Author: Hannak, Jacques (1892-1973)
Year: 1959
Publisher: Andre Deutsch Ltd
Place: London
Description:
320 pages with diagrams and tables. Octavo (8 1/2" x 6 3/4") bound in red cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Foreword by Albert Einstein. Translated by Heinrich Fraenkel. (Betts: 29-65) First English edition. First published as Biographie eines Schachweltmeisters Berlin-Frohnau (1952).
Most people agree that Emanuel Lasker was the greatest chess master of all time, but he was more than that. He hated chess as much as he loved it, using it chiefly as a means of livelihood while he devoted himself to problems of philosophy and mathematics. In the latter field he could hold his own with men such as Einstein who honored this book with a foreword out of respect for a fellow scientist and affection for a remarkable man. There is much in Lasker's story to interest even readers who care little for the game that made him famous, but it is, of course, the chess fraternity which will find it most fascinating. They will see an almost legendary exponent of their game come vividly to life, his great exploits in tournaments and matches revived, and a hundred of his games annotated. Hannak's book is the standard work on Lasker. Heinrich Fraenkel (Who is "Assiac" of the New Statesman) has used it as a welcome opportunity to pay homage to a man who was a friend and hero of his own youth, thereby adding to its quality as a himan document as well as an important contribution to the history of chess.
Condition:
Previous owner's name on front end paper, some underlining through page 35, heal corners bumped. Jacket with some light soiling, spine sunned else a very good copy in like jacket.
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