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BCM Reviews : April 1998Return to the BCM Review Index
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| OUT OF PRINT |
From the days when the BCM's own Russian expert Bernard Cafferty first tuned into the sports reports of Radio Moscow back in 1960, the prestigious Soviet Championships - second only to the World Championships in terms of strength - must have held a special fascination for him. Here was an untapped (daily!) source of chess news, the equivalent of listening to cricket matches in the small hours, on virtually all the world's leading players (Bobby Fischer excepted of course, but one imagines the young American star to be almost as avid a fan of the Championships).
Bringing his great knowledge of Soviet chess to this important social document, which includes the crosstable of each tournament, Cafferty provides the background to each of the 58 contests. These span from Alekhine's win in civil-war tom 1920 (where a players' protest succeeded in raising their food rations), to the last Championship of the dissolving Soviet Union in 1991. Thus each Championship is put into perspective, giving a real flavour of the times and the politically-oppressive Communism system that not only produced great players, but then controlled them quite mercilessly.
Cafferty's collaborator in this compelling saga could not be more qualified - the Russian former World Championship Candidate Mark Taimanov participated in an extraordinary total of 23 of the Championships. Here Taimanov provides elegant and lucid annotations to a selection of superb games from Botvinnik, Tal, Spassky, Bronstein, Korchnoi - plus many lesser-known players like Nezhmetdinov, Bondarevsky, Bogatyrchuk and Alexander Zaitsev (who died prematurely in the early 70s, like Leonid Stein).
The centrefold comprises a selection of 16 atmospheric black-and-white
photographs. Some of these were acquired by the late Brian Reilly, former
British Chess Magazine editor, on a trip to Moscow from a friendly photographer
(presumably in exchange for forbidden poetry books and the like), and
will now be reaching a Western audience for the first time. All-in-all
a wonderful record of a truly extraordinary chess and political era.
The Israeli psychologist is back, with an intriguing follow-up to Creative
Chess and Danger in Chess. This time Avni examines various
aspects of surprising moves, not just in chess terms but also the abstract
psychological definition of surprise, and the way people react to the
unexpected. Out of more than 100 examples of surprising moves, two stood
out for this reviewer. One (rather cruel) position comes on page 61, where
Scottish IM Douglas Bryson disproves the theory that lightning can strike
twice by falling for two identical queen sacrifices in the same game.
In the other example, fellow Scot Craig Pritchett lines up four pieces
on the a-file by move 14, and Avni ironically comments, "White enjoys
a definite edge." Avni is ably assisted by game annotations from leading
Israeli players, which he then submits to a withering critique, trying
to tease out the meaning behind their thinking processes. Again, much
food for thought from an author who truly believes in applying scientific
methods to chess improvement.
A little bombshell of a book! 101 devilish opening ideas collected, rated
and reviewed by the respected author of the best-selling Mammoth Book
of Chess. Whilst the idea is not unknown - to give off-beat, non-standard
lines to outfox the opposition - the format is ideal (around one no-nonsense
page to an idea) and each 'surprise' gets rated 1-5 for soundness and
surprise value. What's more, the vast majority of the off-beat tries occur
before the game is 10 moves old, giving a fighting chance of reaching
the desired position and also reducing the volume of material to be absorbed.
Some of the lines are faintly ridiculous of course: 3 ... a5 against the
Lopez, for example, known as the Bulgarian defence (Soundness 1, Surprise
Value 5). The aim for a Noah's Ark trap of White's bishop after 4 0-0
Na7 5 Ba4? (Oh no!) 5...b5 6 Bb3 a4 7 Bd5 c6 - well, maybe in a five-minute
game!
Diagram after 3...a5!?However, there are many more lines which do work extremely well, and are bound to cause serious consternation when encountered. One is the neglected pawn sacrifice from the Queen's Gambit Accepted: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 Bxc4 c5 6 0-0 a6 7 e4!?, which has been revived dramatically over the past year and now packs a mean punch. There are also wonderfully-monikered, dangerous lines that would embarrass the toughest of beaten foes: "I lost to the Gaw-Paw/Nescafé Frappe Attack/ Zilbermints Gambit." Oh, and don't forget young Simon Buckley's deceptive invention in the Alekhine's defence; after 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5, 3 Na3?!! may raise a smile or two, but is actually not bad at all. As with his Mammoth opus, Graham Burgess is once again providing material of great practical value - at a very reasonable price. |
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The first of nine half-yearly volumes of Emanuel Lasker's monthly magazine, which ran from November 1904 to January 1909, is the latest in the series of highly collectable facsimile reprints from Moravian Chess. Besides being World Champion, the multi-faceted Lasker was also engaged on his noted mathematical and philosophical researches, and editing his own magazine allowed him to keep in touch with the chess world without having to stray too far from his study. He had obviously taken heed of Steinitz's mixed experiences more than a decade previously as editor of his own International Chess Magazine (see review last month) and ensured both that the content was highly accessible (each issue carried his beginner's guide, A Course of Instruction in Ye Ancient Game of Chesse), and that the magazine was adequately fmanced (Professor Rice had a hand in this). Hannak, in his Lasker biography, commented, "It didn't just contain the usual collection of games and problems, coupled with a few news items, it went much deeper, revealing more of the meaning and background of chess than any previous chess editor had attempted." Indeed, in an early editorial Lasker rails zealously against the contemporary chess periodicals' 'marriages and deaths' style of reporting, complaining that "not even a ray of wit or of humour penetrates the sombre pages".
Celebrated problemist Sam Loyd contributed a monthly column, and Lasker's
own Game Department annotations were penetrating, not just in their analysis
of moves played, but also the style and characteristics of different masters.
Perhaps with a backward glance at his own impecunious youth and struggle
for formal education, there is a piece on the 16-year old Capablanca (at
this time a precocious New Jersey schoolboy) which ends: "The principal
of Woodycliff School has advised the youthful player to forego chess until
his studies are concluded." Of all the recently reprinted vintage magazines,
Lasker's is without doubt difficult to match - both in its fresh approach
and in terms of quality of the writing.
"He was the most profound and the most imaginative player I have ever
known," was arch-rival Capablanca's tribute to Lasker in 1942. Ken Whyld,
of Quotes and Queries and The Oxford Companion to Chess
fame, has here completed a mountain of assiduous research into the legendary
German World Champion, which began more than 40 years ago. Between 1955
and 1957 Whyld, together with co-author J. Gilchrist, produced three volumes
of Lasker games (1,142 in all). Now Whyld is back with a grand total of
1,390 games in this sturdily-bound hardback - making this the definitive
Lasker collection. Completing the picture are 32 original studies, numerous
crosstables and a full career guide, although the illustrations dotted
about (including chess stamps featuring Lasker) do not reproduce especially
well on the paper used. A fine documentary record of a peerless player.
An adaptation of Mednis's earlier work King Power in Chess (David McKay,
1982), except that the field has been sensibly narrowed to just the endgame.
As there are no examples given beyond that date, the inevitable conclusion
is that there's nothing new here. A shame, since the main theme - keeping
the king active - is perfectly well explained, and Mednis could presumably
have added to and updated his earlier work without too much trouble.
The Americas were clearly under the spell of Capablanca at this time,
and editor Helms faithfully records the massive victory at the Rice memorial
in New York - a full 3½ points clear of Marshall. At this time,
and for the next six years, the Cuban was virtually invincible. This did
not prevent both Marshall and Janowski issuing challenges for the title
of Pan-American Champion, and as was the practice in those days, Capablanca
happily placed on record in the ACB his conditions, including side-bets
aimed at raising the winner's purse. Also featured are Marshall's record-breaking
105-player simul and a continuing series of Sherlock Holmes chess mysteries.
After his first two popular books, H.O.T. (Highly Original Thinking) Chess and C.O.O.L. (Creative Original Opening Lines) Chess, Scottish Grandmaster Paul Motwani is fast becoming the cult chess author of the 90's. His latest offering, the witty yet instructive journey S.T.A.R. Chess, is based, naturally, on the acronym Strategy, Tactics, Attack and Reaction, and explores the theme of space: the final chess frontier. Certain to become one of the most-talked about books of the year, it features many weird and wonderful characters, from the inter-galactic chess pieces on the rather splendid cover, through Che Guevara, Miguel Najdorf and Jonathan Rowson to Captain Kirk and HAL, the chess-playing super-computer from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The formula of the first two books has been nicely refined: 20 deeply
annotated games are embedded with another 53 with light notes, and from
the combined total 48 games are from 1997. The one blemish of the previous
works - the constant (but wholly endearing) name-checking of friends throughout
- seems to have been kept to more sensible proportions this time, allowing
Motwani's key themes to shine through. Through his mnemonic-based training
program, readers learn about using time properly, both on the board and
with the clock, how to keep your head in tactical positions - and masses
of new creative ideas, from the opening and elsewhere, that Motwani has
come across in his researches. All this is dovetailed with pleasantly
diverting puzzles, divided between chess and mental reasoning. Motwani
rounds off, characteristically, by interviewing an imaginary chess-playing
alien. The question, of course, remains: has the 'Grandmartian' - as Paul
was dubbed by one of his young pupils - actually met an extra-terrestrial
at a tournament? One suspects not, as they all play by e-mail these days.
When the moves 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 Nc6 first appeared in the game Frank Marshall
- Carlos Torre, on a ship travelling from Europe to America in 1925, the
magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung commented, "In our days, many strange
things happen". Strangely, they also happened to poor Frank, who went
down like the Titanic after 3 d5 Ne5 4 b3? e6 5 Bb2 Bb4+ 6 Nd2?? Ne4 7
Bc1 Qf6, and White resigned, facing huge material losses.
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Despite this glorious debut, the opening languished in obscurity for decades until championed by author IM Georgi Orlov from the mid-80's onwards. Subsequently, the eccentric line has gathered a following from American Grandmasters Yermolinsky, Benjamin, Shabalov and Dzindzichashvili. The key question is, of course, whether it is sound. Certainly, the more brusque attempts at refutation seem to run into problems. One particularly juicy line runs (by analogy with the Alekhine's Defence, Four Pawns Attack) 3 d5 Ne5 4 e4 e6 5 f4 Ng6 6 Bd3 exd5 7 e5 Ne4 8 cxd5 Qh4+ 9 g3 Bb4+ (9 ... Nxg3 10 Nf3 Qh3 is another possibility) 10 Bd2 Nxg3 11 Nf3 (see diagram). |
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Now Black can play the amazing and speculative 11 ... Nxf4!? (11
.... Bxd2+! is Orlov's recommended move), hoping for 12 Nxh4?? Nxd3 mate!
The improvement 12 Bf1! would lead to a complete mess, but this sums up
many of Orlov's games and variations: great fun, if you don't mind fishing
in dicey waters. When it was Kasparov's turn to face Yermolinsky's Tango
at Erevan in 1996, he avoided complications with 3 Nf3 e6 4 a3, and secured
a slight advantage as play transposed into a Queen's Gambit-like position
with 4...d5. However, if Black players don't mind the odd transposition
into a Bogo-Indian (3 Nf3 e6 4 g3 Bb4+) and are happy to strike out into
uncharted waters such as 3 Nc3 e5 4 d5 Ne7 5 e4 Ng6, followed by either
... Bb4+ or .... Bc5, there is certainly much of interest here. Orlov
has a fair claim to being the world's expert in this line, so his ideas
are worth checking out.
Not so much a theory guide as a collection of games beginning with the
variation 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 e3 c5 4 Bd3 d5 5 b3. The cover boasts fiendish
hall-of-mirrors reflections of Soltis and a (smaller) Zukertort.
This is a reprint of the second (and sadly last) of this short-lived
but accomplished New York predecessor of the American Chess Bulletin.
Assiduous in its reporting of the American chess scene, its clubs and
personalities, it counted among its collaborators leading U.S. players
Showalter, Hodges and Shipley. Although very much in the traditional style
of the day, there are a few lighter moments: an imaginary tale tells of
a new rule barring chess players' entry at the pearly gates. A Mr. Jakelson
is furious to see his friend, Mr. Ohpee, admitted. St.Peter replies, "He's
no chess player - he only thinks he's one." The ACM flickered brightly
in its all-too-short existence, and has been a treasured historical rarity
since.
Monster game collections (average 1,500 - without notes) from Moravian
Chess. Volga gambit A57 I.; Volga Gambit A58; King's Indian Attack
A07 IV.
A novel idea - this well-produced hardback scorebook with colourful cover doubles as your own 'memorable games' collection. There is room for 100 games (of up to 80 moves each), though most players would prefer having a blank diagram instead of the space that has been left for notes.
