Chess Board Options: A Memoir of Players, Games and Engines

by Larry Kaufman

Overview

Larry Kaufman can safely be called an exceptional chess grandmaster. He started out as a prodigy, however not in chess but as a whizz kid in science and math. He excels at Shogi (Japanese chess) and Go, and is also a world-famous computer programmer and a highly successful option trader. Remarkably, as a chess player he only peaked at the weirdly late age of fifty. Yet his victories in the chess arena are considerable. Over a career span of nearly sixty years Kaufman won the state championships of Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, D.C. and Pennsylvania. He was an American Open Champion and won the U.S. Senior Championship as well as the World Senior Championship.‘Never a great chess player’ himself (his words), he met or played chess greats such as Bobby Fischer, Bent Larsen, Walter Browne, Boris Spassky, Viktor Kortchnoi and many others. He worked as a second to legendary grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili, and coached three talented youngsters to become International Master, one of them his son Raymond.This engrossing memoir is rife with stories and anecdotes about dozens of famous and not-so-famous chess players. In one of the most remarkable chapters Larry Kaufman reveals that the American women chess player that inspired Walter Tevis to create the Beth Harmon character of Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit' fame, is his former girlfriend. You will learn about neural networks, material values and how being a chess master helps when trading options. And find lots of memorable but little-known annotated games.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789056919337
Publisher:	New in Chess
Publication date:	11/15/2021
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.31(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Larry Kaufman is an American Grandmaster. He has been involved in computer chess since 1967, when he worked on ‘MacHack’, the first computer that competed in tournaments with human players. More recently he has been working on the programs Rybka and Komodo. His book ‘Kaufman’s New Repertoire for Black and White’ is an acclaimed bestseller.

Table of Contents

Explanation of symbols 6

Introduction 7

Part I 20th century champions I have known 15

Chapter 1 Pre-World War II masters 16

Chapter 2 Bobby Fischer 22

Chapter 3 The 1972 U.S. Championship 28

Chapter 4 Bent Larsen 40

Chapter 5 Svetozar Gligoric 43

Chapter 6 Steve Brandwein 46

Chapter 7 Finding Beth Harmon 49

Chapter 8 Roman Dzindzichashvili 58

Chapter 9 Viktor Kortchnoi 61

Chapter 10 Walter Browne 64

Chapter 11 Boris Spassky 69

Chapter 12 Garry Kasparov 72

Chapter 13 Ken Rogoff, Mark Diesen, and Eugene Meyer 75

Part II My non-chess career: options, shogi, and other games 85

Chapter 14 Chess Options 86

Chapter 15 Shogi 91

Chapter 16 Other games 102

Part III My chess career and my students 107

Chapter 17 Memorable games 108

Chapter 18 The Baltimore versus Cuba match 123

Chapter 19 Three World Seniors 126

Chapter 20 My three students who became IMs 130

Chapter 21 Raymond Kaufman 135

Part IV Computer chess 139

Chapter 22 54 years with the chess engines 140

Chapter 23 Man vs Machine, 2020 145

Chapter 24 NNUE 167

Part V Various chess-related topics 173

Chapter 25 Chess ratings 174

Chapter 26 Openings 180

Chapter 27 Material values 183

Chapter 28 What are the odds? 187

Chapter 29 What is a won game? 202

Chapter 30 A new Armageddon chess 207

Chapter 31 Reforms 211

Chapter 32 The future 218

Index of names 221

Editorial Reviews

"I found this book a riveting read, especially parts 4 and 5, but then it covers a number of topics which are of particular interest to me. If the topics appeal to you too, or if you have a general love of chess culture, I'd give it a very strong recommendation. Fascinating, well written and, as usual with New in Chess, well produced."

British Chess News - Richard James

"The book is organized broadly in chronological order. The first thirteen chapters describe encounters with great players such as Gligoric and Kortchnoi (Kaufman gave Viktor a quick lesson to teach him the moves of shoji!). After a couple of chapters on his business career and adventures in shoji and other games, there are five chapters of his own memorable games and those of his best students (including his son Raymond!), and the last eleven chapters have an engine chess theme, including related topics such as making Armageddon fair and reforming chess to make it less drawish. I found the book very interesting to read."

New in Chess Magazine - Matthew Sadler

"State Champion at various times of Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, Larry Kaufman is these days largely known for his work on the Komodo engine. Less well known to European readers may be his background not just in computer science and programming, but finance and maths. He is also a formidable Go and shoji player and has now put pen to paper about his fascinating life. Kaufman reveals all about his relationship with Diana Lanni, said to be Walter Tevis's inspiration for Beth Harman, his games and meetings with a number of chess greats, including Fischer and Larsen, and what it was like to work for Roman Dzindzichashvili."

CHESS Magazine

"The American grandmaster is considered to be chess royalty. He has met and played against numerous elite players and knows the USA chess scene inside and out. The tabloid newspapers all picked up one chapter where Kaufman puts forward a convincing argument that the novelist Walter Nevis could have inspired to write about the character Beth Harmon due to his ex-girlfriend Diana Lanni. You get the chance to find out what he is thinking across a broad range of chess topics from coaching to opening analysis. Even his casual line "The King's Indian was a major top level defense, now it's rarely seen. I think this is primarily a result of the engines loving space" is a perceptive insight. He certainly has a point and his chapter on material values is another chance to stop and think about a topic that needs more discussion. There are plenty of black and white photos to help bring the topics to life. A chess treat for connoisseurs of the game."

ECF Newsletter - Gary Lane

"I really enjoyed reading Kaufman's latest book. Stories are the fabric of our lives and Kaufman's rich experience provides him with a lot of material. He writes like a man who has nothing left to prove, unpretentious. He is just sharing his wisdom and most memorable moments of his life. In the book, you can also read how the absence of one or both queens influences the value of the pieces. In Chapter 29, 'What is a won game?' Kaufman writes about the value of time and space in chess. As an example, in a match between top-level chess engines, Black is lost after 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 Nb8. It highlights the importance (especially for black!) to develop your pieces efficiently in the opening. I found this to be a very pleasant book to read. It is as if Kaufman is just telling you about what he experienced and learned in life. The style is light and non-technical. This makes it suitable for a wide audience."

Chess.com - Han Schut

"A fascinating story that links his chess games, personal experiences (including his role as a real figure portrayed in the movie The Queen's Gambit) and the development of chess engines in one single thread. Importantly, the author explains an often unappreciated contribution of chess engines to human chess praxis, the use of dynamic ways to play the game away from crude materialistic considerations. Chess Boards Options is a well written book by a qualified and knowledgable author that reaches an audience beyond the spheres of chess."

Florida Chess Quarterly - Miguel Ararat