Every chess player knows of the meteoric career of Paul Morphy, the New Orieans  prodigy, who vanquished the mighty paladins of chess and became the first uncrowned champion of the world. And everyone enjoy reading about the games, the men and the scene when Morphy reigned supreme.

This work spans roughly the period from the middle 1800s to the early 1900s including choice morsels extending slightly beyond the fingers in each direction so that even Capablanca and grandmasters of his day are set off in focus against the distant horizons of the earlier period.

Napier is supreme in bringing to life the chess giants of his and Morphy’s time, relating their human foibles and peccadillos and even their cardinal sins. He makes the era seem what, in fact it may have been the Golden Age of Chess.