If I dare ask myself why I would want to write a book on chess, the answer is obvious. It isn’t anything to do with a lack of chess ability, failing to improve and wanting something out of chess or some kind of name made for myself. The motive comes from a highly developed understanding of metahistory and a passion for my home county -that’s all. If I am being honest I tend to write for myself only and bucking that tend, which started a few years back, has been challenging. Having a book which may inform and entertain the general public…it’s of no real importance. neither is if no one buys it but decades or centuries later my work will be invaluable and that does matter. I am an academic afterall…just one cut adrift. I am not a historian by background but I am one in practice. Also, books last websites don’t. Will we still have wordpress in 200 years time? I have my doubts.
If truth be told, in my death I would like to have a tournament named after me and a designed chess set too. Are these born from having never achieved in chess, being no good and wanting something to make it look like I was good at it? No. The definition of chess offered up here is far too narrow and I posted a long time ago that the greatest victories in chess are always achieved away from the board. My love of chess bought a child into the world as I met her mother at a tournament and Grace was soon born. Believe it or not I requested she has no middle name so that she would become the worlds youngest GM (her name is Grace McCready) but by name only of course. So no deeper need in play her just me being frivolous or something. Lets just call it a hangover for being known as Lutons handsomest chess player for decades before now forever (Bedfordshire too) catching up with me and catching me off guard sometimes.
NB: in case you don’t know what the prententiously titled hermeneutics of susicion is, its a predominently French movement which idetified that Marx, Nietzsche and Freud identified that most of our motivations are unconscious and should be questioned in those we read. The main protagonist is Paul Racour, sadly, his writing skills leave a lot to be desired and the same is true of some of his contempories.
M J M
McCreadyandChess 
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