This Crazy World of Chess is the title of Grandmaster Larry Evans' new book.

It is a collection of 101 entertaining dispatches from the back door of chess: fun, intrigues, bizarre anecdotes, scandals, great games, and high-level gossip.

Inevitably, there is a lot of Bobby Fischer in this book, as Evans was Fischer's best friend during a crucial period in his life.

But quite a few other celebrities turn up in this swinging volume: Garry Kasparov, Charlie Chaplin, Anatoly Karpov, Artie Shaw, Sammy Reshesvky and Ray Charles.

There is another intriguing aspect of this 294 pages book: it costs only ?¢‚Äö¬¨ 11.50! Being a chess publisher myself, I fail to understand how Cardoza, Evans' publisher, manages to make any money on this.

In short: an extremely entertaining read at a ridiculously low price.