The Chess Artist

An exploration of chess enthusiam throughout the world notes the contributions of Kalmykia dictator Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, New York's legendary chess district, the Princeton Math Department, and more. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

---

A fascinating exploration of the history and evolution of chess and the obsessive hold that it exerts on its followers. From travelling to the tiny Russian chess-obsessed province of Kalmykia to challenge its eccentric dictator to a match, touring New York's legendary chess district, crashing the Princeton Math department game party, to playing chess with a convicted murderer in prison, Hallman transforms an entertaining weaving of travelogue, journalism, and chess history into a compulsively readable narrative.