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Neil McDonald, an International Grandmaster and chess trainer, knows the ironic, cold reality that every chessplayer faces, from novice to champion:

When you sit down to play a game of chess you are in command of exactly the same eight pieces and eight pawns that Capablanca, Fischer and Kasparov have used to create masterpieces of grand strategy and tactical precision.  Their pieces didn’t have heightened powers nor more fertile soil on which to work their stratagems: just the same 64 squares, 32 white and 32 black.

Then he twists the knife a bit, while stating what we all know, only too well:

The conclusion is obvious: there is a dynamic potential concealed in your pieces that could be released if only you had the right skill and insight.

Ah, yes, we say to ourselves, nodding forlornly: “if only.”

In Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking From the First Move to the Last, McDonald gives us an assist down the road toward that “if only” goal, with “thirty of the greatest games of the modern age” chosen for “their beauty as well as their instructional value.”  The oldest game is Karpov – Korchnoi, Baguio City 1978, the newest is Shirov – Bareev, Wijk aan Zee 2003.  All are presented with notes to each and every move.

The title (which refers to Botvinnik’s “Chess is the art that expresses the science of logic”) is reminiscent of Irving Chernev’s Logical Chess: Move by Move (1957), touted by Jude Acers (among others) as “the best chess book ever.”  (For comparison: an example of a game annotated by Chernev in his classic is given at the Logical Chess website http://www.logicalchess.com/resources/lc/logical01frameset.html .)  Less well known, but of a similar format, is Abramov’s Chess move by move (1971), translated by Cafferty from Russian to English in 1976.  Both of these books, however, focus on relatively older games, compared to McDonald – the most recent game in Abramov’s work is from 1969, and although Cafferty adds games from 1971 and 1975, we are still talking about chess played, at best, 30 or more years ago, with a substantial number of them 50 or more years old.

Does the age of the example games matter?  To the beginner and developing novice, probably not.  Watch Morphy ball-bat all comers, and learn about development, open lines, and attack – even if his opponents were often quite deficient in the art of defense.  Cheer as Steinitz ties himself into painful defensive knots, only to escape Houdini-like, in the end, for victory after victory.  Feel the chill coming off of the games of Capablanca, as he makes chess look simple, and deadly, like cyanide…

Modern chess, however, is different.  True, Heidenfeld, in 1970, could still put together a collection of his best games, and call it Lacking the Master Touch, because, as he chided himself, a real master game has a plan or a theme that runs like a thread from the beginning of the game to the end.  Nowadays, however, top-level chess is full of feint, thrust, parry – and more prophylaxis than is discussed at an American Dental Association conference.  The “logic” is still there in the modern game, it just runs from point to point, not from alpha to omega; and often much of the excitement of a game is what does not come to pass. As McDonald notes:

Chess annotations, like history in general, are normally written from the winner’s point of view. The unrealized hopes and dreams of the loser are allowed to vanish forever.  But this is to miss half of the story as a big part of chess success is based on restraint and prevention of the opponent’s plans.  Therefore it is vital to consider what didn’t happen as well as what did occur.

In order to provide structure, McDonald groups his games in chapters, by opening themes, which also allows him to give general opening advice, as well as information specific to the particular line being played:

1) Classical Chess Thinking: 1.e4 e5
2) Sicilian Defence: Dynamic Chess Strategy
3) Judging the Time Factor: Diverse Ideas after 1.e4
4) Strategy under the Microscope: 1.d4 d5
5) The Art of Counterattack: 1.d4 Nf6
6) Delayed Dynamism: The Flank Openings.

Each game is devoted about eight pages of analysis.

Before reading Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking, I was amused at the prospect of seeing how McDonald annotated the move 1.e4  –  fifteen different times.  As early as the second game, though, he showed a willingness to tackle the task with good humor, as well as insight:

Just as Dracula would be helpless if he were unable to escape from his coffin, or a butterfly could never emerge unless it discarded its caterpillar husk, so too the pieces cannot at all perform unless the pawns are first moved out of the way…

Thus, the comments in the opening in the games are written mostly for instructive value – no doubt the moves were hammered out quickly, with little soul-searching, when they were played.  The middle game annotations tend to reflect what each player was probably thinking about before and after making each of his moves – and even if it is not exactly descriptive of what was going on in the grandmaster’s mind, it is at least prescriptive of what should or could be going on in the reader’s mind, in assessing and planning the play.  All along the way, McDonald shares advice, as well, on how to play certain kinds of positions, or what should be done in these kinds of situations.

To be noted is that, while McDonald gives lines of analysis, move-followed-by-move-followed-by-move, when necessary, he focuses on explaining with words.  This holds true to Bobby Fischer’s comment, that if you can’t put your plan into words, you don’t really have a plan.

I would guess that the book is aimed at club players, perhaps up to Expert, but even stronger players might enjoy and benefit from how McDonald breaks down the critical moments in the games.  A two-page chapter, “How to read the moves in this book,” explains algebraic notation, so it would seem that Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking might also be aimed at some novices – but I would suspect teen and adult readers would do better with the prose than young players.  The book is very well-written, but it’s a good bit beyond, say, Fritz and Chesster.

The best way to judge if the book would be helpful is to look at an excerpt plucked from a game – this one is from Korchnoi – Kasparov, Amsterdam 1991:

9…Nd7

A race is about to begin between rival pawn attacks on the wings, and so Kasparov wastes no time in clearing the way for his f-pawn.  At the same time his knight helps fortify the c5 square to slow down White’s advance.

10.Be3

The bishop espies the diagonal a7-g1, where he can put pressure on both the a7 pawn and the important c5 square, and defensively speaking can help shield his king from f2 once this square is vacated by f2-f3.  He goes there immediately, as the chance would be lost after 10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 f4 when Be3 is prevented.

10…f5

The first belligerent gesture of Kasparov’s kingside attack.  He plans to partially dismantle White’s centre with 11…fxe4 when amongst other things the puny knight on e7 suddenly gains a strong post on f5.

11.f3

Korchnoi ensures that he can recapture on e4 with a pawn and clears f2 for his bishop.

11…f4

Here we see that the decision to put the bishop on e3 was not without drawbacks as Black gains a useful tempo in his pawn charge by attacking it.

12.Bf2

The bishop retires into the safety of the kingside fortress.

12…g5

Kasparov would like to disturb the bishop again, this time by advancing a pawn to g3 where it would split open the kingside defences.  Note that the black king is in no danger of facing a direct attack, despite its loss of pawn cover, as White’s pieces are in no position to mount such an assault. Any danger to the black king is likely to come 'sideways' or diagonally via the queenside, if ever White breaks through there.

13.a4

Korchnoi is satisfied he has done enough to reinforce his kingside and so begins his own pawn raid on the queenside.

13…Ng6

The knight that was imprisoned on e7 is the first piece to benefit from the space created behind the advancing kingside pawns.

14.Nd3

Now White is ready to forge ahead with 15.c5. It would make no sense for Black to try to slow his progress with 14…b6 as this just creates a fresh target that can be assaulted with 15.a5 followed by b2-b4 and c4-c5, etc.  It is imperative that Black do nothing to aid the white advance.

14…Nf6

Unable to prevent White gaining ground on the queenside, Kasparov has to trust in the power of his counterattack. On f6 the knight will assist the next stage of his plan: namely the advance g5-g4.

15.c5

At last White has achieved his strategic objective.  The battle has reached a very tense phase: just the loss or gain of one tempo could mean victory or defeat.

15…h5

Meanwhile Black continues to charge forwards with his kingside pawns.  Kasparov is in his element in this perilous position.  He wants to win every game, even if it entails a lot of risk.

16.h3

White places another obstacle in the way of the g5-g4 advance, but in such a double-edged position every move is open to question.  Is the pawn on h3 really a barrier, or is it a convenient hook on which Black can fasten his kingside attack?  It was possible to make do without the pawn move, at least temporarily, and continue to press forwards on the queenside with 16.c6 or open  lines with 16.cxd6.

16…Rf7!

Both players have to find the perfect balance between the execution of their own plan and the hindrance of the opponent’s aims.  Here Kasparov puts his rook on his second rank, where it defends the c7 square in case White decides to open the c-file with c5xd6 and after the recapture c7xd6 tries for an invasion down the c file with Rc1, etc.  In such an eventuality it would also be handy that the f8 square had been vacated so that Black could add to the defence of d6 with Bf8 if necessary.

From a more positive viewpoint, once the bishop moves from g7 the rook will be ready to swing over to the h file to join the looming attack on the white king.

17.c6

As Black is well prepared for c5xd6 Korchnoi decides on a different plan of action on the queenside.

If now 17…bxc6 then after 18.dxc6 there are light squares in the centre which he can exploit with Nb4, intending Nbd5 as well as Bc4, when the black rook is suddenly pinned against the king.

Of course Black is planning a kingside attack and wants to keep the centre closed, but if 17..b6 then 18.a5 is very strong – already there is the threat to create a passed pawn with 18.axb6 as 18…cxb6 would be forced.

As well as these line opening ideas White has a more insidious threat:  18.Nb5!! attacking a7 when after 18…a6 (if 18…b6 19.a5! as above) 19.Na7 the knight is on a ridiculous square but next move it can be exchanged for Black’s light-squared bishop with Nxc8.  This bishop is an essential piece as it is needed to support a break through on the kingside with g5-g4.  Therefore under no circumstances should Black allow this exchange to take place.

You will see from the above that White has very real threats and it is only thanks to Kasparov’s great play that it appears to be an easy victory for Black: Korchnoi would have beaten most Grandmasters as White from this position.

Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking From the First Move to the Last will inevitably be compared to John Nunn’s Understanding Chess Move by Move (2001).  For the latter book, Nunn used his own skill, and the powers of chess software, to find 30 top-level modern games which clearly demonstrated the relevant opening, middlegame or endgame theme, and which were “as sound as possible” (although programs like Fritz argue that “human games” and “error-free” cannot be used in the same sentence).  Nunn spent less repeat time commenting on the initial moves, referring readers to earlier notes, if the opening had already been addressed.  His annotations (“move by move” as the title indicates) generally have more – and deeper – concrete variations than do those of Chernev, Abramov or McDonald, although he admits the book has more words than his books usually do.  His explanations, as always, are lucid and enlightening.

Perhaps Nunn’s book is for the slightly stronger player, McDonald’s for the player who needs a bit more coaching, especially in opening principles.  Both are excellent, and complement each other.  Honestly, though, if I had to choose between Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking From the First Move to the Last and Understanding Chess Move by Move, I would fall back on my Dad’s tried-and-true Thanksgiving dessert strategy.  When asked if he wanted pumpkin pie or mince pie, he would always take a moment to look pensive, then say “I’ll have both, please.”
 

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