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In the tiny Russian province of Kalmykia, obsession with chess has reached new heights. Its leader, a charismatic and eccentric millionaire/ex-car salesman named Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is a former chess prodigy and the most recent president of FIDE, the world's controlling chess body. Despite credible allegations of his involvement in drug running, embezzlement, and murder, the impoverished Kalmykian people have rallied around their leader's obsession -- chess is played on prime time television and is compulsory in Kalmykian schools. In addition, Kalmyk women have been known to alter their traditional costumes of pillbox hats and satin gowns to include chessboard-patterned sashes. The Chess Artist is both an intellectual journey and first-rate travel writing dedicated to the love of chess and all of its related oddities. Writer and chess enthusiast J.C. Hallman explores the obsessive hold chess exerts on its followers by examining the history and evolution of the game and the people who dedicate their lives to it. Together with his friend Glenn Umstead, and African-American chess master who is arguably as chess obsessed as Ilyumzhinov, Hallman Tours New York City's legendary chess district, crashes a Princeton Math Department game party, challenges a convicted murderer to a chess match in prison, and travels to Kalmykia, where they are confronted with members of the Russian intelligence service, beautiful translators who may be spies, seven-year-old chess prodigies, and the sad blight of the land struggling toward capitalism. - Jacket flap.
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Edition | Availability |
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1
Chess Artist: Genius, Obsession, and the World's Oldest Game
2013, St. Martin's Press
in English
1466852232 9781466852235
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2
The Chess Artist: Genius, Obsession, and the World's Oldest Game
October 14, 2004, St. Martin's Griffin
Paperback
in English
031233396X 9780312333966
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3
The Chess Artist: Genius, Obsession, and the World's Oldest Game
September 22, 2003, Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover
in English
0312272936 9780312272937
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Book Details
First Sentence
"THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS ARE NOT CALLED RULES."
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