Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

[Ken MacDonald]

I would be interested in hearing opinions on the best/most enjoyable chess book to read, not a tournament/teaching/opening manual book, but a reading book like a biography or something anecdotal.

[Stephen Wright]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

The King by J.H. Donner

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

I've got 2.
1. The History of Correspondence Chess in Canada.
2. Nick's Best by Day.

[Jean Sasseville]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

Chess Kamasutra (to be published next year)

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5501

[Walter De Jong]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

The Even More Complete Chess Addict, by Mike Fox and Richard James (collection of chess trivia)

[Jean Hébert]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

Chess for Success, by Maurice Ashley

[Tony Ficzere]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

Hard choice, but here are my two favourites.

Zurich 1953
Nic's Best

[Ed Zator]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

If you're into computer programming, try:

How Computers Play Chess by David Levy and Monty Newborn

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

I would be interested in hearing opinions on the best/most enjoyable chess book to read, not a tournament/teaching/opening manual book, but a reading book like a biography or something anecdotal.

Great Chess Books of the Twentieth Century in English by Alex Dunne.

[Gordon Ritchie]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

Mikhail Tal, Tal-Botvinnik 1960

[Benoit St-Pierre]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

Simon Webb, **Chess for Tigers**, unless, of course, **Lasker's Chess Manual** wins all categories.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

not a tournament/teaching/opening manual book, but a reading book like a biography or something anecdotal.

The Chess Machine by Robert Lohr

The fictional book about the Turk's early days.

[John Upper]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

I second The King by J.H. Donner. Lots of funny, opinionated and sometimes thought-provoking short essays, but don't read more than 3 or 4 of them at a sitting.

There's a lot to read in Tal's Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, and the anecdote about the hippo in is worth the price of the book... but that one is mostly chess: 100 games + 99 positions.

Does anyone have anything good to say about Nabakov's The [Lhuzin] Defence? I thought the movie stunk, bu I haven't liked anything with John Turturro, so maybe that was the problem.

BTW people: he said "not a tournament/teaching/opening manual".

[Peter Bokhout]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

Doesn't your favourite book depend on your playing strength? Not counting any tournament books, when I was about 8 years old I enjoyed "The Fireside Book of Chess" by Chernev. After that I devoured Reinfeld's books on tactics and blunders, and when I reached about a 2000 rating I enjoyed Michael Stean's "Simple Chess".

[Vlad Dobrich]

Re: Best/Most Enjoyable Chess Book To Read?

I would be interested in hearing opinions on the best/most enjoyable chess book to read, not a tournament/teaching/opening manual book, but a reading book like a biography or something anecdotal.

The Royal Game - by Steffan Zweig
He gave his all writing it - commited suicide soon after