| Preface | p. 1 |
| How We Play the Game | p. 3 |
| Ten Botched Brilliancies | p. 3 |
| The Eight Most Misunderstood Chess Rules | p. 10 |
| Nine Unusual Venues | p. 12 |
| How Chess Games End | p. 15 |
| Thirteen Radical Ideas | p. 15 |
| The Fifteen Richest Prizes | p. 19 |
| Six Peaceful Events | p. 21 |
| The Eight Youngest-Ever Grandmasters | p. 22 |
| Nineteen Master Games with Illegal Moves | p. 24 |
| The Best (and Some Worst) | p. 33 |
| Elo's Highest Rated | p. 33 |
| The 18 Peak Ratings | p. 34 |
| The Polls | p. 35 |
| Informant Favorites | p. 35 |
| Bobby Fischer's "Best" List | p. 36 |
| The Great Match Players | p. 39 |
| Five Memorable Streaks | p. 42 |
| The World Championship Box Score | p. 44 |
| Eleven Long "Thinks" | p. 45 |
| Their Worst Games | p. 50 |
| Masters at Play | p. 60 |
| Ten Cases of Suspected or Confirmed Cheating | p. 60 |
| Eleven World Class Players Who Got Mated | p. 65 |
| Eleven Non-Theoretical Innovations | p. 68 |
| The Sixteen Shortest Games Ever Played | p. 73 |
| The Ten Longest Games Ever Played | p. 76 |
| Seven Tournament Collapses | p. 77 |
| Perfect Scores | p. 81 |
| Eleven Costliest Blunders | p. 83 |
| The Eight Longest Running International Tournaments | p. 87 |
| Fakes, Myths and Real Jobs | p. 89 |
| Eleven Games That (Probably) Never Happened | p. 89 |
| Alekhine's Fifteen "Improvements" | p. 96 |
| Four Faked Games | p. 100 |
| Fourteen Remarkable Exhibitions | p. 102 |
| Five Chess Myths | p. 106 |
| The Real Jobs of 30 Noted Players | p. 108 |
| Life, Death and the World Championship | p. 116 |
| Eight Games of Living Chess | p. 116 |
| The Reigns of World Champions | p. 120 |
| Nine Other World Championships | p. 121 |
| Sixteen Long-Reigning National Champions | p. 124 |
| Great Skittles | p. 127 |
| The Eleven Longest World Championship Matches | p. 130 |
| The Odd Deaths of Nine Masters | p. 131 |
| Nine Masters Who Died in Poverty | p. 132 |
| Eight Cases of Rapid Progress | p. 135 |
| The Nine Worst World Championship Games | p. 138 |
| Seven Famous Losers | p. 144 |
| The Great, the Most and the Tragic | p. 148 |
| The Great Rivalries | p. 148 |
| Ten Most Mispronounced Names | p. 150 |
| Ten Famous Patrons | p. 152 |
| "Difficult" Opponents | p. 155 |
| The Three Who Really Knew "How to Beat Bobby Fischer" | p. 158 |
| "Fischer's Fish" | p. 159 |
| Fischer's Ten Best Games | p. 160 |
| Ten Geriatric Achievements | p. 161 |
| Tragic Losses | p. 165 |
| Seventeen Nicknames | p. 169 |
| Ten Last Games | p. 174 |
| The Greatest Correspondence Games | p. 177 |
| Thirteen Masters Who Gave Up the Game | p. 184 |
| Openings and Endings and What's in Between | p. 188 |
| The Greatest King Pawn Players of All Time | p. 188 |
| Ten Dubious Debuts | p. 190 |
| The Greatest Queen Pawn Players of All Time | p. 193 |
| Ten Opening Theme Events | p. 195 |
| The Greatest English-Opening Players | p. 200 |
| Six Remarkable Games with Bizarre Openings | p. 201 |
| The Twelve Most Popular Openings Today | p. 205 |
| Informant Innovators | p. 207 |
| Steinitz's 22 Technical Terms | p. 207 |
| Four Cases of Middlegame Zugzwang | p. 208 |
| Lasker's Exchange Values | p. 209 |
| The Nine Greatest Endgame Players | p. 210 |
| The Five Notorious Endgames | p. 213 |
| Twenty Composer-Players | p. 217 |
| The Ten Greatest Problems | p. 221 |
| Last Words | p. 226 |
| The Twelve Finest Chess Books | p. 226 |
| Eighteen Novels with Chess Themes | p. 229 |
| Nobel Prize for Literature Players | p. 231 |
| Twelve Books That Haven't Been Translated into English--But Should Be | p. 233 |
| Five Eagerly Awaited Books | p. 234 |
| Chess Themes and Scenes in Movies | p. 235 |
| Index of Openings (Descriptive) | p. 239 |
| Index of Openings (ECO) | p. 240 |
| General Index | p. 241 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
