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BCM Chess Book Reviews : November 2000Return to the BCM Review Index
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In appearance this book is similar to Everyman’s recent Kramnik: Life and Games, but the subjects of the two books are very different. Kramnik was born great, but Khalifman has had greatness thrust upon him. His Las Vegas triumph has put the rest of his career in the shade, to the extent that it is now hard to see him as he was before becoming FIDE World Champion at the age of 33. Khalifman is not as tight-lipped or guarded in his public utterances as Kramnik, perhaps because he has had less need to worry about overexposure or bad publicity. In fact, as one reads the book, one is reminded more of his friend Alex Yermolinsky and his rejection of authority in his Soviet Union days. The author, Gennady Nesis, has been Khalifman’s trainer for 17 years and is therefore the ideal person to be telling Khalifman’s story; and he openly makes reference to his charge’s “intemperate behaviour” during his teenage years. Nevertheless, opportunities to play at home and abroad did eventually come the young man’s away, culminating in his European Junior Championship success in late 1985. At this point in his life, real life intervened, in the shape of military service, and this seems to have broken Khalifman’s concentration on chess to some extent, but at the same time allowed him to view the game in a more detached and rational way. In a mid-1990s interview he spoke of his perceptions of certain players whom he saw as ‘chess automata’ and expressed a hope that “some normal, lively lad [would] come along and beat everyone.”
Another similarity with Yermolinsky occurs when Khalifman went to live in Germany in 1991. By that time, such a move was of course not as cataclysmic as Korchnoi’s defection, and Khalifman’s motives were the political upheaval in the Soviet Union. But unlike so many other chess emigrants of this period, Khalifman returned to live in due course to his beloved St Petersburg, seemingly because he had missed his friends. Nesis rattles through Khalifman’s tournament career of the 1990s, until the year 1998 when he started to concentrate on the setting up of his Grandmaster Chess School in St Petersburg. Perhaps it was just this fallow year, and the perception of himself being just along for the ride in the 1999 FIDE World Championship that relieved him of the tension that other players suffered from in Las Vegas.
Naturally the FIDE World Championship takes up a fair share of the book, and some of it may seem familiar. Much of the interview reproduced here has appeared previously in New In Chess and on the internet. Finally, after the Selected Games chapter (which makes up half the book), a short postscript deals with Khalifman’s appearance at this year’s Linares tournament where he performed above his (relatively) lowly rating.
Nesis is a competent and honest author, and he paints a credible picture
of a strong grandmaster who has never lost his human touch. There are
97 annotated games in the book, including many fine examples of Khalifman’s
trenchant style. There is also a goodly helping of Khalifman’s sage
opinions on chess and life in general. Nesis sees him as a “psychologist,
with a Lasker-like type of preparation.” The case is well-made, and
the book is an extremely enjoyable read.
This variation has long occupied a lofty place in the pantheon of chess
openings, being a favourite of several world champions and other worthies.
One curiosity is that the person after whom it is named prefers to refer
to it as the “Paulsen Variation”, although he does use his own
name for lines with ...a6, ...Nc6 and ...Nge7. In conformity with conventional
usage, the author of this book refers to the whole system beginning 1
e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 as the Taimanov Sicilian, and this
is the subject of the book. Regarding the writing of the book, Burgess
has listed the high-tech facilities and software he has made use in compiling
it, which have enabled it to tbe up-to-date as of July 2000. The Taimanov
Sicilian is probably as prone to transpositions as any opening, and Burgess
has developed a system of italic text to show when detail is available
elsewhere in the text. By and large this comes across as a reference work,
rather like the Nunn/Burgess 1997 Batsford books on the King’s Indian;
it will be invaluable to Taimanov devotees, but perhaps a little intimidating
for anyone thinking of taking up the opening.
Grandmaster Chris Ward is an enthusiastic and entertaining fellow and
this is just the sort of work at which he excels. The book is composed
of five tests, each of which contains ten questions. The questions consist
of an assessment of a given position, with the twist being that you get
to read the assessment of each position by five different fictional characters,
all possessed of different playing styles. You have to decide which of
the assessments you think is right, and then add up your points to see
how you have done. Despite the light-hearted tone maintained throughout
the book, the positions are by no means easy and many of them require
the selection of a sensible positional move rather than a double-exclamation
thunderbolt. Sometimes a second choice move will net you a few points.
Players rated all the way up to 2200 will find a challenge here.
IM Nikolay Minev brings fifty years’ teaching experience to this
book, which is a collection of his articles for Inside Chess over
the last twelve years or so. A great breadth and depth of chess knowledge
is distilled here; the author’s ability to contrast and compare relevant
material from all periods of chess history is impressive. There are 290
games in total, all annotated in a witty and informative style, and organised
into sections which cover particular pieces or themes. This is the first
of a two-volume series.
Assuming you haven’t already been put off by the alliterative title,
you will wish to know that this is a collection of short biographies and
examples of tactical play by each world champion from Anderssen to Khalifman.
The material is familiar enough and amiably presented in English, though
it appears that the translator made use of Monty Python’s famous
English-Hungarian phrasebook in its production. The examples are well-chosen
and this makes for an enjoyable read.
This is a well-structured multimedia primer on the elements of chess
strategy for the intermediate player who has some experience of practical
play and wants to study some theory. The course examines in turn such
subjects as the centre, development of pieces, pawn structure, strong
and weak squares, open lines, the bishop pair and the position of the
king. This particular volume concentrates on Middlegame Strategy and Endgame
Strategy. Some 80 positions are used to exemplify the topics under consideration
and it is easy to navigate from text files to game positions, and the
English is good. One can switch from English to German with one click
of the mouse. When the time is ready, the student proceeds to the ten
tests, and can review performance in the Test Overview section.
A fascinating and lushly illustrated book about the history of chess
pieces. Nearly every page has an illustration, both in colour and black
and white, and most are fresh and unusual. It is easy to get carried away
with the imagery, but the text is also impressive, displaying the author’s
wide knowledge of the chess world. Highly recommended.
All Reviews by John Saunders
