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Chess for life

Would you like to know a fun fact? You know that online chess community that everyone is talking about? Back in the day, there were a few different suggestions for which hashtag we should use. As you all know, we arrived at the decision to use #ChessPunks, and the rest is history. But initially, this was not the leading suggestion. Instead, it was #Chess4Life, but for various reasons we had a new poll and got a different result. This has nothing to do with the book in this review, apart from the fact that they share the same name. But with slightly different conditions, we would have a thriving chess community with the same name as this book. That would have been a fun coincidence. So after this pointless introduction, you may have chosen to stop reading. But if, for some reason, you are still reading, I hope you enjoy this review.  

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What can you expect from this book?

Chess for life has the subtitle "Understanding how chess skills develop and change with the passage of time". When I first read this, I expected this to be a book about chess and aging in general. If you have made this same assumption, I can inform you that you would be precisely as wrong as I was. The book does cover the topic of aging related to chess skills, but in a rather narrow sense, with a focus on elite players. 

The book takes its starting point in a general discussion about how senior players maintain their playing strength and joy of playing. The book begins by stating three goals: (1) to examine how players are affected by age, (2) to identify techniques for coping with age-related changes, and (3) to demonstrate how players can "future-proof" their game.

The authors have chosen 13 players of which they paint a sort of chess portrait. They describe the players' lives and careers in chess and provide samples of their games.
  1. Pia Cramling
  2. John Nunn
  3. Jose Capablanca
  4. Judit Polgar
  5. Terry Chapman
  6. Jon Speelman
  7. Tony Miles
  8. Sergei Tiviakov
  9. Ingrid Lauterbach
  10. Nigel Short
  11. Nona Gaprindashvili
  12. Yasser Seirawan
  13. Keith Arkell
The book has a separate chapter for each player. The general structure of the chapters are similar. They start with a short biographical note that presents the player, which is then followed by an interview (of course, with the exception of the players that are no longer with us) and a recap of some of their most notable games. Some of the chapters end at that point, and others end with a short reflection and conclusion. 

The final chapter of the book gives a summary of all the conclusions from the interviews and game analyses in the previous chapters. Five topics are presented together with examples from each chapter:
  1. Enjoyment and motivation
  2. Training strategies
  3. Designing an opening repertoire with longevity
  4. Preparation for a game
  5. Practical approach at the board
These five topics are further summarized in the introduction of the book. 

I think the book does a good job at presenting the individual players along with their careers and how their approach to chess has changed over the years. One thing that seems a bit off is that some of the chapters contain various forms of analyses and statistics on their chosen openings. I am not really sure what to make of this, apart from seeing how certain players change their repertoires over time. However, this analysis is not provided in every chapter, which makes it hard to compare them to each other and draw general conclusions.

To my mind, this seems to reflect the fact that the book has two authors with slightly different perspectives on the content. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it seems to generate a notable variation between the chapters.

The main topic of the book is the effects of aging related to chess abilities, but the topic is addressed in two different ways. First of all, the book gives the individual players' perspectives on this topic, and how they have developed as chess players over the years. Secondly, the game analyses provides some insight to which openings are playable at different ages. With increasing age, the players report a decreasing "sharpness" in calculation, which has made them steer away from the tactically sharp openings that they may have preferred at a younger age, and instead opt for more quiet and flexible setups. 

With this in mind, the book can be read in different ways. First of all, you can read it as a biography, simply to get to know the players and their careers. Secondly, you could read it to find inspiration for creating a repertoire of your own, based on one or more of the players that are presented in the book. Finally, you could read the book as a general discussion on aging and chess, which seems to be the main ambition of the authors.

As I indicated in the beginning of this review, I do not think the authors succeed in adressing the general question of chess and increasing age. The reason for this is the selection of players that are featured in the book. Since all of them are (or have been) at the elite level, the observations that are made in the book are not necessarily generalizable to the average club player. This being said, I still think the book has some interesting points that are worth noting, even for us mere mortals.

Who should read this book?

Chess for life is aimed at readers interested in various aspects of aging and chess. This indicates that the target audience consists of players who already have passed their "optimal" chess age (if there is such a thing) or players who want to shore up their chess for the years to come. The book can also be read as a biography and game collection, which means that it could be enjoyed by anyone.

About this book

Author:Matthew Sadler & Natasha Regan
Title:Chess for life
Type of book:Biography, Game collection
Level:Any
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