Three Things I Like

Apart from chess

The King, by JH Donner

I first encountered The King by JH Donner at the second chess tournament I ever attended. I had won all the games at my first tournament, having been placed in an exclusively beginner section, but been warned the second tournament would be much harder, so I was nervous.

My dad took me to the tournament venue. There we met John Smalec, the owner of a local chess shop, who was guiding our path into the tournament scene. He would become my first coach. John was at the tournament selling a selection of chess books and wares. My dad was preoccupied with finding the pairings and playing hall, but when he picked up one book, I could feel his attention shift. I don’t know what page he opened to, but if he started from the beginning, he would have seen this:

Soon enough, we had to get on with the tournament. But we bought the book and took it home. For me, it became part of the lore of chess.

Donner was completely unhinged, which I like. He donated the biggest tournament prize of his career to the Viet Cong on the condition it only be used for machine guns, not humanitarian aid (this cost him a newspaper job). He expounded on a demented theory that women are bad at chess because they lack intuition. He regularly insulted his opponents in print.

But he had flare, and I appreciate that. He also had amazing stories about hanging out and playing with the best players in the world.