Rating: 
Summary: Fear and Loathing in Kalmykia
Review: This book is an interesting melange of chess history, personality, relationships and politics. Unfortunately the mix doesn't quite work out as well as you'd hope. The main portion of the book is the trip the author takes to Russia, and then Kalmykia to investigate Kalmykian president/dictator and FIDE president/dictator Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. As in Heart of Darkness, things get more and more chaotic as they grow closer to their goal with the chess master falling apart from the stresses of being in an unfamiliar environment. The squalor of both Russia, and more so Kalmykia is well described and heart-breaking. Really though nothing much comes of the trip despite the author's somewhat Don Quixotish quest to find something about a murdered Kalmykian journalist. The total surreality of Chess City just overwhelms everything else. The interludes the author provides on the history and development of the game of chess are particularly well done. The other portion of the book, modern chess in the USA is more about Hallman's relationship with both Glenn the chess master, and chess itself. Hallman becomes infatuated with chess, just as becoming infatuated with a girl but never really gets to know chess first-hand. Like admiring the girl from afar he gets his chess impressions through the characters found in the chess world particularly his friend Glenn. Realizing he will never win the attentions of his new infatuation he becomes ambivalent, even hostile to both chess and Glenn, his attitude swings back and forth as he ponders the useful, or uselessness of chess while seeing what it has done to some people. This was quite interesting, his internalized love/hate relationship with both the game of chess and the chess world is familiar to many chess players. The chess world is full of great characters and stories, and I think the book would have been stronger if he had followed Glenn throughout a few more tournaments rather than devoting so much to a fruitless quest ending in a very brief, but very scary, interview with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The prose is quite readable, though at times a bit over the top. Hallman is even-handed, though not altogether sympathetic to his friend Glenn, and the world of chess and chess players. On the whole, this work is very interesting, but very flawed. Like a chess game it was as interesting for what might have happened as for what was put down on paper. It is worth a look for the personal interrelationships on the dysfunctional Kalmykia road trip and the sequences about chess history as well as the US tournament scenes. Similar to Searching for Bobby Fischer the book is strongest when in the midst of the tension of a tournament and shows weakness when going overseas.
Rating: 
Summary: zzzz
Review: This book took me quite a while to make it through. This is because I found it relatively boring. I suppose to the majority of the population, any book about chess is boring. However, after reading "Searching For Bobby Fischer," I thought quite the opposite.
The main story, which makes up the bulk of the book, is the trip to the Russian province and their Chess City. For the author, I'm sure it was a very exciting journey, but I found it to be a snoozer. The Chess City trip was so boring that I was absolutely enthralled when he broke away to tell about his other exploits in the chess world. Those parts I found entertaining, but I was just begging for him to get on the plane and leave Kalmykia. The historical portions were okay, except when the had to do with the Kalmykian chess history.
Overall, this book was a flat liner. The story was dreary and uninteresting. Being a security guard, I often opted to sit and stare at the wall rather than read this book. Unfortunately, it has turned me away from the genre of chess literature. I'll probably never read a chess book again.
Rating: 
Summary: Very important lesson on obsession in chess
Review: Very enjoyable book, unless you are obsessed with chess, in which case this book is about you. It contains wonderful descriptions of chess lovers from sidewalk cafes, to Siberian car lots, from Princetonians to prisoners. Hallman traveled the world with his chess-addicted compatriot, meeting chess players wherever he could find them and chronicling their experiences. I love chess, but I play Shuffle Chess (aka Fischerandom) so that I will never become a chess zombie. Some of the stories here are really sad, but still funny! The biggest drawback of the book is Hallman's "obsession" with the skin color of his buddy, a highly skilled chess player who happens to be black. He is constantly worried about the reactions of people they encounter. Why would a Nobel prize-winning mathematician give a hoot about someone's race? (I know. There is no Nobel prize in Mathematics, since Nobel's wife left him for a mathematician. Hallman runs into the ghost of John Nash, who won in economics.) When Hallman concentrates on the personalities, or lack thereof, instead of on his own paranoia, his observations are very witty. All of this is interwoven with some interesting history of the game: the origins, the evolution of the movements of the pieces, the etymology of their names, etc. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who spends his Saturdays memorizing opening variations of the Sicilian Najdorf. (If you think that's pronounced the way it's spelled, you're not yet fully addicted. There's hope for you.)
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