Heroes, Battles & Brilliancies
by Christian Hesse 432pp. (New In Chess, 2011)
Read an excerpt here
The Joys of Chess is an unforgettable intellectual expedition to the remotest corners of the Royal Game. En route, intriguing thought experiments, strange insights and hilarious jokes will offer vistas you have never seen before.
The beauty, the struggle, the culture, the fun, the art and the heroism of chess – you will find them all in this sparkling book that will give you many hours of intense joy.
Christian Hesse is a Harvard-trained professor of Mathematics who has taught at the University of California, Berkeley (USA), and since 1991 at the University of Stuttgart. He has written a textbook called 'Angewandte Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie'.
Chess and literature are his main hobbies, and he also likes fitness and boxing. His heroes are the ones who fall to the bottom and rise again, fall and rise again…
From the foreword by World Champion Vishy Anand:
"A rich compendium of spectacular highlights and defining moments from chess history: fantastic moves, beautiful combinations, historical blunders, captivating stories, and all this embedded into a plentitude of quick-witted ideas and contemplations as food for thought."
Der Standard, Vienna:
"One of the most ingenious and enjoyable books ever written on chess."
Vladimir Kramnik, 14th World Chess Champion:
“A wealth of magnificent examples”
Europa Rochade Magazine:
“A fascinating collection of ideas, positions and curiosities.”
