Changes

|comment=The Greenbecker Gambit is a tragicomic tale of an exasperating chess master who has become homeless, and who suffers from delusions, paranoia, alcoholism and, to complicate his life even further, pyromania. The author is a strong, experienced club and congress chess player who brings great insight to the tale, not only of the chess aspects, but also of the socioeconomic and political milieu of contemporary Britain, as well as of the mental health issues which seem to have a higher incidence among gifted chess players, especially those who were child prodigies.

The main character, Tennessee Greenbecker, apart from his own special idiosyncrasies, exhibits many of the very real problems found in the life stories of Morphy, Alekhine and Tal, to name just a few chess geniuses who struggled with mental health issues. The last two were also dipsomaniacs, and Alekhine was often desperately short of funds, living off friends and sofa-surfing. But Greenbecker has the distinction of being the only chess playing pyromaniac I have come across! His obsession with fire is illuminating (!) and he knows a tremendous amount about the history of London blazes, from Boadicea's incursion in the 1st century, to "how many times St Paul's had been reduced to dust" , " the Hadrianic fire through to London's burning bridges, Crystal Palace and the Blitz". He sees fire as a cleansing force for renewal; if he had a coat of arms it would feature a Phoenix.

I enjoyed the book, which is well written, adroitly building tension with a very convincing climactic moment when Greenbecker tries to storm the stage at the London based World Championship match between Carlsen and Caruana. The author clearly knows, and loves, London well, and the descriptive writing as his protagonist moves around the city is charming and nostalgic. The book would be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates good story tellingstorytelling, good characterization and has empathy for those eccentric souls who live on the margins of polite, conventional society; it would only take a few disasters to shift many of us from our comfortable, middle -class lives into the sort of confusion and chaos which Greenbecker has to cope with every day of his life.