hardcore pawnography

so many good books about chess, most people have read them and know them. so i will do a book review that has nothing to do with chess, but if you twist stuff around, you can make it about chess..

the book is Sit down and Shut up by brad warner. the guy who wrote “hardcore zen.” here is the thing about this book and this guy.

while living in japan, i read about hardcore zen, bought the book, and it changed my life. it’s about the power of sitting in front of a blank wall thinking nothing. i did some reasearch and found out the guy who wrote it was another american living in japan, and i met him and he was the real deal. cool guy.

well, he wrote another book, and i just bought it. it goes a bit more in depth into buddhism and the power of sitting zazen (meditating). i am a catholic, devout, follow all the stuff. but i am a buddhist sympathizer. while i don’t agree with everything in the book, as it conflicts with my belief (i believe in a soul and an afterlife), the things in this book can make me a better person, better catholic, and perhaps a better chess player.

one of the ideas in the book is : you are resonsible for everything that happens to you, no matter how seemingly random they may seem. same in chess. the crappy ass position i find myself in is not just my opponenent’s will and doing, it is mine as well. if i suck and lose, it is as much my fault as his victory. perhaps it seems obvious but there is a deeper meaning there (at least to me).

another idea (which i am loosly interpreting and butchering) is the idea of the future. we waste energy worrying about the future, what will happen, when now is the only reality. i could worry that my opponent might fork me and i end up in a bad position, but the position on the board right now is the only reality, the only truth. yes, we plan for the future, yes we plan contingencies for what our opponent might do, but the position on the board is what i must concentrate on and react to, not phantom positions that may occur and may not. for all we know, our opponent might have a destroying move available, and before he plays it, he has a coughing fit and runs off to the bathroom, where he slips and conks his head, knocks himself out, and loses on time. we just don’t know. why waste time worrying about what could happen when the now is what is most important?

there are other things i could warp to fit into a chess analogy, but even without chess relevance, it’s a great book. even if you don’t believe in anything, the book has some great common sense points, and can affect your life for the better, if you are open to that sort of thing.

great book, well worth buying and reading once or twice.