Winning the Won Game

From Mark Weeks,
Your Guide to Chess.
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Guide Rating -

The Bottom Line

(May 2005) 'Winning the Won Game' by IM Danny Kopec and GM Lubomir Ftacnik; Batsford/Sterling; December 2004; 208 pages. • 'Lessons from the Albert Brilliancy Prizes'. The prizes were awarded by Paul M. Albert, Jr. for games played in the U.S. Championships from 1984 to 2003. Prize winning games were selected by GM Arthur Bisguier and other top American players. • Contains 64 games, thoroughly annotated using figurine algebraic notation.

Pros	Excellent collection of games by the best American players of the late 20th century. Good annotations accessible to the intermediate level player. Good coverage of openings, many with copious notes and an explanation of the underlying theory. Of the 64 games, 45 were played by men, 19 by women. Of the 60 players represented, 38 were men and 22 women, the cream of American chess.
Cons	Title is somewhat misleading ('Winning the Won Game' implies technical accuracy, not brilliancy). Tables ranking the games from most brilliant to least brilliant are confusing. No record of the events in which the games were played.

Description

'Forward' by Paul M. Albert Jr.; why and how the prizes were awarded.
'Introduction: The Notion of Brilliance and Winning a Won Game' by Danny Kopec.
'Brilliancy and Beauty in Chess: Perspectives of Great Players' (quotes) by Albert and Kopec.
'Winning the Won Game' by Danny Kopec.
List of Paul M. Albert Jr. U.S. Chess Championship Brilliancy Prize Winners (1984-2003).
GM Lubomir Ftacnik's Top Ten Brilliancy Prize Games (plus discussion by Kopec).
Spreadsheet style tables evaluating and ranking games according to various criteria.
64 annotated games, most with introductions; symbols and abbreviations explained.
Index of Games.

Guide Review - Winning the Won Game

You can't judge a book by its title. We can't understand why a book on the Albert Brilliancy Prizes is titled 'Winning the Won Game'. This implies technical accuracy in converting a superior position to a full point on the crosstable. The introduction explains, 'In some sense technique is a subset of brilliance. Brilliance presumes correctness.' • It doesn't really matter whether the title makes sense to us or not. The games stand on their own. They are from 19 consecutive U.S. Championships; the first 17 events were separate men's and women's round robins; the two most recent events were Swiss systems with men and women competing in the same event. • The record of the Albert prizes from the early years is incomplete; at least one game score is missing (women's prize 1990). Some years had only one prize (1988, 1989), one year had six (three for men and three for women in 2000), and in one year we are not certain which game won the prize (1988, both games are given). • Some players won many prizes. There are five wins by Nick de Firmian (out of six games awarded a prize), four wins by Michael Rohde (out of four games, including two from 1988 where it is uncertain which game won the prize), and four wins by Yasser Seirawan (out of eight games; it takes a great game to beat a great player). Among the women, there are four wins (out of five games) by Anna Khan (now Hahn), and three (out of three) by Anjelina Belakovskaia.

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