The Kings of Chess: A History of Chess Traced Through the Lives of Its Greatest Players

by William Hartston

Describes the achievements and championship games of outstanding chess players such as Alexander Alekhine, Bobby Fischer, and Anatoly Karpov

Genres: Chess, History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Full name: William Roland Hartston.

Reviews

[Randy Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of chess history. I frequently re-read it just for fun. Hartston is a bona fide chess champion; he won the British chess Championship in 1973. It is rare to have an expert in a field who writes so well. He has done so not just because it is a good story but to tell us of the thing he loves.

"Chess doesn't drive people mad; it keeps a lot of mad people sane." -William Hartston

[Schreck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was raised on chess. At the age of 10 I was already a member of the USCF and going to chess tournaments, but studying openings, tactics, and strategy never really interested me.
As an early teen however I found this book in my dad's collection and noticed that it was a little bit different. It wasn't about playing chess, but rather about the history of chess from its origins through peak told through the histories of its greatest players...Philador, Morphy, Lasker, and Fischer among so many others. I had found a passion in chess that I sadly could never find in the game. I still love the game, but the history of it is much more intriguing to me.
This is a good history book and not a good chess book and can be enjoyed by those who aren't just chess nuts.

[Michael Altman · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who loves chess, even if you are not that good of a player, this is an excellent guide through the history of chess, which includes the biographys of the best chess players through the centuries, up until 1975, when Bobby Fischer abdicated his title of World Chess Champion. The author does not hold back when digging into the lives of these players, many of whom were egotistical and vain and many were down right bizarre in their behavior. Many times it was not the best players who would play for the World Championship, but those that could come up with the often excessive fee that the current champion would demand from the challenger. Later on it was all about politics and connections and government interference, most notably from the Soviet Union, that determined who would challenge for the World Title. All in all I found it to be a very entertaining book and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Chess..