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BCM Chess Book Reviews : March 2005Return to the BCM Review Index
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The sub-title is ‘Applying Business Methods to Chess Preparation
and Training.’ The reviewer cannot say that he welcomed the sight
of this book in his in-tray, having long since left behind a life of middle-management
tedium for a career in chess. Is there to be no escape from the business
methodology peddlers after all? Apparently not. And, there in the third
paragraph is the first bit of business jargon – the word ‘synergy’,
soon to be followed by ‘goals’ and ‘resource heterogeneity’.
The back cover tells us that the Danish grandmaster author is also a teacher
and lecturer on business studies. When it gets down to the chess –
and even when it moves away from chess content to discuss the development
of chess strategy – it works pretty well. But it is hard to swallow
this far-fetched chess/business gimmick. Previously the publisher has
expected us to tolerate an analogy with cookery (in the “grandmaster’s
kitchen”). Before they are tempted to bring out the ‘Celebrity
Big Brother Chess Book’ and try to persuade us that chess is like
sitting around with a load of other layabouts in a big room (OK, it can
be a bit like that) – please think again. Thankfully, after
the first 25 pages or so, the book concentrates on matching playing style
to the appropriate opening, and can be enjoyed for the remainder of its
pages. JS
This large-format book seems to have been self-published via an on-demand publisher. We are beginning to see a number of such publications, and this one is reasonably presentable in terms of production, though the paper used for the cover is rather flimsy. It is clearly a labour of love by the Swedish author, with some help from his correspondence chess friends. Most of the book is devoted to analysis of the Bishops’ Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4), with some chapters on various ways of declining the King’s Gambit. It is thorough and workmanlike, and King’s Gambit aficionados will want to own a copy. One snag is that it is rather pricey. That is the downside of on-demand/self-published books. JS
Alekhine’s Defence is not seen as one of the most solid systems
against 1 e4, nor is it one of the most frequently encountered. Nevertheless
it still has many adherents amongst grandmasters and lesser players alike.
One of its abiding attractions is the element of provocation: that cheeky
knight leaping around the middle of the board while the white pawns advance
and (hopefully) overreach themselves. Its perceived lack of solidity (whatever
that is) does not seem to detract from its playability. English FIDE Master
John Cox quotes a previous Alekhine’s Defence author who told us
that it is the second best scoring defence against 1 e4 after 1...c5 –
quite a surprising statistic. This is another good title in Everyman’s
series of popular titles for elementary players and potential opening
switchers. JS
The Benoni is another black defence with a slightly risky reputation
but a very decent score when you work out the statistics. Hungarian IM
Endre Vegh has produced another overview that is suitable for ‘improvers’
– the 21st century euphemism for players whom we used to call ‘average
club players’. JS
The third of Adorján’s ‘Black’ books (the second
one was reviewed in our September
2004 issue) is another walk on the wild side, by an author who owns
up to his long-time manic depression in the first few pages. It is difficult
to know how to review a book in which the author writes the following:
“I do feel that a well-timed tragic... death would help my sacred
cause more than a dozen more books”. It sometimes makes uncomfortable
reading, though Adorján’s quixotic ramblings can be endearing
as well as infuriating. But the games are the thing and it is in them
that the reader finds the deep well of creativity and imagination that
are the hallmark of this Hungarian grandmaster. JS
This is a fairly straightforward puzzle book, in which the reader is
invited to find the next move or variation, and awarded points. These
are then totted up and you compare your score with a table of equivalent
ratings. The material is predominantly 21st century and there is an index
of players at the back. JS
As with most Chess Stars books, this has plenty of explanatory text and
not too much variation spaghetti. Its starting point is 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6
3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 Nf3 Nbd7 6 Qc2. There is copious material on Alexander
Shabalov’s highly provocative 7 g4!? line, and later a good deal
of space is devoted to the more restrained 7 b3. The authors supply their
email addresses and invite feedback, perhaps with a second edition in
mind. A very good and thorough work on this opening complex. JS
The year began with great promise as Bobby Fischer triumphed at the Stockholm
Interzonal, but by the May-June issue US chess had to suffer the disappointment
of Fischer’s poor performance in the Curaçao candidates’
tournament. There was plenty of other good chess that year, including
the Capablanca memorial tournament where Najdorf finished first ahead
of Spassky and Polugaevsky. JS
The year begins with a match between Capablanca and Marshall. The players
get ticked off for their 12 draws out of 20. “... a long succession
of drawn games that reflects only dilatoriness and lack of initiative,
while unduly prolonging the match, cannot tend to increase the general
interest in the match.” Eventually Capablanca’s victory is announced
under a cartoon showing two cobwebbed greybeards playing an interminable
match. The ‘ever-increasing dullness of modern chess’ is debated
further in subsequent issues. JS
In October Capablanca receives a sharp rap over the knuckles for daring
to claim the title of ‘champion of America’ after defeating
Marshall in their 1909 match. However the young Cuban evidently did not
take offence as he suddenly emerges as the magazine’s new editor
on 1 January 1910, having left Cassels’ American Chess Bulletin.
That there was very bad feeling between the two rivals is shown in the
February 12 issue. JS
The new monthly kicks off with a six-page article on Morphy by CA Buck.
This excellent periodical concentrated on reporting the full breadth of
US chess, rather than simply rehashing material culled from around the
world. Also, the game annotations, many of them by Napier, are rather
more thorough than was usual in magazines of that era. JS
There is plenty of chess material packed into this mid-Victorian magazine’s
pages. There is an article on chess in Scotland, and coverage of the Dundee
tournament of that year. There is some advice to chess writers and editors
on good grammar. The diplomat and nobleman Von der Lasa writes briefly
about the Danish Gambit. JS
Another volume of this excellent periodical, with contributors such as
TR Dawson, Edwin Gardiner, CS Kipping and Charles R Gurnhill. The variety
of material makes it ideal material for the chess historian. JS
Another treasure-house for the chess historian. The editor (E A Michell)
seemed to be modelling the work on Wisden’s Cricketers Almanack,
with his selections of players of the year (Spielmann, Capablanca, Blake
and Dus-Chotimirski) and a statistical presentation of masters’ averages
in the excellent statistical section at the back. There is coverage of
the big tournaments of 1909, annotated games, plus lots of crosstables.
JS
“Never mind the quality, feel the width!” seems to be the motto
of this cheap and cheerful chess database, for use with ChessBase 6.0
(or higher), or Fritz 5.0 (or higher). It packs a staggering 4,563, 556
games, i.e. 57% more than the 2,904,170 on the latest Big DataBase 2005
(price £37.99). Neither database has annotated material but StarBase
gives you more games for less money. So what’s the catch? Well, there
are snags, of course. The StarBase disk has unstandardised names, inaccurate/misspelled
tournament headings, wrong/missing dates – in short, it is a chess
historian’s worst nightmare. Also, it is chock-full of computer versus
computer games, internet games and others of dubious worth and provenance.
And yet... if you are searching for a game position or a precedent for
an opening variation, time and time again it will turn up obscure, relevant
and worthwhile games that are not on the Mega/Big Bases. So, despite its
glaring faults, it is useful and represents good value. JS
