Yes, this book is good; and is a former incarnation of the Chess Companion. Therefore it is given 4 stars, as 3 1/2 for the Chess Companion. The games are good, even not as high standard as the games in the following decades later. The chess endings are very helpful. Many chess themes are very clear. But the story part is not great if you have high expectation. At least they are localized to one half of the book, imagine if those stories were inter-leaving with the real chess. I still don’t know how to organinze those stories in a book. Like their current leading part of the book causes some distraction to the good chess to follow; however, if they were in the last half, then we or at least I would expect more exciting (and real-life) chess stories. I just got some idea. The book has two front covers and two halves and one is upside-down of other. To read from one end, it’s the real chess games; turn it up-side down, and read from the back, it’s the fairy tale chess. Let the publisher worry about how to print it. We are just the chess audience…
Amazon Rating: 4 / 5
This book has been around for a long time and it has been about 50 years since I first bought it. It contains many wonderful games played by great chess masters over a long period of time. It starts off with some short stories about chess. The games show how brilliant some of our chess masters were long before the likes of Bobby Fisher. This book is a must have in any chess lover’s library. It is truly timeless!
Don’t read this book to learn or improve your game (although that will happen at least to some degree anyways). Read it because you are a chess lover and you want to read some marvelous stories and anecdotes, all the more delighful because of their age (this is a 1949 book). A small third of the book is stories; a larger third is oddities, problems, studies, etc; and the largest third (really about half the book) is a collection of games which were chosen not so much for their teaching value as for their revealing certain facets of the game.
To experience the charm and nostalgia of this book, search around for a hard-cover original (I got one for about five dollars) and eschew the trade paperback reissues. The hard-cover has a nice substantial “bulk” and is a pleasure to use, all the more so with a worn copy that has been enjoyed by many other chess fans.
Amazon Rating: 5 / 5
This is a unique chess book that has something for everyone. It has amusing and intersting stories that apply to people who have litereary interests as well as chess interests and it has a striong theme throufghout that although chess is wonderful, it is really secondary to life. It also has fascinating stats, stories, and great game collections and puzzles to solve. Really it is a perfect chess book to go over and read by the fireside on a cold night or any night for that matter. Buy it or pick it up at a library, and if you love chess, you will love this book..
Amazon Rating: 5 / 5
Irving Chernev wrote many chess books, all of them good. But the Fireside Book of Chess is unique. It is not an instructional manual. Rather it is anecdotes, historical stuff and fiction about the long and glorious history of the game. It’s an old book, hence there’s nothing in it about Fisher, Karpov, Kasparov and others of the last 25 years, but this book is timeless. It is also the only such book of its kind.
Amazon Rating: 5 / 5
Yes, this book is good; and is a former incarnation of the Chess Companion. Therefore it is given 4 stars, as 3 1/2 for the Chess Companion. The games are good, even not as high standard as the games in the following decades later. The chess endings are very helpful. Many chess themes are very clear. But the story part is not great if you have high expectation. At least they are localized to one half of the book, imagine if those stories were inter-leaving with the real chess. I still don’t know how to organinze those stories in a book. Like their current leading part of the book causes some distraction to the good chess to follow; however, if they were in the last half, then we or at least I would expect more exciting (and real-life) chess stories. I just got some idea. The book has two front covers and two halves and one is upside-down of other. To read from one end, it’s the real chess games; turn it up-side down, and read from the back, it’s the fairy tale chess. Let the publisher worry about how to print it. We are just the chess audience…
Amazon Rating: 4 / 5
This book has been around for a long time and it has been about 50 years since I first bought it. It contains many wonderful games played by great chess masters over a long period of time. It starts off with some short stories about chess. The games show how brilliant some of our chess masters were long before the likes of Bobby Fisher. This book is a must have in any chess lover’s library. It is truly timeless!
Amazon Rating: 5 / 5
Don’t read this book to learn or improve your game (although that will happen at least to some degree anyways). Read it because you are a chess lover and you want to read some marvelous stories and anecdotes, all the more delighful because of their age (this is a 1949 book). A small third of the book is stories; a larger third is oddities, problems, studies, etc; and the largest third (really about half the book) is a collection of games which were chosen not so much for their teaching value as for their revealing certain facets of the game.
To experience the charm and nostalgia of this book, search around for a hard-cover original (I got one for about five dollars) and eschew the trade paperback reissues. The hard-cover has a nice substantial “bulk” and is a pleasure to use, all the more so with a worn copy that has been enjoyed by many other chess fans.
Amazon Rating: 5 / 5
This is a unique chess book that has something for everyone. It has amusing and intersting stories that apply to people who have litereary interests as well as chess interests and it has a striong theme throufghout that although chess is wonderful, it is really secondary to life. It also has fascinating stats, stories, and great game collections and puzzles to solve. Really it is a perfect chess book to go over and read by the fireside on a cold night or any night for that matter. Buy it or pick it up at a library, and if you love chess, you will love this book..
Amazon Rating: 5 / 5
Irving Chernev wrote many chess books, all of them good. But the Fireside Book of Chess is unique. It is not an instructional manual. Rather it is anecdotes, historical stuff and fiction about the long and glorious history of the game. It’s an old book, hence there’s nothing in it about Fisher, Karpov, Kasparov and others of the last 25 years, but this book is timeless. It is also the only such book of its kind.
Amazon Rating: 5 / 5