The King

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, but above all he was a witty and unpredictable commentator of everything and everybody, both inside and outside the chess world. 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. A book full of insults and ironies, but Donner wouldn't be Donner without a considerable amount of self-mockery.