``Chess does take up a lot of my time, and I hardly get to read, but there are certain books that have left a deep impact on me. My Marathi medium schooling is responsible for my love for Marathi literature,'' says the chess champion, who is also a branch manager with the Union Bank.

Marathi's first novel, H N Apte's Pan Lakshat Kon Gheto, is Thipsay's first favourite. ``The novel, written over a 100 years ago, was controversial as it portrayed the life of Yamuna, a woman in a ritual-ridden and orthodox Maharashtrian society. The book is a fine journey back to those times our society successfully came out of,'' he says. C V Joshi's collection of humourous short stories, Chimanravanche Charhat, is another favourite. The book is based on the life ofMarathi's most lovedhumourous literary character, Chimanrao.

Thipsay, quite predictably, also lists the book on which several generations of Maharashtra have grown up -- Sane Guruji's Shyamchi Aai. ``My mother is dead but whenever I read this book it reminds me of her,'' he says. Bobby Fisher's My 60 Memorable Games of Chess impresses Thipsay. ``It's a book which a layman can understand and even a grandmaster would love to read. One can understand what chess is all about without referring to the chessboard,'' he says.