shows you the winning techniques and strategies employed by the 11th World Champion.

Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco delves into Fischer’s openings, and retraces the development of his repertoire. What variations did Fischer play, and what sources did he use to arm himself against the best Soviet players? Mihail Marin explains Fischer’s particular style and his special strategic talent in annotated games against Spassky, Taimanov and other greats. Karsten Müller is not just a leading international endgame expert, but also a true Fischer connoisseur.

How could someone so clear-thinking on the chessboard be so completely muddled when it came to matters other than chess? What was going on in that tormented brain of his? In the song I try to see things from his perspective…

Here are the lyrics I came up with:

Bobby Fischer Song

Hounded

I’m the great Bobby Fischer
I made the chessboard quiver
So maybe I did some holocaust denial
Now they want me put on trial

I was rated way higher than anyone
Based on the battles that I won
They steal my royalties and fix the game
Then they want to call me insane

Hey man, I can’t sing nor play guitar
Ain’t nobody gonna make me a rockstar
But whatever the hell is wrong with me
I wish they’d just leave me be

That Larsen, boy did I crush his ego
When I hit him with a torpedo
He got sunk a straight six-nil
With no draws or gestures of good will

Psychology was never my style
I leave that to the rank and file
I just like to make the moves
So that only my opponent disapproves

Hey man, I can’t sing nor play guitar
Ain’t nobody gonna make me a rockstar
But whatever the hell is wrong with me
I wish they’d just leave me be

They say I’m the greatest that’s ever been
I put my opponents in a tailspin
Then one day in Pasadena
They accuse me of some misdemeanour

I saw the board with such great clarity
All my moves preserved by posterity
Just why did they put me in a cell?
Like I was some kind of infidel

Hey man, I can’t sing nor play guitar
Ain’t nobody gonna make me a rockstar
But whatever the hell is wrong with me
I wish they’d just leave me be

They praised my play They praised my mind
But now my gambits are all declined
They said I had a genius IQ
Yet they don’t approve my worldview

Yeah I spat on the US of A
And now they want to make me pay
I saw things so clear on the board
And still they think I’m a retard

Hey man, I can’t sing nor play guitar
Ain’t nobody gonna make me a rockstar
But whatever the hell is wrong with me
I wish they’d just leave me be

Bobby Fischer on his way to become World Champion

I e-mailed the song to Skanda (kramnikstudent’s first name) and a little while later (not more than a few hours) he sent me the song and video he had done using them. I was very impressed, not just with the speed, but also the quality of what he had come up with. Maybe readers can listen/watch and judge for themselves:

The song/video got some nice feedback on social media from the handful of people that saw it and I was encouraged by this to suggest a collaboration with Skanda, where he does the music and videos and I write the lyrics. Skanda knew that AI generated lyrics were often a little irritating, so I think he was happy to have me on board.

Boris Spassky had passed away, aged 88, at the end of February this year, and Skanda was wanting to do a song celebrating his life.

Boris Spassky | Photo: Gerhard Hund

Master Class Vol.17 - Boris Spassky

In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.

So that is what we worked on next. Everything had clicked first time with the Fischer song but Spassky involved a bit more work with a few initial attempts being rejected. What we came up with was rather gentler and less hard edged than the Fischer song, both lyrically and musically. See what you think:

After that we had the idea to create a song about the Indian Premier League. Skanda is from India and cricket is enormous there and the IPL, as it is known, was just about to start. Since retiring from chess my main work in the last two decades involves betting on live cricket. My book on comedy was written when there was no cricket due to the Covid pandemic, but apart from that  period, I tend to watch a ridiculous amount of cricket. I thought it is something I know about and should be able to write some lyrics for. Turned out to be rather tricky and it took several rewrites before it fell into place. Like Peter Svidler, Nigel Short and many others, some readers may have an interest in both cricket and chess, so I will finish by placing a link to this song here as well: