In an interview with Ulrich Stock of Zeit Online, 17th World Chess Champion 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) spoke at length about his illness and revealed where and why he hid himself for eight months shortly after his victorious match with Nepomniachtchi. He says a bad fairy cast her evil spell on him, condemning him not to sleep anymore. His insomnia was so bad that he ended up being hospitalised in a clinic for treatment at least twice in the past year. To this day he yet has to resort to medications to fall asleep. If nothing else, nourished by his passion for arts and culture, he has spent his weary days visiting museums and cultural institutions, he being aware that cultivation of the soul is worth not sleeping for.
Just for curiosity, guess who is his favourite songwriter.
“Bob Dylan!”.
Do you like 50-year-old Western music? — the interviewer asks incredulously.
“I like folk and country, old and not so popular, niche music”.
But Bob Dylan is not niche at all!
“In China yes”.
Just for curiosity, guess who is his favourite songwriter.
“Bob Dylan!”.
Do you like 50-year-old Western music? — the interviewer asks incredulously.
“I like folk and country, old and not so popular, niche music”.
But Bob Dylan is not niche at all!
“In China yes”.
3 comments:
Very interesting interview. I'm very surprised that this is the famous mental health issue of Ding. One would assume that the exhaustion he felt during the event would make him very tired afterward, not the opposite!
I do hope he gets his issue resolved and that he improves his performance in this tournament.
I was surprised, too. Perhaps he didn't say everything he suffered. If it was truly a matter of insomnia, I am just curious whether 吴雪军 (Wú Xuějūn)'s book --《睡眠之道》-- actually helped him to fall asleep.
http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/steinitz_on_morphy.html
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