This is a chess book you can sit back comfortably in your armchair and just read. Or, when you feel like getting the pieces out of the box and learning from some great games, tactics and strategies - that’s all here as well.

Nearly everyone with an interest in chess shares the same two questions: What were the great champions like? How can I choose opening moves that give me a good game?

Chess Hall-of-Famer and three-time U.S. Champion Lev Alburt teams up with World Chess Hall of Fame Executive Director and Chess Journalist of the Year Award winner Al Lawrence to answer these questions

– and to tell the intriguing, inspiring and sometimes downright bizarre behind-the-scenes stories of the chess greats and near-greats, and how, above all else, they were men of their times.