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BCM Chess Book Reviews : February 2001

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Test Your Chess by Steffen Pedersen, Gambit, 160 pages, £13.99.

If you follow the advice of strong players and diligently try to predict the next move in grandmaster games by covering the text and analysing, you will no doubt have asked yourself time after time: ‘what is wrong with my move/idea/plan?’ This book answers that question. The bulk of it comprises 16 games which the author has annotated; points are awarded for finding the best moves, but also for other good lines. The reasons why other promising candidate moves are mistakes are given. When I worked through the games, the self-assessment scheme correctly (if unflatteringly) identified my strength. The book also contains a number of positions on certain themes, again with points awarded for the purpose of self-assessment. These positions can be used to determine whether your strengths lie in the opening, middlegame, or ending. This is an exceptionally instructive book, and my only complaint is that I could do with a few dozen more games (i.e. several more volumes) just like these. Review by Helen Milligan.




 

The Symmetrical English by Carsten Hansen, Gambit, 256 pages, £15.99.

Following his recent book on 1 c4 e5, young Danish FIDE master Carsten Hansen now provides detailed coverage of all variations arising from 1 c4 c5, including the Rubinstein variation, the Hedgehog and the Anti-Benoni. Each chapter is prefaced with a quick summary indicating the current status of the main variations. Hansen gives lots of original analysis, and his evaluations often differ from general theoretical opinion. Strategies for both sides are also explained very well. The book also has an excellent index which is very important considering the plethora of possible transpositions. An absolute must for English aficionados. Review by Hans-Peter Hansen (not related to the author! - ed).



 



 

How to Play the Middlegame in Chess by John Littlewood, Batsford, 176 pages, £14.99.

It sometimes seems these days as though chess literature has been reduced to a language of moves and symbols, a language of strict logic, devoid of feelings. This book is completely the opposite. It is described as an introduction for the learner and a refresher course for the club player, but it is a great deal more than that – it is a refreshment course, packed with the author’s infectious and boundless enthusiasm for the game. Given his reputation as an attacking genius, it is not surprising that much of the new material for this edition comes from inspirational players like Shirov. Read this book and it will fill your head with ideas, and remind you of the power chess has to make men (and women) happy! Review by Helen Milligan.






 

Endgame Study Database 2000 by Harold van der Heijden, ChessBase CD-ROM, £37.99.

This is a snapshot of the current version of Harold van der Heijden’s endgame study database, which now contains an incredible 58,796 studies including alternative versions. It is not yet fully definitive, its presentation of some studies is seriously incomplete, and the search facilities currently offered by ChessBase are not ideal for endgame study retrieval, but it contains a vast amount of material and is worth far more than its modest cost (you need ChessBase 7.0 as well, plus a suitable machine). Buy it, and use it; it is a great asset, and is much more likely to help than to mislead. Review by John Beasley, summarized from an extended review to appear in “British Endgame Study News”.


 

New in Chess Yearbook 57, ed. Sosonko and Van der Sterren, New in Chess, 236 pages, £15.00.

Sufficiently up-to-date to include analysis by a triumvirate of English grandmasters on the ‘Berlin Wall’ – the newly popularized name for the variation of the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, with which ‘immoveable object’ Vladimir Kramnik showed that ‘irresistible force’ Garry Kasparov wasn’t. Another newly-minted world champion, Anand, shares some the secrets of his recent spectacular successes against the French Defence. Joe Gallagher writes about his potential ‘novelty of the year’ in the Sicilian Paulsen – or was it Larry Christiansen’s? No matter what your opening preferences, there is plenty for everyone with 36 opening surveys.






 

Quarterly for Chess History - Autumn 3/1999, Moravian Chess, 514 pages, hardcover, £19.99.

Despite the date, this is only just out. If you are interested in chess history and looking to buy in bulk(!), then this book is for you. It covers a wide range of topics and is really several books in one. In this edition: Wilhelm Steinitz in Russia 1895-6 (over 100 pages), Chess in Philadelphia, extra games of Emanuel Lasker (by Ken Whyld), chess biographies of Duz-Khotimirsky, Vidmar (snr), Saint-Amant, The Hague (Individual) Olympiad 1928, Steinitz Lasker 1894 (100+ pages), field studies of chess columns – which in this edition covers how to research at the British Newspaper Library – book reviews, games database, and much more besides.






   

The Chess Player, Volume 3 (August 1852 to July 1853), Moravian Chess, 350 pages, hardcover, £21.99.

This is a reprint of Kling and Horwitz’s magazine for the period August 1852 to July 1853. The two famous study experts relabelled this “the New Chess Player” and filled it with a cornucopia of studies and games. A superb collection of material.










 

The Chess Player, Volume 4 (August 1853 to December 1853), Moravian Chess, 188 pages, hardcover, £21.99.

More of the same. This was the final number of King and Horwitz’s periodical. They described the undertaking as “not fraught with profit” and felt compelled to bring it to an end owing to “other and more pressing engagements”.










 

The Chess World, Volume 3 (March 1867 to February 1868), Moravian Chess, 470 pages, hardcover, £23.99.

A reprint of Staunton’s magazine for March 1867 to February 1868. A collection of games, studies and news from the time, plus assorted gossip and letters from England, Ireland and the USA. This fine periodical, which must have drawn on many sources around the world, was the blueprint for chess magazines to come.









 

The Chess World, Volume 4 (March 1868 to February 1869), Moravian Chess, 460 pages, hardcover, £23.99.

Another volume of Staunton’s lively and varied magazine. It contains many games, problems, articles on openings, reports from around the world, and general articles of interest. One concerns the demise of Maelzel’s automaton The Turk, which was the subject of Gerald Levitt’s book reviewed in the January 2001 BCM. There is also an interesting proposal about chess education; and a plea for quicker play in chess tournaments. One wonders if the FIDE president has read it.







 

Buenos Aires Olympiad 1939, Ed. AJ Gillam, The Chess Player, 120 pages, £19.00.

This A4-sized publication is a collection of all the 928 games played at the eighth Olympiad (International Team Tournament) held in Buenos Aires in August/September 1939. The competition was seriously affected by the outbreak of World War Two but play continued and the event was completed. Many of the players stayed on in Argentina for the duration of the war and longer. The Olympiad was won by Germany ahead of Poland, though the two teams did not meet. Together with the games, the book has articles on the play taken from the British chess press of the time. This is the earliest Olympiad for which all the games are available. Many of the major figures of the chess world competed and this was Capablanca’s last event. Opening and player indexes.






   

Botvinnik’s Best Games, Vol.2 (1942-1956) by Mikhail Botvinnik, Moravian Chess, 496 pages, hardcover, £28.99.

This is the second volume of Botvinnik’s 1984 work Analiticheskie i kriticheskie raboty, which has been translated into English and edited by Ken Neat. The first volume was reviewed in the April 2000 issue of BCM. It contains 130 games from the period in question, plus crosstables of the events Botvinnik played in and other statistical material and no less than 35 photographs. Once again, there is much evidence that Botvinnik reviewed and edited his earlier annotations, with references to material from the 1970s and 1980s. A third volume relating to the final period of Botvinnik’s career (1957-1970) is in preparation. A superb work.








 

Paris 1900, Ed. Jimmy Adams, The Chess Player, 176 pages, £15.00.

The chess tournament held in Paris in 1900 was one of the great chess events with most of the world’s leading players taking part. World champion Emanuel Lasker continued his domination of the chess world with a second crushing win to follow that in London in 1899. Seventeen players took part in an event where draws were replayed – the style at that time. The book contains all 166 games, plus the 12 games of a blindfold simul given by Pillsbury. The game scores and annotations have been taken from Samuel Rosenthal’s “Traite des echecs et recuil des parties jouees au Tournoi International de 1900", published in 1901. The annotations have been supplemented by those from other contemporary sources.

All reviews by John Saunders except where otherwise indicated.
 

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