Object of desire

A rare original copy of Arte de Ajedrez, the first known chess manual ($10,000-15,000)

Lord Byron declared that life was too short for chess. Vladimir Putin thinks differently. “Chess makes a man wiser and clear-sighted” is his verdict. The best quote I recall on the subject came from the man who brought 2001: A Space Odyssey to the screen, film director Stanley Kubrick. “What chess teaches you,” he said, “is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether ...