Robert Chaplin Vs Garry Kasparov

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, the world was a place where tall tales reigned supreme and great men walked upon the earth. These great men ascended by virtue of their gifts, focus, and dedication; lumberjacks, steel drivin’ men, and chess masters. Now I'm an ordinary man, I make things, and some of them turn out well. This chess set I’ve designed in Lego seems to fit that bill, and this is me getting my ass kicked by Garry Kasparov.
The really cool thing about playing Kasparov is that, you can have no expectation of victory, so there's no pressure. He started playing chess when he was a very little boy. Kasparov’s young mind wrapped itself around the secrets of the game, and this process formed the consciousness of the man sitting across the table from me. The thing about focus on a single activity at a young age, is that it creates people who can do things very well, and this experience can inform lateral thinking. Garry Kasparov has retired from professional chess and is now active in Russian politics, his understanding of situations is sublime.

I flew to Toronto to meet Kasparov and deliver his Lego chess set; this happened on Monday morning, it came about because my family loves me, and I’ve made some damn good friends. I taught Kasparov the secrets of Lego chess, how to take the set apart , put it away, and how to move the men using the piece picker. From Kasparov, I learned about the traditional board orientation, and that you can’t castle out of check. Getting a lesson, and high praise from a giant feels pretty good :) Nothing can replace the play of chess, in real time, on an actual set, with an actual human. Now you can play chess like Kasparov, anywhere, anytime.



Photo Credit 1: Taralea Cutler
Photo Credit 2: Peter Lattimer

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Globe and Mail
-Timothy Taylor
Globe and Mail
-Timothy Taylor
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