More entertaining than educational. Not so much about education and more about diving into the people and culture and fun stories. Maybe I’m looking for fun inspiration.
Tal, Mikhail (1997). The Life and Games of Mikhail . It follows the life of Tal in his own writing, and includes of course many of his games. The writing is funny, and you get an idea of the craziness that went on inside this maestro’s mind.
I also think Fine gold references the book in some of his videos on Tal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIgApj-goYY
There’s a Hugo winning short story by Roger Zelazny called “Unicorn Variation.”
“ In an abandoned saloon, a man and a unicorn play chess. The fate of humanity is at stake. A Sasquatch aids the human.”
The game they play follows one played by Halprin and Pillsbury in Munich, 1900.
There is also the ‘Schachnovelle’ by Stefan Zweig, which is an entirely fictional novel, can also recommend to any non-chess person
I forget the author, but The Immortal Game is both. It discusses chess history, but also tells the story of a famous game that took place in a pub after hours during a major chess tournament. Probably a little more on the informative side but I really liked it.
