The Death's Head Chess Club

I receive many strange emails through the web site. Most of them involve foreign gentleman who require investment in order to be able to free up millions ... the rest mainly relate to pills offering all sorts. Imagine my interest when I got a request from a publishing house to review this book.

Honestly I can say its a very good read. It is set in a chess tournament in the sixties with regular flashbacks to an SS chess tournament set in Auschwitz which involved a single brilliant chess playing Jew. Its an interesting read despite the potentially depressing scenario it shows individuals exploring their own personal journeys.

In fairness some of the chess references are a little inaccurate. Obviously the moves are described for the general audience , so the pawn in fron tof the king moved forwards twice...you get the idea. However some of the references grate a little. One of the characters played white against Najdorf, played 1.d4 and was disappointed when he didnt play the Sicilian which is of course only possible against 1.e4.

Even so this is a good read with an interesting intertwining of worlds - well worth a read.