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BCM Chess Book Reviews : October 2005Return to the BCM Review Index
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It’s impossible to fault this book: the Polish theoreticians give
comprehensive and up-to-date coverage, with carefully considered analysis
and assessments at every point. The 71 games are annotated fully but not
overwhelmingly, with helpful conclusions and indexes to each chapter.
The book is not geared especially to White players, and the introduction
makes quite modest claims for the opening (it’s solid, avoids theoretical
jungles, etc). But in fact the authors show White’s theoretical prospects
to be pretty good in most lines. Another work on this opening was published
too recently to feature in the bibliography: Kindermann’s The
Spanish Exchange (see review
in BCM, April 2005 p.196). Both books are excellent, but don’t
overlap too much: whereas Kindermann offers a focused repertoire plus
general tips, KP and JI are encyclopaedic. There are several differences
of opinion too. Kindermann reckons Black’s current ‘best’
defence to be 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6
dxc6 5 0–0 Bg4!? 6 h3 h5 7 d3 Qf6 8 Nbd2 Ne7
9 Nc4 Bxf3 10 Qxf3 Qxf3 11 gxf3 Ng6 12
Be3 Be7 13 Îfd1 0–0–0 14 Rf1 f6! when
after 15 Re2 Nf8 16 f4 exf4 17 Bxf4 Ne6 he
agreed a draw as White against Dorfman (2003). But KP and JI (who don’t
rate 5...Bg4 so highly) give 14...f6?!, preferring to bolster the
centre with 14...c5 or 14...Bf6. It’s reassuring to know there
are some lines in the Ruy Lopez still open to creative thought at an early
stage. The meticulous research of KP and JI should delight devotees of
the Exchange Variation, and convert others – especially players who
enjoy complex endgames. Review by James Vigus.
This is quite a chunky tome on the highly fasionable Sveshnikov, which
the author Rogozenko covered in a ChessBase opening disk some years ago.
As he admits, theory has moved on considerably since then, and some of
his earlier assessments have been overturned. The strange use of the word
‘reloaded’ in the title is not explained. Had the book been
on the Kalashnikov, it would have made sense. JS.
Valeri Beim has a reputation as a thoughtful chess author and this book
is a good example of his insight and gift for explaining chess positions.
Here he has tried to build a well-rounded picture of Morphy’s chess
strength, avoiding the trap of concentrating on his flashy (but rather
one-sided) thrashings of lesser players. His researches into Morphy’s
more serious games led Beim to reassess his earlier impression of the
great American. It is a very interesting book and may well change the
reader’s preconceived ideas in the same way. Game annotations are
the main component of the book but there is also some background information
on Morphy. JS.
Another useful opening work from Quality Chess is this book on the ubiquitous Benkö Gambit. The author wisely gives plenty of advice on the general positions to be reached (or not to be reached); this makes good sense in what is largely a positional gambit line, where ideas and plans often have priority over concrete moves. Nevertheless there are plenty of variations, which are well indexed. JS.
The author has divided up this substantial work into four parts: games,
people, tournaments and ‘around the chequered board’, and there
is an index of the games featured at the back. Otherwise there is nothing
to help the reader navigate, and it is not of the slightest use if you
are expecting a handy reference book to look up the longest or shortest
game, or whatever your fancy. The problem with the book is not the content
but the title. Were it to have been called, say, A Bumper Book of Chess
Anecdotes, suddenly you have an interesting book to dip into, with
lots of anecdotes and literary flourishes, and quite like one of those
old Assiac books from the 1950s. But who decided to give it such a silly
and misleading title?
Once one has overcome one’s initial annoyance at
the title, it is hard not to warm to the book. Some of the anecdotes had
us chortling in the BCM Shop. For example there is the tale of the Yugoslav
grandmaster, Borislav Ivkov, who was playing 1,000 readers of a Rotterdam
newspaper, with the move being chosen by a simple majority of those in
favour. No date is given but this must have been around the time of the
1972 Fischer-Spassky match as it was remarked upon that the game was very
similar to one of their games from Reykjavik (with the readers playing
Fischer’s side). To a query from Yugoslavia as to whether there was
a world champion taking part, there came the reply, “No, but we are
in touch with him by telepathy.” For some reason Ivkov decided to
offer a draw which was accepted with the words “Fischer urges us
to accept your offer.” Later the truth emerged: there were no 1,000
Rotterdam newspaper readers at all, but just one Dutch grandmaster. Ivkov
found he had been playing Jan Hein Donner. Nobody seems to have minded
this flagrant deception. JS.
As trendy openings go, these two are pleasantly unusual in that Black
can play solidly without knowing too much theory, while there are plenty
of sharp lines for the more ambitious. Flear aims at basic coverage for
‘inexperienced’ players – either those fairly new to chess
or those who want to take up a new opening. Probably the latter are more
ideal readers, as the minimalist presentation means there isn’t that
much explanatory prose. But even if the book doesn’t have the inspirational
quality of Matthew Sadler’s introductions to these openings (Chess
Press, 1997 and 1998 – not mentioned in Flear’s bibliography!),
Flear’s annotations to 91 games provide an unintimidating overview
with a nice balance of material. Highlights for me are the sections on
the 4...a6 Slav (which Flear recently wrote a good book on) and the concise
coverage of the sharp Meran (1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4
Nc3 e6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Bd3). Just a couple of quibbles:
it was surely worth mentioning that after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3
Nf6 4 Nc3 dxc4 5 a4 Bf5 6 Ne5 Nbd7
7 Nxc4, Black now often prudently avoids the Morozevich-induced
complications of 7...Qc7 by playing 7...Nb6 8 Ne5 a5.
And in the line 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 dxc4
5 a4 Bg4 (the Bronstein Variation) 6 Ne5 Bh5 7 f3
Nfd7 8 Nxc4 e5, the highly effective 9 g3 gets only a short
note, while the ending after 9 Ne4 Bb4+ 10 Bd2 Qe7
11 Bxb4 Qxb4+ 12 Qd2 Qxd2+ 13 Rxd2 exd4 14
Ned6+ is given as simply better for White after 14...Re7
15 Nf5+, with no mention for Black’s newer try 14...Rd8!?
(which has served the reviewer well). Review by James Vigus.
The starting point for this opening manual is the position after 1 e4
e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4, with 3...Bc5 (Giuoco Piano
and Evans’ Gambit) and 3...Be7 (Hungarian Defence) being covered
(but not the Two Knight’s Defence with 3...Nf6). Coverage
is of the game by game variety. Pinski shows a dry sense of humour in
calling the line starting 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4
Bc5 4 c3 Nf6 5 d3, the ‘Italian Regretted’. It
is good to see that strong grandmasters such as Nigel Short are still
breathing life into this ancient opening. JS.
This is rather a strange and old-fashioned book: the author uses Morphy’s
games as a vehicle for teaching the basic principles of chess to elementary
players. Quite a lot of space is taken up with some dogmatic maxims (which
the author calls “rules”) about the way the game should be played.
JS.
This collection of correspondence chess games, compiled by Tim Harding,
is now up to something like 725,000 games if you include fragments and
a few blanks. It comes in ChessBase, Chess Assistant and zipped PGN formats
on a CD-ROM: in fact it has more than 725,000 games. Harding has spread
his net wide and included games from some commercial chess servers. The
disk also includes all Chess Mail issues (in Adobe Acrobat PDF
format) from 1996 right up to the first four issues of 2005. It also has
several other bonus files, including a complete PDF version of Tim Harding’s
1996 book Winning at Correspondence Chess. This makes it an unmatched
resource for all CC players from beginners to master. JS.
The latest issue of the electronic CD-ROM-based magazine contains 1661
recent games, 550 with expert annotations. In addition there are 10,000
correspondence chess games, sections on tactics, strategy, endgames, and
extensive theory articles. The multimedia section features a full TV report
by Indian producer Vijay Kumar, as seen by millions in 34 different countries.
JS.
