Category Archives: chess and politics

Obama’s Impossible Chess Game

Posted on December 5, 2009 by

I have commented before on the way Barack Obama is portrayed as a “chess master” on the world political stage (see Obama as Chess Master and Obama as Chess Master, Part Two). Today GM Kevin Spraggett points us to a … Continue reading →

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Obama as Chess Master, Part Two

Posted on July 9, 2009 by

This week, Spiegel Online published an interview with Henry Kissinger (see “Obama Is Like a Chess Master“) that featured the following headline-grabbing exchange: SPIEGEL: Do you think it was helpful for Obama to deliver a speech to the Islamic world … Continue reading →

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Obama as Chess Master

Posted on February 10, 2009 by

I knew that someone would eventually write a column like Bob Herbert’s “The Chess Master” (The New York Times, February 9), presenting Barack Obama’s rational political strategy as equivalent to brilliant chessplaying. Not surprisingly, Herbert is not the first to … Continue reading →

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U.S.-Russian Diplomacy as Monopoly vs. Chess

Posted on September 1, 2008 by

For the past two years, I have been following a series of stories that depict U.S. – Iranian diplomacy as the story of poker-playing Americans trying to out-bluff Iranian chessplayers (see Texas Hold’em and Chess and Diplomacy). Spengler of the Asia … Continue reading →

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Sloan vs. Truong, et al.

Posted on November 22, 2007 by

Sam Sloan’s lawsuit (mentioned here last month) has received its first reply with the preliminary to a motion to dismiss filed by Proskauer Rose LLP on behalf of Truong et al. Other than the failure in parallel construction at the … Continue reading →

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Daniel Johnson’s "White King and Red Queen"

Posted on November 10, 2007 by

Daniel Johnson’s White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War was Fought on the Chessboard, reviewed quite favorably today by David Edmonds at the Times Online (with an extract) and recently by Sally Feldman (“Check Republics“) at New Humanist, … Continue reading →

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Kasparov on Bill Maher

Posted on October 21, 2007 by

Kasparov’s book tour continues, also serving (it appears) as a public relations campaign to solidify Western support behind his bid for the Russian presidency. It almost makes you glad that Kasparov has given up chess, since that means he is … Continue reading →

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Sloan vs. Truong / Polgar

Posted on October 14, 2007 by

I have not wanted to discuss this case, but it has become so newsworthy that it would be wrong not to mention it, especially as it will likely cast a pall over the US chess scene for some time to … Continue reading →

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"The Tsar’s Opponent" in The New Yorker

Posted on September 26, 2007 by

For those who wonder about the status of Garry Kasparov’s campaign for the Russian presidency, David Remnick’s “The Tsar’s Opponent: Garry Kasparov takes aim at the power of Vladimir Putin” (The New Yorker, October 1, 2007) makes an excellent and … Continue reading →

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Karna Small Bodman

Posted on September 16, 2007 by

Karna Small Bodman, who worked at the White House during the Reagan administration, has two recent novels with chess-related titles. They may interest readers who enjoy political thrillers.

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