This Crazy World of Chess is the title of Grandmaster Larry Evans' new book.
It is a collection of 101 entertaining dispatches from the back door of chess: fun, intrigues, bizarre anecdotes, scandals, great games, and high-level gossip.
Inevitably, there is a lot of Bobby Fischer in this book, as Evans was Fischer's best friend during a crucial period in his life.
But quite a few other celebrities turn up in this swinging volume: Garry Kasparov, Charlie Chaplin, Anatoly Karpov, Artie Shaw, Sammy Reshesvky and Ray Charles.
There is another intriguing aspect of this 294 pages book: it costs only ?¢‚Äö¬¨ 11.50! Being a chess publisher myself, I fail to understand how Cardoza, Evans' publisher, manages to make any money on this.
In short: an
extremely entertaining read at a ridiculously low price.