by Jan Hein Donner, 391pp. (2006 New In Chess)
 
J.H.Donner (1927 - 1988) was a Dutch Grandmaster and one of the greatest writers about chess of all time. He was a chess reporter and a chess columnist, as well as an annotator of the game. Above all he was a witty and unpredictable commentator of everything and everybody, both inside and outside the chess world. The King spans a writing career of more than thirty years during which Donner slowly developed from chess player-writer into writer-chess player.
 
Donner's favourite themes are: Bobby Fischer, the blunder, chess as a game of luck, why women can't play chess, madness, and poor Lodewijk Prins, his rival for the Dutch National Championship for many years, who, according to Donner, "couldn't tell a bishop from a knight." The King is a book full of insults and ironies, but Donner wouldn't be Donner without a considerable amount of self-mockery.
 
About this edition:
In 1997 a part of this book (about two-thirds) was published in English, in a limited deluxe hardcover edition of only 750 copies (also titled 'The King'). It was a smashing hit with the few people who managed to obtain a copy. New In Chess publishers are very proud to have finally obtained permission, from all parties involved, to publish, for the first time, the unabridged English edition of this classic.
 
"His reportorial style reminds one of the 'gonzo journalism' of Hunter S.Thompson fame, and his polemics are reminiscent of such great scourges of hypocrisy as H.L.Mencken."
Taylor Kingston at ChessCafe.com
 
"This book is about chess only in appearance, and I hope that no one will allow himself to be scared off by the diagrams and the annotations. It is in fact a magnificent self-portrait of Hein Donner, the player, the equally fearless and hilarious provocateur, who, when the chips are down, will always be found on the right side."
Harry Mulisch, author of The Discovery of Heaven
 
"Donner was witty, opinionated and often cranky, but he was always fun to read - assuming of course you weren't the object of one of his attacks."
John Donaldson in Inside Chess magazine
 
"The most outrageous chess book money can buy."
Sarah Hurst in Chess Moves
 
"Eminently readable for chess players and non-chess players alike."
Tim Krabbé, author of The Vanishing
 
"A magnificent portrait of a remarkable man, as well as one of the funniest chess books ever written."
Mike Fox and Richard James in Chess magazine
 
"I felt I deserved a little present and bought myself The King. It is every bit as good as it is said to be."
Grandmaster Peter Svidler, Four Times Chess Champion of Russia.
 
"The book has blown me away. I am raving about it to all my friends."
Fred Waitzkin, author of Searching for Bobby Fischer
 
"Absolutely wonderful."
Raymond Keene, Chess Columnist of The Times (London)
 
"Donner was the wittiest, most irreverent writer of his generation. The book is a triumph."
Malcolm Pein, Chess Columnist of the Daily Telegraph