chess biographies?
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MzGlizzyy
Mar 18, 2026
0
#1
I’m getting into chess again and was wondering does anyone have any chess biography recommendations? Thanks!
Mar 18, 2026
0
#2
Everything by Sosonko is great. As a starting point, check out “Russian Silhouettes”.
Pal Benko’s autobiography is gorgeous, but expensive.
Frank Brady’s biographies of Bobby Fischer are must-reads.
Fred Waitzkin’s “Mortal Games” about Kasparov is fascinating.
Kasparov’s My Great Predecessor series has tons of great biographical information about old players. I wouldn’t recommend his game annotations personally, but the chess history is generally great.
Mikhail Tal’s “Life and Games of Mikhail Tal” is phenomenal.
Pal Benko’s autobiography is gorgeous, but expensive.
Frank Brady’s biographies of Bobby Fischer are must-reads.
Fred Waitzkin’s “Mortal Games” about Kasparov is fascinating.
Kasparov’s My Great Predecessor series has tons of great biographical information about old players. I wouldn’t recommend his game annotations personally, but the chess history is generally great.
Mikhail Tal’s “Life and Games of Mikhail Tal” is phenomenal.
Chess players who led the most notable lives attract the attention of good biographers. For instance, there's no shortage of Fischer or Morphy biographies. Also, you'll find biographies of players you admire or otherwise interest you to be more enjoyable. I've enjoyed reading biographies of not-quite-so-notable chess figures if something about them piqued my interest. Some chess player "biographies" are better described as game collections with biographical notes, sometimes not much more biography than you can learn from wikipedia. That might be interesting or useful to you, or not.
For an actual suggestion rather than mere pointers, I recently enjoyed reading Hertan's "The Real Paul Morphy". It's a recent book and you can find good reviews online.