I have long been a fan of books that look at the psychological impact of chess on the player (or should I say the impact of the player on chess?). My first acquaintance with this kind of work was Fine's insane little pamphlet, where he takes everything to absurd Freudian extremes (if you mate the enemy King, you are trying to kill your father. If you capture the Queen, you are raping your mother, etc. etc.).

Though entertaining, there was nothing to learn from Fine's madness, so I went on to other works like The Psychology of Chess Skill by Holding (out of print, hard to find, very technical but interesting), The Mechanics of the Mind by Pfleger and Treppner (highly recommended), Winning With Chess Psychology by Benko and Hochberg (far short of being profound, but a relaxing read nonetheless), and Chess Psychology by Krogius (worth picking up a copy at a used bookstore).

Genius in Chess is the latest exploration into chess psychology. In my opinion, it stands apart from earlier works on this subject due to its easy readability and the self-test section at the end.

Mr. Levitt's main focus is on IQ, something I have little faith in (I have met dozens of MENSA members who were/are [it's a lifetime affliction] blithering idiots). Nevertheless, his theories about IQ and genius in relation to grandmasters, and his ability to keep things light and entertaining, make this one of the easiest reads that I have enjoyed in a very long time.

My biggest complaint is that his discussion of these matters only fills up 44 pages. I was really getting into his shtick when I hit page 44 and everything came to an end! I sort of felt mugged. Surely there are hundreds of other things to explore in this field?

Putting my grumbling aside, I must assure the reader that there IS ink on the pages past 44. In fact, the seemingly endless tests that follow are designed to ascertain whether you have talent for the game (and your present rating or understanding of the game supposedly has no bearing on the tests) or whether you should try your hand at something else; potting plants or couch potato being two options.

I think that this book is well worth buying. The only flaw is the author's laziness (or time pressure, or...who knows?). If he had taken more time to write this thing, if he asked new questions and given us an extra 100 pages, he might have ended up with a real classic.

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