Sidney Bernstein, born in the Bronx, learned chess from his father at age 7, and played in his first tournament at 15. Since then, he has gone on to play in such prestigious events as the U.S. Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, the World Open, the Marshall and Manhattan Club Championships. (He has been champion of both these clubs). He was designated a member of the U.S. team for the U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. match in 1946, and for the 1952 Olympiad, later captaining the U.S. team in the World Postal Olympiad. He also served as advisor to the U.S. team at the 1964 Olympiad. Mr. Bernstein co-edited (with Fred Reinfeld) the books Art of Chess and Kemeri International Tourney, 1937. He has been awarded the Life Chess Master title by the U.S. Chess Federation.

This book is his chess biography. It contains 142 of his annotated games against the leading chess players of America and the story behind each game. The games are tactically sharp and in most cases arise from unusual opening ideas, many of which were invented by Mr. Bernstein himself.