DECODING GENIUS

A debut author blends chess history and memoir in this nonfiction book.

At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Shapiro noticed that his 7-year-old son, Harry, was struggling with the transition to remote learning. “His attention was always elsewhere,” the author recalls, adding, “we would often see his mind spinning uncontrollably to the point where he could not even respond if we addressed him by his name.” After consulting with a psychologist, Harry was identified as “twice exceptional,” meaning that he was intellectually gifted but also faced “serious social, emotional, and learning challenges.” Inspired by Harry’s interest in his school’s chess club just prior to the lockdowns, Shapiro used the boardgame as a bridge to bring him closer to his son, foster Harry’s intellectual capabilities, and encourage socioemotional development. Years later, he now observes that “Chess really helped [Harry] flourish”; he has since participated in various online and in-person competitions, including the SuperNationals. In this genre-blending work, Shapiro combines his history as a Duke University engineering graduate who fell in love with chess along with his son with a broader primer on the history of the game. Divided into three parts that evoke the three phases of a chess game—opening, middle game, and endgame—the book begins with a history of chess, from its origins in the Gupta Empire through the 20th century, when computerized chess software was “thirty years ahead of the AI revolution” in terms of outperforming human capabilities. The volume’s well-researched middle chapters introduce readers to topics that include some of the game’s all-time greats, such as Mikhail Botvinnik and Bobby Fischer, and explore how the game continues to attract prodigies and serve as a marker of intellectual excellence. The final chapters offer a poignant, deeply personal reflection on how chess has brought Shapiro closer to his son and how the game has changed both for the better.

A deeply personal, historically grounded introduction to the allure of chess.