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Games and Goals – The Fascinating Chess and Football Careers of Simen Agdestein – Atle Grønn (New In Chess)
‘Simen was the only person in Norway who had been so naturally gifted in two such contrasting ways. What no one could fully understand though, was how everything was held together in a fragile body and psyche.’ - Atle Grønn
We all most likely dream of experiences far removed from our own reality. I can’t help but admit that on occasion I have imagined what it would be like to be a grandmaster, taking my rightful place across the table from Garry Kasparov. There are also times while walking the dog when I contemplate pulling on my national team shirt and stepping out onto the football pitch - fantasies that I am, of course, never going to realise. Yet remarkably Simen Agdestein became both a grandmaster and a Norwegian soccer international.
Perhaps the moral of this story is that the things we think will make us happy are more complicated if they actually happen. As Oscar Wilde put it, ‘When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.’ Grønn notes that Simen had ‘… a passion for the game and a vulnerability in his temperament that characterizes true chess players of all levels. His story is full of hope and doubts, as well as inner and outer demons that many will recognize.’
Yet for all the challenges inherent in Agdestein’s life, as excellently set out in this uncharacteristically lyrical New in Chess offering, this is ultimately a story of immense achievement set against difficult circumstances. For all that might have been, as Grønn notes, Agdestein was ‘undoubtedly the best and most interesting chess player Norway produced before Carlsen.’ It seems unlikely that his record as both the youngest and the oldest Norwegian chess champion will ever be surpassed. Agdestein’s football coach is also quoted as saying that he had ‘… never seen a striker of Agdestein’s calibre. He is undoubtedly the best in Norway. He could have played for any top European club.’ Nine Norwegian chess titles and eight Norwegian international caps speak for themselves.
Except, of course they don’t quite. Which is where this book is brilliant at sharing the struggles that even the most talented amongst us inevitably face. The mechanics of juggling football and chess prove to be extremely difficult. On one occasion an opponent, knowing the time pressure Agdestein is under to get from one commitment to another, waits for 45 minutes before arriving at the board, and when he does immediately offers a draw. Ultimately, Agdestein’s international football career is ended by his decision to play in a chess tournament, and the reality of trying to pursue two elite occupations simultaneously proves close to emotionally and logistically impossible.
There is a sense that despite his talent, Agdestein is somehow always looking for something else, as evidenced by his decision to enrol at a university (where he is essentially mediocre) in addition to his football and his chess. At the time the author recalls not understanding why he had chosen to do this, but ‘with the benefit of the maturity of years,’ understood that Agdestein ‘realized himself through such banal and “boring” things, like friendship, fellowship – and a little English poetry.’ That said, Agdestein’s studies serve to further overload him, without noticeably making him any happier.
Ultimately Agdestein’s football career is ended prematurely by injury, leading to years of struggle for compensation which conclude with a ‘modest settlement’, and for a period Agdestein has to resort to living on ‘welfare.’ Equally, as with so many brilliant chess players, Agdestein is not quite brilliant enough. In his games against Kasparov he is generally outclassed, and a world title bid never materialises. Kasparov describes Agdestein as the ‘world’s best amateur’, but equally, when asked to compare Agdestein to the then fourteen year old Carlsen, said with a laugh while pointing at Agdestein ‘This guy wasn’t special as a fourteen year old.’
As Grønn puts it, ‘With time, age, and of course, Carlsen, Simen’s star would glitter less brightly, and he became one of the pieces of Norwegian chess, like the rest of us.’ In other words, ‘a fairly ordinary grandmaster,’ if of course it can truly be said that there is such a thing.
Throughout the book there are some fascinating snapshots of the players Agdestein meets along the way. He becomes the youngest ever person to defeat a former world champion by downing Spassky in a Norwegian tournament. Yet in reality ‘Spassky was the big name, but not the favourite – he had become too fond of the good life for that… After the games he lit a cigarette and strolled off to the tennis court to hit a few balls.’
Tal also appears as another world champion in decline. By the latter stages of his career ‘It was not unusual for someone to arrive carrying him. The only time he was seated perfectly vertical and with a clear head was at the start of the rounds. Tal’s way of life could not be cured.’ Another legend, Korchnoi (whom Agdestein looked up to), is described as behaving terribly when he lost. ‘But when he wasn’t playing chess, he could be cultivated and jovial. True, he almost always was playing chess.’
It falls to Karpov to reflect on the difference between football and chess in the Soviet Union. ‘In the USSR chess is something everyone plays, but no one understands. Football is the opposite: A game no one plays, but everyone understands.’
This book contains many fascinating games, with lots of clear diagrams and excellent commentary. Sharp tactical ideas abound, and I enjoyed working through them. There is also an intriguing chapter on Agdestein’s coaching work with Magnus Carlsen, and the way in which Agdestein eventually found a new place for chess in his life. Grønn sums it up best by saying, ‘He had an intense wish to become an ordinary family man, with an ordinary job and an ordinary hobby. This hobby could be chess and brought him genuine chess pleasure.’ Ultimately ‘From the darkness, Simen succeeded in becoming an – almost – average man.’
There is certainly nothing average about this story or this book. Agdestein may not have become the world chess champion or lifted the football world cup high over his shoulders, but his life is no less remarkable for all that. Grønn says that ‘Simen Agdestein was chosen to live out our dream. He had the ability and had to bear the burden for the rest of us.’ Perhaps he did not always carry this burden easily, but is far more relatable as a result. This book is a fitting tribute to an over-achiever who remains all too human.