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BCM Chess Book Reviews : May 2003Return to the BCM Review Index
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This is effectively a much expanded second edition of Boris Spassky’s 300 Wins, also published by Chess Stars in 1998. The 100 extra games are added along the way and take the ex-world champion’s career up to 2002. It presents Spassky’s games chronologically in Informator style with annotations, plus biographical and career details. Spassky’s reputation has suffered a little as a result of his indifferent performances over the past twenty years. In recent years he gives the impression of being ‘all chessed out’. Perhaps young chess fans don’t appreciate quite how good he was in his heyday. It would be very unjust if history only recorded him as being Bobby Fischer’s 1972 victim. This book is well-compiled and a timely reminder of Spassky’s achievements. It ends with an example of him still being able to land a mean sucker punch as he produced a devastating move to finish off Santo Roman in the 2002 French Cup.
This is the latest in a long series of books anthologising the articles
of the Australian IM Cecil Purdy (1906-79). Purdy’s writing on the
endgame is excellent, and little of it has dated, so this book offers
an enjoyable and practical introduction to endgame theory. Every type
of ending is covered in some form, with plenty of verbal explanations
and “rules” that stick in the memory well. Chapter one in particular
will clear up a few mysteries for some, distilling rook and pawn versus
rook theory into a very palatable form. Basic pawn endings and queen endings
are similarly dealt with systematically. There are beautiful examples
too, as in the chapter “Endgame Wizards”, where Purdy’s
critical notes bring several games to life despite the fact that the players
are mostly now unfamiliar. The book is endorsed by Karsten Müller
(co-author of the 2002 BCF Book of the Year, Fundamental Chess Endings)
who has contributed a number of analytical corrections – so it can
be recommended on all counts. Review by James Vigus.
Emil Josef Diemer (1908-1990) is best known for the gambit that is partly
named after him: the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, which goes 1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4
3 Nc3 Nf6 4 f3. This is one of those openings rarely seen at grandmaster
level but which is quite popular – and very dangerous – at club
level. This book showcases Diemer’s 126 best games with a view to
illustrating the style and belief behind the BDG. Because it concentrates
on Diemer’s own games, there are also examples of his opponents declining
the gambit or avoiding it altogether. The last chapter contains games
where Diemer played Black against the Blackmar-Diemer. The book also features
some biographical material. Good value.
This book, by US Senior Master Alex Dunne, is a collection of chess anecdotes,
best/worst games and trivia. The style is familiar (Chernev is mentioned
in the blurb), and so is much of the contents. All the usual games are
there, waiting to be re-read. It’s amiable, populist stuff, but some
of the factual errors and apocryphal stories could incur the wrath of
guardians of chess veracity and bad-tempered world champions. The winner
of a six-move game against Anand from 1988 – see BCM, November
2002, page 567 – is given as ‘E. Zapata’. Perhaps the author
is confusing a Colombian grandmaster with a Mexican revolutionary. We
are told that ‘chess is banned in Iran’. In fact it has long
since been reinstated and is now very popular there. As we know, Garry
Kasparov is sensitive about brilliancy prizes but he will have steam coming
out of his ears if he reads this book, as an exhibition game with prescribed
opening moves (very much to his disadvantage) is listed as his worst ever
game. Enjoy, but try not to take it too seriously.
| OUT OF PRINT |
An attractively produced (and priced) intro to chess which, although
it is not mentioned anywhere, is actually a straight reprint of a book
published by Microsoft Press in the early 1990s. Its vintage does not
detract, however. It is a very classy beginner’s book by two well-matched
and talented authors who combine vast knowledge of the game with an ability
to impart the rudiments of the game in a fun way.
| OUT OF PRINT |
More of the same from Seirawan and Silman in another reprint of a 1990s
Microsoft manual. The chess ‘newbie’ is taken through all the
standard tactical motifs, intermingled with stories about the world champions
and various anecdotes. There are plenty of tests to check your progress.
In this third reprint of the old Microsoft series, Seirawan and Silman
turn their attention to positional considerations, again interspersing
their narrative with a consideration of the all-time greats of the game
and some good quality question-and-answer material. One black mark against
the new publishers: the only fresh material they had to produce for each
book was a new cover, yet they still managed to commit one enormous blunder
each time: the spelling of Fischer without the ‘c’ on the back-cover
blurb.
Another volume of Hoffer’s chess columns for the UK ‘country
gentleman’s’ magazine, The Field. This is a particularly rich
source for players looking for the complete game scores of events. All
the games of the 1902 Anglo-American cable match appear in this volume,
and also all the games of the annual Varsity match. One of the players
in this match was the notorious Harold Davidson, later the Rector of Stiffkey.
Frank Marshall played a match with W. Ward at the City of London Club.
It’s no criticism of the book but ChessBase’s Mega Database
2003 records Marshall’s opponent in this match as ‘Chris
Ward’.
Not one for the general reader, this is a sort of ‘prequel’
to two other major chess bibliographies: Douglas Betts’ Chess:
an annotated bibliography of works published in the English language 1850-68
(1974) and Andy Lusis’ Chess: an annotated bibliography, 1969-1988
(1991). It doesn’t list every work that so much as mentions chess,
of course, but includes such works where chess has a significant mention.
A sterling piece of work and great reference material for the historian.
A reprint of a Canadian monthly chess magazine of the turn of the 20th
century. It was a rather wordy periodical but is of considerable interest.
The last issue of 1901 ends with a valedictory announcing the imminent
demise of the periodical after only one year. But, in fact, it came back
to life the following year (see next review).
Proving that it was only ‘check’ and not ‘checkmate’,
the Canadian magazine made a reappearance in October 1902, kicking off
with a chess chronology for that month (including Sir Walter Raleigh’s
execution on 29 October 1618 – presumably he was a chess player?).
JH Graham was the general editor and proprietor, while Otto Wurzburg of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the problem editor. The magazine was published
from Prescott, Ontario.
A long, boring chess poem starts the October issue. Things meandered
on until September when, once again, the magazine folded. This time it
really was checkmate.
German amateur Dr Thorsten Heedt has put together this very workmanlike
compilation disk on the first official world champion Wilhelm Steinitz.
It features a comprehensive portrait of Steinitz and his peripatetic career,
as well as articles on his personality and character. The disk contains
1,090 games, 42 texts and a database with training questions. The main
database has textual annotations in English but the theme database has
text in German. Coverage of his career is comprehensive if somewhat unexciting,
and the training questions are rather perfunctory.
All the usual features of this top-class opening theory manual •
NIC Forum • Sosonko's Corner • Book Reviews by Glenn Flear (a
comparison between two new monographs on the Leningrad Dutch: one in English
(Valeri Beim: Understanding the Leningrad Dutch, Gambit 2002) and one
in German (Stefan Kindermann: Leningrader System, Chessgate 2002)) •
36 NIC Surveys, including Sicilian: Najdorf Variation,
by Greenfeld Sicilian: Kalashnikov Variation, by Olthof, Sicilian: Sveshnikov
Variation, by Tzermiadianos, Sicilian: Taimanov Variation with 5.Nb5,
by Lukacs/Hazai, Sicilian: Taimanov Variation with 5.Nc3, by I.Almasi
, Sicilian: Kan Variation, by Bosch, Sicilian: Nimzowitsch Variation,
by Van der Tak, French: MacCutcheon Variation, by I.Almasi, French: Winawer
Variation 5.Qg4, by Pliester, French: Winawer Variation 7.Qg4, by I.Almasi,
Caro-Kann: Advance Variation with 4.Be3, by Bosch, Caro-Kann: Advance
Variation with 4.Nc3, by Boersma, Scandinavian: Gubnitsky-Pytel Variation
3...Qd6, by Karolyi, Petroff: Marshall Variation, by Greenfeld, Ruy Lopez:
Berlin Variation, by Llanos/Soppe, Ruy Lopez: Breyer Variation, by Van
der Sterren, Two Knights: Traxler Gambit, by De Zeeuw, Two Knights: Fischer-Steinitz
Variation, by Timoshenko, King’s Gambit: Classical Variation 3...g5,
by Jensen, Chigorin: Exchange Variation, by Fogarasi, Queen’s Gambit
Declined: Classical Main Line, by Sosonko, Slav: Rausis Variation 4.Qc2
dc4 5.e4, by Lukacs/Hazai, Slav: Chameleon Variation 4...a6, by Flear,
Slav: Meran Variation, by Karolyi, Catalan: Open Variation, by Fogarasi,
Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein Variation, by Pliester, Nimzo-Indian: Classical
Variation, by Langeweg, Nimzo-Indian: Manhattan Variation, by Lukacs/Hazai,
Queen’s Indian: Nimzowitsch Variation, by Langeweg, Grünfeld
Indian: Fianchetto Variation, by Dautov, Grünfeld Indian: Anti-Grünfeld
Variation 4.Bf4, by Van der Tak, King’s Indian: Gligoric Variation,
by Gavrilov, King’s Indian: Seirawan’s Favourite 5.Bd3, by Panczyk/Ilczuk,
Benoni: Modern Main Line with Bd3 and Nge2, by Cebalo, Volga Gambit: Main
Line with 5.ba6, by Van der Weide, Queen’s Pawn: Richter-Veresov
Attack, by Fogarasi.
