Ree Hans. My Chess

Russell Enterprises, Inc., 2013. — 242 p. — ISBN: 978-1-936490-67-7.Every chessplayer has his memories.These memories are part of a private world that the player has created around him. In My Chess, Hans Ree describes this world. He delves into the past when he was still an active player. He portrays impressive Dutchmen from a distant past that he knew: grandmaster Hein Donner, writer Willem Frederik Hermans, psychologist and international master Johan Barendregt, singer Tabe Bas. Ree brings them to life through his refined penmanship.Ree expresses his fascination for art and literature when he writes about Vladimir Nabokov and Marcel Duchamp, both devotees of chess. But there is more: Ree remembers his old schoolfriend with whom he played endless series of games.He also reveals that he recorded games that he played against himself. I was particularly struck by this, as I had the same habit of inventing games when I was young. I did not present them as games against myself, though. In his chapter on chess cafés, Ree gives a gripping impresion of the atmosphere and the regular customers...After his career as a player, Ree became a chess journalist. He never really aspired to writing novels or biographies. When he visits Duchamp’s widow, he expresses his intention to write a biography about her late husband. Later on he changes his mind and leaves this work to others.Ree knows that his forte is the short story. In this field, his literary style blossoms to full advantage. Ree has a very economic use of words. He likes to interweave anecdotes in his stories. For a lesser writer, this might cause a problem, since the reader may get confused. Ree, however, does it in a purposeful way. As a result, My Chess is a treasury of stories and anecdotes.