Today I’m happy to give a shout-out to one of the longtime fans of “dana blogs chess,” Helmut Froeyman of Belgium… or as you might know him from the many comments he left on my blog, “brabo.” Helmut, who is a FIDE Master, has written a blog of his own since 2012, and today he posted a review of my book, Did You Come Here to Play Chess or to Have Fun? If you don’t read Dutch, fear not: He has a widget in the side panel that will automatically translate the post into English.
Helmut brings up an issue that I wondered about as I was writing the book: Do I have any material in my blog that will be of interest to European readers? The U.S. chess culture is quite different from the European culture. The people I wrote about in my blog will be mostly unfamiliar to European readers. The rating system is different: when you see a USCF rating, you should generally subtract 50 to 100 points to get an equivalent FIDE (international) rating. The tournaments are run differently. In Europe, the standard is to play one round a day. In America, most tournaments (especially at the amateur level) are completed in one weekend, usually with two or three games a day. And on the master level, chess players receive more respect in Europe than America, or so I hear. A major chess tournament is a source of civic pride in the city where it is held, just as if it were a major tennis tournament or marathon race. (For just one example, see Wijk aan Zee.)
But one thing that unites all of our chess cultures is the power of friendship. I devoted several chapters in my book to the chess parties that were organized by my friend, Mike Splane. These monthly parties, usually with 10 to 15 attendees, allowed us to approach chess in a different way. Instead of playing games, we would talk about chess and analyze games. Instead of competing, we would try to support each other in our attempts to learn and improve. (Occasionally, to be sure, this support might take the form of vigorous disagreement over a particular position. That’s all right! That’s how you learn!) When you can share ideas in an atmosphere of respect, where nobody is on an ego trip, you can learn and at the same time you can have fun while learning. That is why the answer to the question in the title of the book is: yes, and yes!
I’m glad to see that this model of chess parties appealed to Helmut, and it even reminded him of a similar “study group” in his past. I would love to see Mike Splane’s chess parties become a model to players all over the world.
