The Chess Mind

The translation is pretty bad, but you can find the transcript of a long and interesting interview with Vladimir Kramnik on all the world chess champions from Steinitz to Kasparov here.

Here's an excerpt on Mikhail Tal to whet your appetite (and to prepare you for the quality of the translation):

It's very difficult to speak about Tal, because he is extraordinary, very bright, he's a sort of phenomenon. I'm quite sure that he would have also achieved a success in any field of activity. He had fantastical pungency of wit. If he were a scientist he would probably become a Nobel prizewinner. Tal was not of this world. And, by the way, many people, who knew him personally, told that he had nothing in common with homo sapience. He's a sort of extraterrestrial! That's why chess, he played, were "extraterrestrial". To discuss his chess means as much as to discuss how Lord God looks like.

(Hat tip: Brian Karen)