BOOK: 7/12/18 Grandmaster by David Klass
First book post with the revamp? That's what's up. Anyways, one of my bigger problems was that with the name change of the website people can't find my new site, so I'll have to do something about that. Anyway, I just recently read this book again and I fell IN LOVE WITH IT. Old readers will know what's up, but this book needs to get more publicity than it does. Anyways, here's the greatest chess novel of all time.
Summary: Daniel Pratzer is a patzer (a term which basically means you terribly suck at chess), yet when Eric Chisolm and Brad Kinney, two of the most popular seniors at his high school, invite him to the father-son chess tournament, Daniel is shocked. Why would the valedictorian of the senior class and the most popular jock, dating the prettiest freshman Brittney, ask him to a chess tournament. Later, he figures out why, his dad is a grand master, the highest rank you can achieve in Chess (like a chess god). In this father-son tournament, you have to have a team of 6, but every round they take the five highest scores (where a win is 1 point, a draw is half a point, and a loss is nothing), so essentially, they don't need Daniel. But when they get to New York, the plan for Daniel and his fellow Mind Cripples (the team name they made up) to win the 10,000 dollar prize starts to unravel. Daniel's father Morris starts to freak out during games, threatening his opponents and sweating a lot, to the point where he can't even eat, not to mention Brad is having his own issues with his girlfriend and his dad. The question is, what are they willing to risk to win it all?
What I like: Well, first off, it's a chess book for teens. I mean, I love chess and books, but this is the only book about chess I've seen that doesn't just tell you how to play it. It's a legitimate novel with a plot, characters, setting everything, and I love that it's such a rarity. Other than that, it's what every good book normally has, some action, a good romance line, that one dude that's a villain, it's got all of that, and in some ways it's actually educational and even has a moral- which would be don't judge a bald, old man who's secretly one of the greatest chess players of his time by it's cover (or something like that). For a chess book, Grandmaster has a surprisingly large amount of good action.
What I didn't like: Not to be a hypocrite, but I felt like it didn't have enough action, but of course that's because it's a chess book. Chess only gets you so far with intriguing and fun exciting scenes. There aren't any guns, evil bad guys, or fights in chess (well there are fights in this book, but still...) so I guess I should be thankful for the amount David Klass puts in, but I wish he could've blended in more. Also, I'm surprised he made one of the main characters a delirious wacko who should've been dead twenty times over throughout the book. Normally I like unique characters, but this was a character trait I could've done without.
Rating on 'the scale': 9.1 out of 10
Why? Yes, this beats Spaced Out. It's one of those books where, if you have the heart and mind to really get into it, the ending touches you, which is what it did to me. It's only a low rating because I feel like the majority of you wouldn't care to spend a couple hours reading about chess, but if this blog was based around me, it'd be much higher.
Related: I don't know, again chess books are rare.
Summary: Daniel Pratzer is a patzer (a term which basically means you terribly suck at chess), yet when Eric Chisolm and Brad Kinney, two of the most popular seniors at his high school, invite him to the father-son chess tournament, Daniel is shocked. Why would the valedictorian of the senior class and the most popular jock, dating the prettiest freshman Brittney, ask him to a chess tournament. Later, he figures out why, his dad is a grand master, the highest rank you can achieve in Chess (like a chess god). In this father-son tournament, you have to have a team of 6, but every round they take the five highest scores (where a win is 1 point, a draw is half a point, and a loss is nothing), so essentially, they don't need Daniel. But when they get to New York, the plan for Daniel and his fellow Mind Cripples (the team name they made up) to win the 10,000 dollar prize starts to unravel. Daniel's father Morris starts to freak out during games, threatening his opponents and sweating a lot, to the point where he can't even eat, not to mention Brad is having his own issues with his girlfriend and his dad. The question is, what are they willing to risk to win it all?
What I like: Well, first off, it's a chess book for teens. I mean, I love chess and books, but this is the only book about chess I've seen that doesn't just tell you how to play it. It's a legitimate novel with a plot, characters, setting everything, and I love that it's such a rarity. Other than that, it's what every good book normally has, some action, a good romance line, that one dude that's a villain, it's got all of that, and in some ways it's actually educational and even has a moral- which would be don't judge a bald, old man who's secretly one of the greatest chess players of his time by it's cover (or something like that). For a chess book, Grandmaster has a surprisingly large amount of good action.
What I didn't like: Not to be a hypocrite, but I felt like it didn't have enough action, but of course that's because it's a chess book. Chess only gets you so far with intriguing and fun exciting scenes. There aren't any guns, evil bad guys, or fights in chess (well there are fights in this book, but still...) so I guess I should be thankful for the amount David Klass puts in, but I wish he could've blended in more. Also, I'm surprised he made one of the main characters a delirious wacko who should've been dead twenty times over throughout the book. Normally I like unique characters, but this was a character trait I could've done without.
Rating on 'the scale': 9.1 out of 10
Why? Yes, this beats Spaced Out. It's one of those books where, if you have the heart and mind to really get into it, the ending touches you, which is what it did to me. It's only a low rating because I feel like the majority of you wouldn't care to spend a couple hours reading about chess, but if this blog was based around me, it'd be much higher.
Related: I don't know, again chess books are rare.
Comments
Post a Comment