Episode 226- Tim Krabbé — The Perpetual Chess Podcast

Tim Krabbé is a popular Dutch novelist who is probably best known for the cult cycling classic The Rider, and the book The Vanishing, which was adapted into film in both The Netherlands and the U.S.

In chess circles, Tim is a strong player who was once among the top 20 in the Netherlands, and he was a competitor in two Dutch National Championships. He has written for New in Chess Magazine, and wrote a classic (out of print) book called Chess Curiosities. Around the late 1990s and 2000s, Tim maintained an amazing blog which tracked chess news, shared stories and contained many noteworthy chess studies and records. Tim no longer updates the blog, but fortunately he maintains the archive, so that chess fans still can immerse themselves in it. Tim has accumulated some great stories from his interactions with legends like GMs Jan Timman, Garry Kasparov, and Vishy Anand. In our interview, he shares a few of the stories, assesses the chess boom, and shares his wisdom on the topics of writing, cycling, longevity, and of course, chess. Please read on for more details and relevant hyperlinks.

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0:00- We dive right into chess talk, as Tim shares his thoughts on the FIDE Candidates tournament, and discusses his current relationship with chess.

Mentioned: GM Anish Giri, GM Ian Nepomniatchtchi, Babson tasks , Episode 210 with Tom Vanderbilt. See Tom Vanderbilt’s profile of Tim Krabbé here-

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a20026829/think-you-understand-the-rider-think-again/

09:45- Tim made a comeback to cycling in his 60’s, and still works hard on his writing at the age of 78. What advice does he have for staying mentally and physically robust? This segues into Tim’s thoughts on the relative differences between chess, cycling, and racing.

16:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out their latest offerings here:

New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels in all - Chessable.com

16:45- Tim answers a few questions from The Patreon mailbag relating to whether there are any similarities between cycling and chess.

Mentioned: Marc Cavendish, GM Simen Agdestein, Tim’s article about Simen is here:

https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/agd_eng.htm

23:30- Tim tells the memorable story of how Bobby Fischer’s achievement’s deterred him from pursuing professional chess. He then tells a few stories derived from his attending the Fischer-Spassky World Championship in 1972.

Game 1 here-

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044722

Also mentioned: GM Friðrik Ólafsson

30:30- Patreon mailbag question: “How important does Tim think exercise is for competing at chess?”

34:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Check it out for free, and then, if you decide to subscribe, use the PromoCode Chess30 to save 30%.

35:00- What is Tim’s most cherished chess memory? What sites does he read?

Mentioned: Leonid Yarosh’s Babson Task- more info here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babson_task

Also mentioned: Chessbase.com, Chessvibes.com

40:30- What are Tim’s favorite chess books?

Mentioned: The King by GM Jan Hein Donner, Hein Donner, The Biography, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

44:00- What does Tim think about the future of chess?

Mentioned: GM Jan Timman, Read Tim’s chess short story, Master Jacobson, here:

https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/text/jacobson.htm

49:00- What advice does Tim have for how to tell a good story? Who are his favorite novelists?

Mentioned: Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Turgenev

53:00- Tim describes a memorable interaction with legendary World Champion Garry Kasparov.