The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

First edition of The Queen's Gambit published by Random House in 1983

Walter Tevis' fifth and second to last novel is about the ascent of female chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon. Orphaned when her mother dies at age 8, Beth spends the next five years in the Methuen home for girls and learns how to play chess covertly with one of the janitors while combating an addiction to tranquilizers. Beth is eventually adopted and steals money to play in a tournament, where she finally becomes recognized as the talent that she is. The Queen's Gambit follows Beth from her humble beginnings to challenging the world champion at 18, and, despite being extremely chess-heavy in detail, is incredibly gripping and fun to read. I have yet to read or even hear of another book that deals with the plight of the female chess player in an almost always male-dominated field. The Queen's Gambit is easily in contention for my favorite of Tevis' novels, and this first edition features great jacket art by Will Barnet.

Bobby Fischer's Conquest of the World's Chess Championship by Reuben Fine, Ph.D.

First edition published by David McKay Company in 1973

Reuben Fine's seminal book recounts and discusses the entirety of the World Chess Championship in 1972 between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Arguably some of the most famous matches ever played, the championship during the summer of 1972 at the height of the Cold War were some of the most widely talked about and covered in the history of chess. Spassky, a Russian, and Fischer, an American, embodied the Cold War on chessboards and Fischer's victory was a global symbol and triumph for America. In his book Fine, a chess grandmaster and psychologist, discusses his views on the matches and the psychology behind them. With amazing, simplistic cover design by Lawrence Ratzkin, this first edition is a great volume about a great part of history.