J. H. Donner (1927 - 1988) was a Dutch Grandmaster and one of the greatest writers about chess of all time. He was a chess reporter and a chess columnist, as well as an annotator of the game. Above all he was a witty and unpredictable commentator of everything and everybody, both inside and outside the chess world. THE KING spans a writing career of more than thirty years during which Donner slowly developed from chess player-writer into writer-chess player.

Donner's favourite themes are: Bobby Fischer, the blunder, chess as a game of luck, why women can't play chess, madness, and poor Lodewijk Prins, his rival for the Dutch National Championship for many years, who, according to Donner, "couldn't tell a bishop from a knight." THE KING is a book full of insults and ironies, but Donner wouldn't be Donner without a considerable amount of self-mockery.

About this edition:

In 1997 a part of this book (about two-thirds) was published in English, in a limited de luxe hardcover edition of only 750 copies (also titled 'The King'). It was a smashing hit with the few people who managed to obtain a copy. New In Chess publishers are very proud to have finally obtained permission, from all parties involved, to publish, for the first time, the unabridged English edition of this classic.

"His reportorial style reminds one of the 'gonzo journalism' of Hunter S.Thompson fame, and his polemics are reminiscent of such great scourges of hypocrisy as H.L.Mencken."

TAYLOR KINGSTON at THE CHESS CAFÉ

"Absolutely wonderful."

RAYMOND KEENE, CHESS COLUMNIST of THE TIMES (London)

"This book is about chess only in appearance, and I hope that no one will allow himself to be scared off by the diagrams and the annotations. It is in fact a magnificent self-portrait of Hein Donner, the player, the equally fearless and hilarious provocateur, who, when the chips are down, will always be found on the right side."

HARRY MULISCH, AUTHOR of THE DISCOVERY OF HEAVEN

"Donner was the wittiest, most irreverent writer of his generation. The book is a triumph."

MALCOLM PEIN, CHESS COLUMNIST of THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

"Donner was witty, opinionated and often cranky, but he was always fun to read - assuming of course you weren't the object of one of his attacks."

JOHN DONALDSON in INSIDE CHESS MAGAZINE

"The most outrageous chess book money can buy."

SARAH HURST in CHESS MOVES

"Eminently readable for chess players and non-chess players alike."

TIM KRABBÉ, AUTHOR of THE VANISHING

"A magnificent portrait of a remarkable man, as well as one of the funniest chess books ever written."

MIKE FOX and RICHARD JAMES in CHESS MAGAZINE

"I felt I deserved a little present and bought myself 'The King'. It is every bit as good as it is said to be."

GRANDMASTER PETER SVIDLER, FOUR TIMES CHESS CHAMPION of RUSSIA

"The book has blown me away. I am raving about it to all my friends."

Content:

17 On the justice of chess

20 The limitations of great ideas

21 Petrosian's blunder

23 Talent

24 Mythology

26 Fun and seriousness

28 The prophet from Muggensturm

31 Pacing up and down

33 Mein System

34 Tears

36 Chess is only chess

37 A talent's childhood diseases

38 Prelogical chess

40 Brazen newcomer

41 Drawing master

43 'Rather not'

44 Blitz

46 Typically nunrowitsch

48 The passed pawn has a soul, desires and fears

50 Blindfold chess

51 Bobby and I

52 In storm and rain

54 This will not happen to me again

56 A crime against chess

58 Chess cannot be compared with anything else

59 Incorrect

60 What makes you not make a move?

62 Teleprinter chess

66 Are bystanders allowed to think?

69 Ivkov's tragedy

72 Prins's chess

76 Prins ahead

77 A long left to the face

78 Ugh

79 Champion Prins

80 It is still a disgrace, he doesn't have a clue

81 Peereboom cannot play chess either

83 Prins refuses challenge

84 Chess animal

85 Chess is and will always be a game of chance

87 Palma de Mallorca

90 Amateurism

92 Women and chess

94 Old chess player

97 Chess and bridge

99 Draw conspiracy

100 Drawing of lots

102 Chess in Cuba

105 Gobstopper

107 On fame

109 Shame

111 Multatuli and Lodewijk Prins

112 S weet little thing

117 Shadow champion

123 I'll win, of course

125 The Prins Variation

127 So I lost

127 Ignore him, Gentlemen!

128 Does Canada exist?

129 Johannes Donner

135 Small world

136 Poker Ideology

140 Merkx

141 Cameras

144 A chess player's hell

147 Seautoscopic vision

151 Women cannot play chess

152 Manic chess against depressive chess

155 Perpetual check in deep anxiety

162 The abyss between the sexes

164 The bishop jumps, the knight goes

166 Journalism

169 Fist

171 The fable of the sperm

177 Donner reads from the classics

181 Symposion

184 I urge Jan Hendrik Timman to observe strict discipline

188 Bad habits

190 Let Fischer have his way

192 Northeast polder

194 Plenary session

197 Fischer's limit

199 B obby Fischer is insane

201 Sniffing-tactile perception

203 Pachman

213 Such feeble, such cowardly chess

215 Young patricides

218 Idle passion

220 Letter

222 Amateur and master

224 Pitch

225 Intuition

227 For the last time: Fischer

229 Exceptio chapaisiana

244 Giants

250 Simul

252 Salvation army dislodges chess players

253 Game

256 A serious setback

258 The warm nest of a tribalist past

259 Wollt ihr das totale schach!?

261 Fifty

263 Birthday present

264 A ge

267 Tragedy

268 Distracting an opponent

271 Arbiters

273 To Argentina with a guilty conscience

276 Foul play

278 Panic

281 Kortchnoi adjourns in winning position

283 Kortchnoi misses win in time-trouble

285 Kortchnoi goes on until stalemate

287 Limit

289 Never have I been so mistaken

291 Auxiliary arbiter

292 Gurus

292 Journalism

296 Karpov deserves World title

297 The power of sports

299 Responsible

300 A politically sinister affair

302 Dear Viktor

304 Two books

308 Boycott I

310 Boycott II

312 Addiction

314 Secret match

317 Swan song

319 Timman-Velimirovic I

320 Timman-Velimirovic II

321 Timman-Velimirovic III

322 Timman-Velimirovic IV

326 Timman-Velimirovic V

327 What a fiasco! What a success!

332 Aggression

333 Chess film

335 Execration

337 Hübner's aversion to stupidity

338 Publicity

340 A hole in the board

344 Computer

347 Olafsson's neck

348 Computer II

350 Are chess players insane?

352 Seconds

354 Per line

356 Euwe: a rich, full life

357 Television

359 Travelling with Euwe

361 Touch of flu

363 Belle

366 Recurrence

367 Moonlighters

370 In support of himself

372 Her hair

373 Ich muss nach Holland bellen

375 A president for Zone 12

376 State of health

377 Chess work

379 Johannesburg

381 Brain haemorrhage

383 Index of names

390 Index of Games

391 Index of Compositions