Book Review: THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT by Walter Tevis

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are a lot of chess books in my Kindle lately... and it's all because I was assigned to be the Chess coach of my school.

Two weeks ago, I only knew the basics.

But now, having read a bit more, and having finished THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, I think I'll be ready to compete in an actual contest soon! (And there are SO MANY of them in the Philippines!!!)

Just kidding.

I know I have YEARS of preparation should I ever want to enter a real match.

It gives me great joy to watch my students play. There's nothing like watching a child discover the thrill of intellectual activity!

This skill of imagining the chessboard is one that all competitive chess players seek to develop, and now there's algebraic notation to help players study the games of the masters, and record their own for self-review.

Any chess coach will tell you that part of the training lies in studying tactics. There are SO MANY! Beginning, mid and end game ones with cool names like The Queen's Gambit (an actual move!), or the similar sounding King's Gambit, or other beauties like the Caro-Kann Defense or Philidor's.

I think reading Beth Harmon's story, instead of watching it on Netflix, was more beneficial because it allowed me to take notes of the strategies employed in the games, which author Walter Tevis had doublechecked by National Grandmasters for accuracy.

When one thinks nineteen moves ahead, as Beth Harmon and her enemies do, then it's best to READ about the moves! Haha.

It must be said that the book (published in 1983) uses the old descriptive kind of notation (for example, "pawn to queen four"), as opposed to the simpler, algebraic notation used today (simply "d4"), and so it took quite a bit of time and effort to imagine the moves as Tevis wrote them. Thankfully, he writes about games in a delightful blend of cursory detail... just enough chess jargon to give one a sense of the personality of each player, but not as boring as reading competition annotations.

There is beauty in the game, and I marvel at the twists and turns of Fate that led me to discovering this late in life. But more importantly, I rejoice that I have years ahead with which to enjoy yet another gem of human experience.

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