Biographies and History

IM Donaldson examines Fischers life and career from his days as a child prodigy through the height of his World Championship triumph and into his tumultuous final years. Donaldsons meticulous research has uncovered previously lost games and a wealth of unknown material about Fischer -- ranging from his close friendships with players and supporters to his acrimonious relationships with organisers, journalists, lawyers, and publishers. Bobby Fischer and His World is brought to life through a potpourri of first-hand accounts, interviews, letters, and articles by and about the colourful characters that inhabited Fischers world. Unifying this wide-ranging tale are over 100 photos and illustrations and 99 newly annotated games. This is the story of Fischer the man and the player, shedding new light on the riddle of the most famous chessplayer in history. International Master John Donaldson is a player, a chess journalist and historian, and a thirteen-time United States World Chess Olympiad coach (his 2016 team won gold).

Bobby Fischer is considered one of the greatest players in the history of chess, as well as one of its most instructive writers. During his career he authored several books (including his masterpiece, My 60 Memorable Games), wrote two regularly appearing magazine columns, and annotated games and articles for several different publications.

IM Donaldson, who started playing chess after the 1972 Fischer-Spassky world championship match, takes a fresh look at Fischer’s chess writings. The result is a comprehensive analysis of them, enhanced with detailed commentary and historical notes.

Inside the Mind of Bobby Fischer gathers most of Fischer’s articles, annotations, and miscellaneous writings together in one place, drawing heavily on Fischer’s first book, Bobby Fischer’s Games of Chess, and his Boys’ Life and Chess Life columns. This volume includes 116 annotated games (over a dozen of which appear in print for the first time).

The passing of David Bronstein was the saddest chess news of 2006, but at least his many fans now have the chance to read his collection of memoirs and games from his long career. Much of the material appeard in Russian several years ago, but this is the first English translation. Bronstein’s love of the game, and his special rapport with chess amateurs, shines through especially strongly. English players will find details of his visits to Hastings, appearances for Charlton in the London League, and friendship with numerous chess fans in the UK. Lovers of more sinister gossip and conspiracy theories will enjoy his account of the alleged shenanigans at Zurich 1953, and his secret preparation with Korchnoi bevor the latter’s 1974 match with Karpov. Any lover of chess will find hours of delight in this book, which is a worthy tribute to one of the games’s immortals.

Victor Korchnoi is one of the greatest figures in chess history, which he has helped to shape for nearly 50 years now. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the aggressive style of the now over 70-year-old is undiminished and as awe-inspiring as ever. At tournaments with numerous entrants, the naturalized Swiss citizen leaves world-class players young enough to be his grandchildren far behind him.

It is high time, therefore, to update Viktor Kortshnoi’s autobiography Chess is my life, which met with great interest on its publication more than 20 years ago. In long interviews, Victor Korchnoi has completely retold his life story. The memories of his childhood in the besieged Leningrad, his time as a student of the university of his home town (now Saint Petersburg), his rise to the top of the major chess power USSR and the years before and after his defection to the West in 1976 are also of significance as contemporary documents of a life spent in the former Soviet Union. The volume also includes many photographs as well as a number of games with comments in typical Korchnoi-style and which are of decisive importance for his brilliant chess career.

This is the second volume of the series The Life & Games of Vasily Smyslov. It covers the period from spring 1948, after The Hague-Moscow world championship match-tournament, to the end of 1953, when he won the Candidates’ tournament in Zürich to become the official challenger for the world championship.

FIDE master Andrey Terekhov continues the narrative as we follow Smyslov's intense struggle with Boleslavsky, Bronstein, Keres and Reshevsky for the right to play a world championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik. 

With access to rare Soviet-era archival material and invaluable family archives, the author complements his account of Smyslov’s emergence as an elite player and title challenger with dozens of fascinating photographs, many never seen before, as well as 28 deeply annotated games.

The first volume won critical accolades, including 2020 Book of the Year from both FIDE and the Chess Journalists of America.

Dutch edition. We also offer an English edition.

Godfried Vos – de held van De Sponsor, deel I – ontdekt een sinister complot: de maffia bereidt een aanslag voor op het legendarische schaakfestival in Marostica.

Samen met de blinde detective Gino Cancellara gaat hij op onderzoek uit om de waarheid achter de zogenaamde 'Vierde Maffia', een meedogenloos netwerk van drugshandelaren in heel Europa, aan het licht te brengen.

Hun onderzoek leidt hen diep in de verborgen geschiedenis van Italië, waar de geheime vrijmetselaarsloge P2 en het clandestiene Gladio-netwerk ooit opereerden als een staat binnen een staat. Het landschap van De Sponsor II draagt nog steeds de littekens van de brute gevechten uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog tussen fascisten en de geallieerden – gevechten waarvan de gevolgen tot op de dag van vandaag doorwerken.

Tegen deze beladen achtergrond riskeren Godfried en Gino alles om de georganiseerde misdaad te bestrijden. Hun gedeelde passies – schaken, geschiedenis en de Italiaanse keuken – lopen als een rode draad door het verhaal en geven deze literaire thriller een unieke sfeer en emotionele diepgang.

Een speciale bijlage bevat gedetailleerde analyses van de schaakpartijen die in het verhaal voorkomen, evenals recepten voor de authentieke Italiaanse gerechten die de hoofdpersonen aten.

Fred Das was internationaal ondernemer, ontwikkelaar van onroerend goed en een verdienstelijk schaker. Na de verkoop van zijn bedrijf is hij voornamelijk huisvader.

Jeroen Terlingen was vakbondsjournalist, redacteur van Vrij Nederland en docent journalistiek.

Grandmaster Nikita Vitiugov narrates his journey through chess and life, with special focus on the 2020-2024 period, when he seconded his long-time friend Ian Nepomniachtchi. ‘Team Nepo’ dominated the 2020/21 and 2022 Candidates Tournaments, qualifying for the World Championship matches of 2021 and 2023, and finished second in the 2024 Candidates Tournament.

With memoirs of chess training camps, preparation, Candidates Tournaments and World Championship matches, punctuated by 58 annotated games spanning the 2001-2024 period, Chess Metamorphosis offers a unique backstage pass to chess at the highest level. Most importantly, the author shares his perspective of the raw human interactions, emotional highs and lows, and subsequent reflections after these tension-filled events.

Nikita Vitiugov is a world-class grandmaster with a peak rating of 2751. He won the 2021 Russian Championship, 2019 Prague Chess Festival Masters, 2017 Grenke Open and 2013 Gibraltar Masters. His performances for the Russian national team have yielded multiple team and individual medals, including team gold medals at the World Team Championship (2010 and 2013) and European Team Championship (2019). He now lives in London and has represented England since 2023.

The second volume of Sergey Voronkov's epic psychological biography of the fourth world champion covers the period in which Alekhine played his strongest chess and was at his most dominant. The author draws on contemporary publications from countries throughout the world to craft a living history of Alekhine's thoughts, feelings, activities and career, as though viewed in a film.

The journey now takes us to his first years of exile in France, major international tournaments on both sides of the Atlantic, his rivalries with Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch, his training match with Euwe, the drama and tension of three world championship matches with Capablanca and Bogoljubov, and a host of simultaneous displays in the Americas, Europe and Asia. One area explored in particular detail is Alekhine's psychological approach to the match with Capablanca and how he adapted his style to win it.

84 games and fragments are presented, including 46 never before published in books, using contemporary commentary from the protagonists themselves and other well-known players, writers and journalists of the period. Extended commentary by Euwe, Nimzowitsch and Kmoch is prominent. The annotations are supported by modern engine analysis from International Master Dmitry Plisetsky.

This work is supplemented by over 100 photographs and drawings, many of which are also published in a book for the first time.

English edition. We also offer a Dutch edition.

Godfried Vos — the hero of The Sponsor, Part I — uncovers a sinister plot: the Mafia is preparing an attack on the legendary chess festival in Marostica.

Together with blind detective Gino Cancellara, he sets out to expose the truth behind the so-called Fourth Mafia, a ruthless network of drugs traffickers across Europe.

Their investigation leads deep into Italy’s hidden history, where the secret Masonic lodge P2 and the clandestine Gladio network once operated as a state within a state. The landscape of The Sponsor II still bears the scars of the brutal World War II battles fought between Fascists and the Allied forces — battles whose consequences echo into the present.

Against this charged backdrop, Godfried and Gino risk everything to confront organised crime. Their shared passions — chess, history, and Italian cuisine — thread through the narrative, giving this literary thriller a unique atmosphere and emotional depth.

A special appendix includes detailed analyses of the chess games featured in the story, as well as recipes for the authentic Italian dishes enjoyed by the protagonists.

Fred Das is an international entrepreneur and property developer who is also a keen chess player. Having sold his business, he is now also a part-time stay-at-home father.

Jeroen Terlingen is a former trade union journalist and editor at Vrij Nederland, as well as a journalism teacher. He now writes books, makes films and teaches courses.

The Golden Age of Yugoslav Chess (1919–1990) explores one of the richest and most influential eras in chess history, tracing the rise of Yugoslavia as a global chess powerhouse across seven remarkable decades. From the formation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after the First World War to the final years before the country’s dissolution, this book captures the players, tournaments, ideas, and cultural forces that shaped an unforgettable chess tradition.

Featuring legendary grandmasters such as Vidmar, Gligorić, Ljubojević, Matanovic, Velimirović, and countless others, the book highlights Yugoslavia’s unique contribution to chess theory, attacking play, and international competition. Readers are taken inside iconic events like the legendary Bled tournaments, the celebrated “Tournament of Peace,” and the famous Chess Olympiads hosted on Yugoslav soil, where East and West met over the chessboard during the Cold War era.

Beyond the games themselves, The Golden Age of Yugoslav Chess paints a vivid portrait of a vibrant chess culture fueled by clubs, publications, cafés, and passionate communities. Richly illustrated with historical photographs, rare documents, annotations, and memorable games, the book reveals how Yugoslavia became a bridge between chess schools and a breeding ground for creativity and fighting spirit.

More than a historical account, this is a tribute to a generation that helped define modern chess — a golden age whose influence still resonates today.

Gyula Breyer (1893-1921) was a highly successful and imaginative chess player. He won the championship of his native country Hungary as a teenager and achieved remarkable results against the leading players of his day.

But first and foremost, Breyer was a revolutionary in his chess thinking. He promoted the idea of dynamic chess and formulated many of the Hypermodern concepts, long before others started their investigations. Yet, after his death, he was omitted from most of the chess history books and today is only known for the Breyer variation, an ever popular defence against the Ruy Lopez.

However, Jimmy Adams has now unlocked Breyer’s legacy from the archives and made it accessible to the chess world at large. This monumental book presents 240 of his games, annotated by Breyer himself and many others. It also features a large number of articles, columns and fragments from newspapers, magazines and books, sparkling with chess and literary wit. The majority appear in English for the first time – and indeed in any language other than Hungarian.

By piecing together this material in chronological order, Jimmy Adams has constructed a mesmerizing biography covering Gyula Breyer’s intense, unconventional and ultimately tragic life. Included as well is a collection of his chess problems, some of which are truly amazing.

GM Raymond Keene:

"In terms of importance this book ranks at the top with Kasparov's ‎various mega series, Nimzowitsch's ‘My System’ and Alekhine's books of his best games. Games, notes, discreet modern corrections, scholarly research, history, theory and perhaps most impressive ‎of all, Breyer's Philosophy of the art, science and sport of chess!"

CHESS Magazine (UK):

"The Hypermoderns owed much to Breyer, as becomes clear in this fine, detailed biography."

International Master John Donaldson:

"A magnificent tribute to one of the unsung heroes of the early 20th century (..) This book has almost everything one could want in a game collection (..) This is a book that all those with an interest in chess history will want to have."

Davide Nastasio, Georgia Chess news:

"This book on Breyer is amazing (..) When I got this book I thought I was just adding another biography to my shelf of chess biographies. Instead I discovered, thanks to Adams’ meticulous work, a world of chess ideas I had ignored (..) I believe everyone should read this book."

B.H.Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad:

"A splendid book."

IM Gary Lane, British Chess Magazine:

"A thoroughly entertaining story that whisks you along to the dramatic end. There is a lot to admire in this clear and readable guide to a largely forgotten chessplayer who was way ahead of his time."

James Vigus, author of ‘Play the Slav’:

“This magnificent tome is the product of decades of research (..) Most of us tend to buy opening books and works of instruction rather than history. This one is worth making an exception for – and difficult to put down.”

The most famous team ever participating in a chess pub quiz was MC Hammer. The team members are pretty decent chess players and happened to know their bit of chess trivia and chess history. Do you know or can you guess their names?

This book offers a collection of hundreds of chess trivia and chess-related trivia. You can use it by yourself, solving puzzles. Or you can use the book for multiple thematic pub quizzes at your local chess café or chess club.

Grandmaster Dimitri Reinderman won the Dutch championship in 2013, is one of the few chess players with purple (or blue) hair, and loves games. During the pandemic, he created the holiday season in-house chess pub quiz for New In Chess publishers.

IM Gary Lane (Australian Chess) 

“There is much to make you smile, inform and even shock you. The quality of the questions makes it an excellent read and somewhat thought provoking. The ideal present for any chess player.”