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BCM Chess Book Reviews : September 2000Return to the BCM Review Index
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The authors stated aim was to collect a number of interesting recent
Winawer games and assess their impact on the state of theory. This is
done via the analysis of 48 complete game scores. Most of them are dated
1999, though there are some from 2000 as well as the earlier 1990s. Of
particular importance is the fact that the book is sufficiently up to
date to include references to Linares 2000, where there were a few theoretically
important Winawer games, particularly in the declined variation
(1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 a3 Ba5), recently championed by Khalifman.
McDonald is to be congratulated on doing another thorough job and producing
a very worthy book which will help readers to steer their way through
the thickets of theory.
The Modern Defence is quite hard to write an opening book about, both
because it is so flexible and also because it is difficult to hold the
interest of the typically lazy people who play the Modern Defence. One
book which succeeded in covering the ground was David Norwoods Winning
With The Modern, which read so felicitously (some unkind critics might
use the adjective skimpy to describe it) that even a theory-phobic
Mod would have little excuse for not reading through to the
end. That 1994 book had some good ideas in it (one of which Speelman admits
using for an Olympiad game), but the current volume puts a little more
meat on the bones. There are 59 games analysed (though only one from 1999
and none from 2000), with four chapters where White does not play an early
c4: they cover Gurgenidze systems with and without f4, variations where
Black eschews ...Nf6 but plays the thematic ...a6, ...b5 advance. McDonald
tackles these chapters and includes much textual detail (as well as close
analysis) to help the reader understand the principles involved; but he
is an infrequent player of the Modern Defence and does not sound overly
convinced of its effectiveness in the chapter summaries. Speelman then
takes over to cover lines where White plays an early c4, such as the Averbach
variation which arises after 1 d4 g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 e4 d6 4 Nc3 Nc6, etc.
He really gets into his stride with the Averbach lines with the flexible
4...Nd7, which seem to offer more prospects to ambitious Black players.
In summary, no Modern Defence player will want to be without this book,
and it can be recommended purely for the quality of the game annotations,
with Speelman reprising some of the classics from the Modern Defences
1960s heyday.
OUT OF PRINT |
This is a complete collection of Botvinniks extant games from his
earliest days up to and including his world championship victory in 1948.
It is laid out and annotated in Informator style, with every game
annotated to a greater or lesser degree (mainly greater), with the annotator
identified. In a large number of cases this is Botvinnik himself. Also,
modern game references help to indicate how theory has moved on. The games
(573 in all) are in chronological order and interspersed with cross-tables
and other data regarding Botvinniks career (in English). A gremlin
has crept in on the contents page which is a left-over from the
Lasker book. A splendid production, well up to the standard set by the
publishers previous Lasker and Chigorin collections.
This book is for the self-improver, with seven detailed chapters on pawn
configurations: isolated, hanging, passed, doubled, backward pawns as
well as pawn chains and islands. The first chapter overlaps with Baburins
excellent 1998 book Winning Pawn Structures, discussing the familiar isolated
d-pawn positions that arise from several openings such as the Queens
Gambit Accepted, Caro Kann and Sicilian c3. This and each subsequent chapter
consist of annotated games exemplifying the concept under consideration.
The games are well-chosen, with many old familiar games amongst the more
modern ones. Croatian Grandmaster Marovic is one of the old school, with
an enviable track record as a trainer and writer. His style is clear but
conservative, tending towards the dry, with few asides or anecdotes. Not
one for the general reader, perhaps; but it should prove a reliable textbook
for the ambitious student and might ultimately be regarded as a standard
work on an important aspect of chess strategy.
This is a collection of 100 correspondence chess games of 25 moves or
less, and is the first book to be published by Chess Mail, the
well-known correspondence chess magazine. Appropriately enough it is by
Chess Mails editor Tim Harding, and like most of his many
chess books, eminently readable and thoughtfully put together. Some of
the great names of CC are featured here, among them Berliner, Zagorovsky
and Andersson, as well as the surprising name of Peter Leko, who played
for Hungary in a 1999 ICCF email tournament. Harding classifies the games
into chapters, with particular reference to the myriad disasters that
can befall the CC player (e.g. clerical error). A pleasurable read.
This edition has 38 opening surveys. It is very much post-Linares
with contributions from Yuri Dokhoian, Anand and Kramnik on some of the
games from the tournament. Two Dutch analysts claim to have refuted the
Wilkes-Barre variation of the Two Knights Defence.
535 games from February-May 2000, annotated by the worlds top players,
plus sections on combinations and endgames, and a retrospective article
on Korchnoi. Kasparov was awarded the prize for the top game of the previous
edition with his win against Van Wely from the Corus tournament; some
consolation, perhaps, for not being awarded the game of the round
prizes that he felt he should have received at that competition.
This is one for the die-hard Morra Gambiteer. You get a lot of analysis
for your money, all excellently indexed and set out, with goodly amounts
of textual advice and guidance. It is worth noting that the book does
not set out to cover the following ways of declining the Morra Gambit:
1 e4 c5 2 d4 cxd4 3 c3 Nf6 or 3...d5, both of which belong more to the
Sicilian c3 complex. But it does cover 3...d3 as well as off-beat gambit
lines such as 3 Nf3.
The author (a 27-year-old grandmaster now resident in Bucharest) underlines
the growth in popularity of the Sveshnikov Sicilian, with more than half
the games on the database (12,800+ in number) being played in the last
six years. The format is the now-familiar Chessbase standard: an introductory
text leads to a further 26 texts with analysis and discussion of different
lines. There is a difficulty with the texts in that they are not linked
together; and it can be difficult to find the variation you are looking
for in the database list as the titles consist only of the last few moves
of the variation. There is also a training database of 22 games, with
questions to entertain and educate the reader. A good place to start for
anyone thinking about playing the Sveshnikov.
The usual lively and informative account of chess in the mid-Victorian
age. London may well have been a mecca for chess, but Yorkshire and Liverpool
rivalled it when it came to eating and drinking.
Packed with game scores and problems as usual, this seems to have been
a relatively slow year for hard news. The editor resorts to odd articles,
such as a phrenological study of Mr Harrwitz, the celebrated blindfold
player. There is also some jingoistic bombast about how wonderful England
is and the unvanquished prowess of her champion.
Packed with game scores and problems as usual, this seems to have been
a relatively slow year for hard news. The editor resorts to odd articles,
such as a phrenological study of Mr Harrwitz, the celebrated blindfold
player. There is also some jingoistic bombast about how wonderful England
is and the unvanquished prowess of her champion.
Rather as Pillsbury had done in 1895, an American crossed the Atlantic
to win the Hastings tournament. This time it was the up and coming Reuben
Fine. The two big tournaments of the year Moscow and Nottingham
are given excellent coverage, with Reshevsky contributing notes
to some of his Nottingham games.