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Fw: "Nabokov's Theme", Chess Life, March 2004, P. 25
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Bellino" <iambe@rcn.com>
> There are numerous scattered references to Nabokov in
> various chess books--e.g., M. Fox and R. James, The
> Complete Chess Addict, Faber & Faber 1987, where Nabokov
> qualifies for a a hypothetical "first team" composed of
> writers through the ages; one of his problems is given there
> also. Excerpts from SM and The Defense are reprinted in The
> 64-Square Looking Glass, ed. Burt Hochberg, an anthology of
> "the great game of chess in world literature."
>
> When I moved a couple of years ago I sold off most of my
> chess books, but I believe Nabokov is also mentioned in
> George Steiner's book on the Fischer-Spassky match of 1972.
> It would be interesting to know whether Nabokov followed
> this match, which, admittedly, probably didn't generate the
> level of hype and publicity in Switzerland that it did here
> in the U.S. But the combination of Fischer's waxing
> nuttiness and the extreme paranoia of Spassky's Soviet
> entourage might have caught his attention.
>
> None of these references adds anything to the excellent
> discussions by Gezari (Garland Companion 44-54) and DBJ
> (Worlds in Regression 79-111), but they do suggest that the
> VN connection is fairly well known among chess writers and journalists.
>
> Mary
>
From: "Mary Bellino" <iambe@rcn.com>
> There are numerous scattered references to Nabokov in
> various chess books--e.g., M. Fox and R. James, The
> Complete Chess Addict, Faber & Faber 1987, where Nabokov
> qualifies for a a hypothetical "first team" composed of
> writers through the ages; one of his problems is given there
> also. Excerpts from SM and The Defense are reprinted in The
> 64-Square Looking Glass, ed. Burt Hochberg, an anthology of
> "the great game of chess in world literature."
>
> When I moved a couple of years ago I sold off most of my
> chess books, but I believe Nabokov is also mentioned in
> George Steiner's book on the Fischer-Spassky match of 1972.
> It would be interesting to know whether Nabokov followed
> this match, which, admittedly, probably didn't generate the
> level of hype and publicity in Switzerland that it did here
> in the U.S. But the combination of Fischer's waxing
> nuttiness and the extreme paranoia of Spassky's Soviet
> entourage might have caught his attention.
>
> None of these references adds anything to the excellent
> discussions by Gezari (Garland Companion 44-54) and DBJ
> (Worlds in Regression 79-111), but they do suggest that the
> VN connection is fairly well known among chess writers and journalists.
>
> Mary
>