5/27/2022 – With the accelerated shift from the written word to video content, some might feel that classic books are noteworthy only as historic footnotes in the evolution of chess. However, to do so is to not only deny yourself a deeper and richer culture, but also to overlook the invaluable lessons of the past. Here is a look at one of the great chess books and what makes it special.

1/13/2021 – You do not need to know the rules of chess to understand the metaphors of the game. In one of his many letters to his confidante and platonic friend Milena Jesenská (1896-1944), Franz Kafka made an excursion into the realm of chess to bare his soul and heart. Sergio Negri had a closer look.

4/18/2020 – Mexican writer Juan José Arreola was a master of brief subgenres, such as the short story, the epigram, and the sketch. He was also a huge chess fan. In this interview by JAVIER VARGAS PEREIRA from 1997, Arreola, with his usual wittiness, talks about why he devoted so much time to the game, explaining that "poetry and chess are impossible for man, they are beyond his reach". | Photo: El Universal México

5/31/2019 – Vladimir Nabokov was a fiction writer, a lepidopterist and a composer of chess problems, with his love for the royal game a transparent feature in his work. More than once, chess came up during his interviews and public appearances. With thanks to researcher Sergio Negri, we shed light on two of these appearances, when Nabokov gives some insights into his conceptualization of chess. | Picture: Graffiti of Vladimir Nabokov in Opatija, Croatia, via Wikimedia Commons. | Photo: Henry Kellner

10/31/2018 – On this All Hallows Eve, we examine the chess connections of one of literature's great spooky storytellers, the American author Edgar Allen Poe. (See part one!) Poe was curiously dismissive of chess, comparing it unfavourably to both draughts and the classic English card game Whist. In the process, he attempted to weigh the relative importance of calculation and analysis, and while he clearly misunderstood the game by our modern estimation, his work carries tremendous literary weight and influenced generations, including writers who would also use chess for its metaphorical powers in their stories.

10/31/2018 – On this All Hallows Eve, we examine the chess connections of one of literature's great spooky storytellers, the American author Edgar Allen Poe, beginning with his relationship to an original "chess costume" — The Turk. Poe discovered the chess-playing automaton during its American tour in the 1820s, and quickly became suspicious of its authenticity. He set about to unravel the mystery, which to this day offers a lesson in rationality and morality.

10/7/2018 – “Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly”. This phrase, extracted from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s ‘Little Prince’, has travelled all around the world, like its author had done while alive. The French writer and aviator was, incidentally, also very fond of chess. SERGIO NEGRI compiles quotes, anecdotes and interpretations that confirm this compelling, albeit unsurprising, connection.

8/24/2018 – Born at the very end of the 19th century, 119 years ago today, Jorge Luis Borges is a key figure in twentieth-century literature. The Argentine, known for his preciseness and rigour, thought very highly of chess. One of the most respected authors never to have received the Nobel Prize even wrote a poem dedicated to the royal game. SERGIO ERNESTO NEGRI recaps the links between chess and literature found in the renowned author's oeuvre.

6/27/2018 – One of the most popular writers in Europe — the most translated in the interwar period — Stefan Zweig escaped the Nazi regime as a prominent writer. Since he thought Hitler's threat would spread throughout the world, he emigrated repeatedly and visited South America several times, considering the continent "a promised land". An admirer of Argentina, he finally settled in Brazil, where he died in 1942. In this article, SERGIO NEGRI reviews his extensive and successful literary work, including the one that has chess as its fundamental protagonist, "Schachnovelle".

12/14/2017 – Geurt Gijssen is one of the most renowned chess arbiters and during his active time witnessed many dramatic and historical moments of chess history. In an interview Vlastimil Hort asked the veteran arbiter about his career, his passion for chess, and his take on incidents and scandals in recent chess history. | Photo: Gerhard Hund

9/12/2016 – David Foster Wallace, author, essayist, short story writer, and professor of English and creative writing, is considered to be one of the most influential and innovative modern American writers. Eight years ago, on 12th September 2008, Wallace, who throughout his life had been suffering from depression, committed suicide at the age of 46. In his career he wrote about a large variety of subjects and one of his major essays contains a short revealing passage about chess.