| Title | : | If I May |
|---|---|---|
| Author | : | Alan Alexander Milne |
| Release | : | 1956-01-31 |
| Kind | : | ebook |
| Genre | : | Fantasy for Young Adults, Books, Young Adult, Fiction for Young Adults |
| Size | : | 139864 |
| It is an essay book. I do not claim to be an authority on either the history or the practice of chess, but, as the poet Gray observed when he saw his old school from a long way off, it is sometimes an advantage not to know too much of one's subject. The imagination can then be exercised more effectively. So when I am playing Capablanca (or old Robinson) for the championship of the home pastures, my thoughts are not fixed exclusively upon the 'mate' which is threatening; they wander off into those enchanted lands of long ago, when flesh-and-blood knights rode at stone-built castles, and thin-lipped bishops, all smiles and side-long glances, plotted against the kings who ventured to oppose them. This is the real fascination of chess. |
