How can an academic not condemn chess literature as being nothing more than decadent and overrun by charlatans? How can an academic not become giddy with excitement when they purchase a publication written by a Grandmaster who is an effective writer and well-educated too? Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking ‘Mark/Marcus, it’s not yet April 1st, please drop the silly jokes.’ However, some Grandmasters are well-educated and aren’t the archetypal one-trick pony which almost all GMs are. Some possess knowledge about the world beyond the chess board, and far more importantly, the means to communicate it too. They are few and far between but they do exist, I assure you….yes I know you think I am joking but I am not, please read on.
Enter the Scotsman with letters both before his name and after, Mr. Jonathan Rowson. An ex-British champion who is smart enough to learn there is much more to life than some old board game. If you are a typical chess player, your reaction will be to home in on his rating and remain incapable of thinking about anything else until you have worked it out, at which point you will think something along the lines of him being just another sub 2700 player or something like that.
Some Grandmasters are actually well-educated and can write well despite having never broken into the Super GM substrata. Should you be interested in what a well-educated GM has to say about life and chess, than Mr.Rowson is your man. You might want to ask whether myself being a Philosopher too induces a bias I cannot overcome? No it doesn’t for I am a part-time practising philosopher only, it’s only post-modern history that I preach and not philosophy…definitely not philosophy.
You may have encountered Rowson before you may not. You may want to follow suit and purchase what you see below you may not.
As a genre, chess literature is something we must remain suspicious of at all times, and so when we find something both highly educational and well worth reading, its worth sharing…
Enjoy. Won’t cost you much. He’s very smart. A very effective writer. He has a lot to say. He loves to write…what have you got to lose?
McCreadyandChess 
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