Treasure Chess (book review #1)
Submitted by on Sun, 07/13/2008 at 6:46pm.
[Recommended USCF rating: ALL]
For my first blog posting on Chess.com, I thought I would do a review of an unusual chess book. (I will also keep these reviews short, as most of us would rather read the actual chess books or play a game than read reviews *about* the book...) Mind you, many of us have quite a few chess books, and while most of these chess books we own are "instructional" in nature (e.g., tactics, openings, positional, etc.), relatively few are about game trivia and chess lore.
Treasure Chess by Bruce Pandolfini sells for $15 at Amazon, and, IMHO, should be on every chess enthusiast's bookshelf. The book is a breezy read (compared to something weighty like Modern Chess Openings by Nick De Firmian) and is a welcome diversion. Everything from short biographies of the game's greats to gripping stories, quips, quotes, quick puzzles and related wisdom and wit is included. Without doubt there are many fascinating tidbits you'll pick up that will add to your enjoyment of the game. In fact, you may just find yourself reaching for this ahead of Silman's next installment...
Best,
Ezra
PS I posssess well over a hundred chess books, and plan to review them on here in small, bite-size blog postings so that others may benefit.