If Chess Players were short story writers… here’s my take on the subject.
Morphy: Edgar Allan Poe. Romantic genius, very tactical, full of surprises. A little outdated now.
Chekhov: Steinitz. A big influence for everyone else.
Capablanca: Hemingway. Simple, beautiful, elegant and direct.
Bobby Fisher: Salinger. A natural talent, a cut above the rest.
Mikhail Tal: Paul Auster, may be Murakami Haruki. Full of complications, strange moves and sacrifices that are very pretty and pyrotechnical, but not always sound (they do the job most of the time, nonetheless)
Tigran Petrosian: Phillip Roth. Always sound, no mistakes. Kind of slow, sometimes, may be? But very, very solid.
Magnus Carlsen: David Foster Wallace. You know he is very good, probably the best, but you have problems understanding some of the moves (words).
Kafka: Vassily Ivanchuk. The weird kid on the block. But he can be a match for any of the others (sometimes).
Morphy: Edgar Allan Poe. Romantic genius, very tactical, full of surprises. A little outdated now.
Chekhov: Steinitz. A big influence for everyone else.
Capablanca: Hemingway. Simple, beautiful, elegant and direct.
Bobby Fisher: Salinger. A natural talent, a cut above the rest.
Mikhail Tal: Paul Auster, may be Murakami Haruki. Full of complications, strange moves and sacrifices that are very pretty and pyrotechnical, but not always sound (they do the job most of the time, nonetheless)
Tigran Petrosian: Phillip Roth. Always sound, no mistakes. Kind of slow, sometimes, may be? But very, very solid.
Magnus Carlsen: David Foster Wallace. You know he is very good, probably the best, but you have problems understanding some of the moves (words).
Kafka: Vassily Ivanchuk. The weird kid on the block. But he can be a match for any of the others (sometimes).