Campos de fuerza. Fischer y Spasski en Reykjavik, 1973

by George Steiner

En 1972, en plena Guerra Fría, tuvo lugar en Reykjavik el que sería el campeonato de ajedrez más famoso de la historia, que enfrentó a Fischer, estadounidense y egomaníaco, contra Spassky, ruso e introspectivo.
George Steiner estuvo presente y escribió este increíble ensayo. Ensayo que satisfará a los amantes de este deporte y hará de todos aquellos que nunca lo han tenido en cuenta aprendices de un arte mucho más apasionante de lo que jamás llegaron a imaginar.

Genres: Chess

123 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

George Steiner was a French and American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator whose work explored the relationship between language, literature, and society, with a particular focus on the moral and cultural consequences of the Holocaust. Multilingual from an early age, Steiner grew up speaking German, English, and French, and studied the classics under his father, while overcoming a physical handicap with his mother’s encouragement. His family relocated to the United States during World War II, an experience that shaped his lifelong reflections on survival, morality, and human cruelty. He studied literature, mathematics, and physics at the University of Chicago, earned an MA at Harvard, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Steiner held academic posts across Europe and the United States, including Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva, Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative European Literature at Oxford, and Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard, teaching in multiple languages. A prolific writer, he produced influential works in criticism, translation studies, and fiction, including Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, and The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., blending historical insight with philosophical reflection. His essays and books explored the power and ambivalence of human language, the ethical responsibilities of literature, and the persistence of anti-Semitism, while his fiction offered imaginative examinations of moral and historical dilemmas. Steiner was celebrated for his intellectual breadth and lecturing style, described as prophetic, charismatic, and sometimes doom-laden, and he contributed extensively to journals such as The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, and The New Yorker. He was married to Zara Steiner, with whom he had two children, David and Deborah, both of whom pursued academic and public service careers. Steiner’s work remains widely respected for its integration of rigorous scholarship, ethical inquiry, and literary sensitivity, marking him as one of the foremost thinkers in twentieth-century literature and comparative studies.

Reviews

[Oscar Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es difícil para mí asumir la emotividad con que Steiner narra la partida que disputaron en Reykjavik Bobby Fischer y Boris Spasski, llamada "la partida del siglo" en 1972. Esto porque soy un neófito en el ajedrez y mi visión del juego es unilateral, diríase binaria, a la sazón de un ordenador bastante precario. Aun así, resulta fascinante a la vez que ensombrecedor adentrarse en el paroxismo que el juego engendra en no pocos jugadores, al punto de lo que, sin duda alguna, ha llegado a significar la demolición absoluta del alma de los ajedrecistas más implacables. El caso por antonomasia es Bobby Fischer.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and competent history of the famous 1972 chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland. This match--which featured appalling behavior from Fischer and scrupulous sportsmanship from Spassky--not only permanently changed the economics of chess, but it became a metaphor for the cultural and political differences between the Soviet Union and the USA.

Before getting to the many dr... [see the rest on my book review site.]

[Giovanni Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely.

[Armando Urquiola Cabrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me parece lo mejor que he leído sobre ajedrez, además de Novela de Ajedrez (Stefan Zweig) y "La batalla de las ideas en ajedrez". Resume un poco toda la historia más reciente del ajedrez sin entrar en demasiados detalles hasta el encuentro por la corona de Fischer y Spasski... Nos falta una segunda parte todo lo que vino después pero que se relata muy bien en el libro "Endgame (final de partida). El espectacular ascenso y descenso de BOBBY FISCHER" por Frank Brady.

[Vinz Mar]

Emocionante