Heroic Tales: The Best of Chesscafe.com 1996 - 2001 [Paperback]

Taylor Kingston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

If you like chess, Heroic Tales: The Best of ChessCafe.com 1996-2001 will be a treasure trove of delight for years to come. From Bobby Fischer to the financial frolics of the World Chess Federation - and everything in between, Heroic Tales brings together in one volume the best modern writing on the game.

Hilarious over-the-board vignettes, top-flight instruction in every phase of the game, informative book reviews, articles on history, politics and great games - you get 54 pieces from the chess world's most important writers and players.

The authors are top grandmasters and award-winning journalists: champions like Lev Alburt,Tony Miles, Genna Sosonko and Hans Ree; famous teachers like Bruce Pandolfini and Mark Dvoretsky; popular columnists like Gary Lane and Tim Harding; intrepid investigators of chess curiosities and history like Tim Krabbe and Edward Winter.

ChessCafe one of the most popular chess websites in the world, earned the U.S. Chess Federation's highest award for journalism in 2002. More than that, it has won the accolades and devotion of readers around the world. Heroic Tales: The Best of ChessCafe.com 1996-2001 collects a gourmet buffet from the four-star offerings at ChessCafe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 434 pages
• Publisher: Russell Enterprises (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888690135
• ISBN-13: 978-1888690132
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,903,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good collection of articles, I do not understand why one of the reader's reaction is so radical and furious??, October 21, 2007

By 

Wan Koon Yat "wankoonyat" (North Point Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heroic Tales: The Best of Chesscafe.com 1996 - 2001 (Paperback)

I recommend anyone who is interested in chess. A lot of articles with various topics. The price is just 25 dollars and you can enjoy reading for at least a week. Some of the articles in fact is quite interesting, e.g. the investigation why Keres' performance after World War 2 was below his pre- War perfomance and cannot get the World Champion is very interesting. ( I must say, the article is interesting, I am neutral and would not comment further, as my interest is in chess, not politics !! ) Anyway, I strongly recommend anyone ( even beginner!! ) who is nterested in chess. As Kingston said in the preface, only regret is some good artcles had to be dis-regarded. Don't be disappointed, Kingston, you can publish The best of ChessCafe.com vol 2, 3 etc. As now it is 2007. More chess events have happened, like Kasparov's retirement, Topalov's triumph in San Luis, Kramnik won the re-unification match, and most recently, Anand become the ( traditional ) 15th World Champions,etc, I do not think shortage of articles is a problem, on the contrary, as readers, we can never get enough !!!!!!!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most enjoyable reading, October 12, 2007

By 

B.Z. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heroic Tales: The Best of Chesscafe.com 1996 - 2001 (Paperback)

Even for those for whom chess is not an activity, the majority of vignettes are quite fascinating. I do not profess to know the game, however, ignoring the plays and reading the introductions prior to the moves being discussed, I found to be most interesting. The book is divided into segments, e.g., humor, history, politics and such, and one cannot help but enjoy the anecdotes preceding the games being addressed.
Undoubtedly, with hundreds and hundreds of accounts to consider, Mr. Kingston has selected those that his experience and acumen have deemed most worthwhile...and a splendid job he has done, indeed. The variety and scope of material was most gratifying, to this non-player-of-chess; I can only imagine how those who play the game will enjoy this book even more so.

2 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible!, April 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Heroic Tales: The Best of Chesscafe.com 1996 - 2001 (Paperback)

An attempt to paint a rosy picture of FIDE administrators under the guise of impartiality. If you are interested in distorted facts and half truths then this is probably the book for you. If not, don't waste your money !