Diary of a Chess Queen by Alexandra KOSTENIUK Add to Watch List Watching View Watchlist >

Mongoose Press, Newton Highlands, 2009, paperback, 244 pp+ 8 pp with color photos on glossy paper, 490 grams, condition: very good+. 

A memoir and travelogue, a 64 annotated games collection, many b-w and color photos, main tournament and match record.  

The structural layout of Alexandra's book very much resembles Tal's classic, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal." Kosteniuk's book is, like Tal's work, an autobiography. There is much prose (normally at the beginning of each chapter). She starts at her childhood, and takes the reader right up to (and a bit past!) her 2008 World Championship match. Many game fragments are sprinkled throughout each chapter, as well as a substantial number of full-length, annotated games. Alexandra's writing is easily accessible to players of every skill level, whether they be young, old, beginners or masters. I found that she mixed the number of variations and explanations evenly. Since Alexandra typically plays a slashing, aggressive brand of chess, the games are never boring. She drops various tips and tricks of the Grandmaster trade along the way. The Women's ex-World Champ clearly invested alot of time and effort into writing this book.