My Favorite Things

             I have selected the following items only because I was very strongly influenced by them at some point.

                 Chess

§  Byrne-Fischer 1956 (“the game of the century”, by a 13 year old Bobby)

§  Kasparov-Topalov 1999 (“the longest combination in the history of chess”)

§  Spassky-Fischer 1972 (a great game by both players, Fischer wins)

§  Polugaevsky-Nezhmetdinov 1958 (a deep attack by RN, forces LP’s king to travel from g1 to a5, only to get mated there)

§  Kasparov-Kramnik 1996 (VK beats GK in an open tactical battle) 

§  Kramnik-Kasparov 1994 (GK sacrifices queen and attacks the kingside with minor pieces)

§  Kamsky-Kramnik 1994 (another open battle, Kamsky wins)  

§  Short-Kasparov 1993 (Short beats GK in 15 moves, Kings Gambit)

§  Karpov-Miles 1980 (Miles plays 1…a6 and wins)

§  Anand-Topalov 2007 (23rd century chess)

§  Kramnik-Leko 2004 (a fantastic king march by Kramnik)

           

              Jazz

§  My Favorite Things, by John Coltrane

§  So What, by Miles Davis

§  Oscar Peterson, Quartet, Soft winds

§  Vagif Mustafazade, e.g.  Solitude

§  Cecil Taylor, e.g. Free Improvization #3

§  Turiya and Ramakrishna, by Alice Coltrane

§  Nina Simone, e.g. Feeling good, I put a spell on you

 

  

   Poetry

     Most favorite contemporary American poets: Billy Collins, W.S.Merwin, Ted Kooser, Mark Strand, Mary Oliver, Charles Simic

     Most favorite classic Turkish poets: Nazim Hikmet, Orhan Veli, Edip Cansever, Cemal Sureya, Turgut Uyar, Can Yucel

     Most favorite classic Russian poets: Akhmatova, Tsvetayeva