In my opinion, there is much more to chess than just a fight for the win. For me, at the end of a game, I like to feel I have had an artistic experience. This consists of the environment in which one is playing and relationship between the opponents.The idea is, in other words, to play in such mood and in such an atmosphere that the experience is almost like something one can get  from a strong artistic experience such as a ballet, an opera,a great painting or a fine piece of music.

   I live in Helsinki, Finland and was born in 1952.

  This is my playing environment. I play using a board in front of the screen because for me it is much easier to analyze the position this way than from the image on the screen. Other important details in my chess corner are the chair that gives me liberty to sit in many different positions while thinking, the orchids, a picture of Paul Keres and finally,a small side table/chair where I can have a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. The small sofa beside the playing area is also important when I am analysing games or reading chess literature.

Normally, these orchid plants are not in this postion; they are to the left outside the picture. This means that there is more space for the captured pieces and even for a wine glass if I am typing something.

After over 40 year of playing chess, I finally realised my dream and purchased a chess set of very high quality. For me, this simply underlines the beauty of the chess-playing experience.The squares on the board are 7 cm (2.75"). The white squares are made of Bird’s Eye Maple and the dark squares of Rosewood. The King is 150 mm (6") high. The white pieces are made of Boxwood and black pieces of Ebony.

Paul Keres was one of the Greatest thinkers in chess of all time. He is also my chess idol. This is not only because of his success in competitions or his playing style but also because he was a great human being and a real old fashion gentleman. I once met him and will never forget that experience. To show that I am not alone in thinking like this look at the pictures here. Keres is the only chess person in the world who has his picture on a banknote. The small picture shows how massive the sorrow was when this Estonian patriot was burried.

 
   Paul Keres and Emanuel Lasker are the persons whose chess thinking touch me most. Lasker’s idea that there is much more to chess than just theory, tactics and strategy is, to me, an absolute truth. There are many mental, psychological and other factors that are much more decisive in the outcome of a game than just the choice of the best move. Keres developed Lasker's analysing ideas to the ultimate. In his books Keres proves many times over how it is possible to turn a dead or almost lost postion into to a win by pressing your opponent into difficult postions, thus paving the way to errors and perhaps victory.