A collection of fifty games spans more than a century of chess play, from McDonnell v. Labourdonnais in 1834 to Matanovich v. Rossolimo in 1951

In this account of his victory at the 1929 Carlsbad Tournament, Nimzovich offers a captivating retrospective of his triumph over some of the best of his contemporaries: Capablanca, Spielmann, Bogolyubov, Tartakower, Sämisch, and others. A tart analysis of Carlsbad's 30 best games.

'Funny and brutal. A big-hearted book, I enjoyed it.' Stuart Conquest, Grandmaster'Carl is gifted as both a natural entertainer and storyteller. Although this memoir is primarily about chess, the tales in it are filled with a frank and refreshing honesty that will literally have your heart racing with adventure.'Jovanka Houska, International Master'Chess Crusader' is an absolutely fascinating memoir, and most emphatically not only a book for chess players. It reveals how chess is a metaphor for life, and how skills honed at the chess board can be applied in many real-life situations. This compelling chronicle takes you from Birmingham to Moscow, and plunges you into the life of an author with a remarkable original mind, while also highlighting the hazards of stealing a half-cooked sausage from a deranged German.It's a lively, enthralling account of a colourful life dominated by the black and white squares of the chessboard, and their relation to the wider issues of a troubled childhood and the challenges of work, women, love and loss. It's a tale of adversity, but also of achievement and new friendships and experiences.

Includes Part 1A: Books

Daniel Johnson--journalist, scholar, and chess enthusiast--is the perfect guide to one of history's most remarkable periods, when chess matches were front-page news and captured the world's imagination.

In 1973 legendary organizer Bill Goichberg created the model for what would become an iconic American chess tournament. The deal at the World Open was plain and simple: high entry fees, big prizes, and no frills. From that moment onwards grandmasters and amateurs have been flocking to the World Open in an annual pilgrimage. Every year around the 4th of July, Philadelphia – the home of the World Open barring a few excursions to other cities – has been the scene of countless epic battles on the chess board. Joel Benjamin and Harold Scott have delved into the tournament’s history, examined hundreds of games and conducted interviews with what they call the Heroes of the World Open, players that won the tournament on multiple occasions. The question that intrigued them was: why have some players been so consistent in their performances and always battled for the top prizes? Why did they excel among so many other strong grandmasters? They found that many different paths were taken on the road to victory, but that the Heroes definitely had one common factor: their fighting spirit! Benjamin and Scott present the history of the World Open in an entertaining tale of successes and scandals. The fighting spirit is shown in a fantastic collection of the very best and most crucial games that were played over the years. They also include a selection of spectacular tactics. Winning the World Open is as entertaining as it is instructive. Not only the many thousands of players that participated in this great tradition will find it an irresistible read.