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BCM Chess Book Reviews : September 2001

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Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess by Vishy Anand (in collaboration with John Nunn), Gambit, 334 pages, £15.99.

The second, expanded edition of a book first published in 1998 brings the story of the Indian superstar right up-to-date. After a brief autobiographical sketch, Anand gets straight into his games starting with a game played in 1986, through to his FIDE world championship win in Tehran in late 2000. The number of games has also expanded from 40 to 57. His career progression continued blithely with few real setbacks until his 1995 match with Kasparov. His analysis of what went wrong there is convincing, objective and typical of his overall level-headedness. Generally he does not have a bad word to say about other players, many of whom (like Topalov and Ivanchuk) are spoken about with a degree of warmth as well as a studied appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses. The PCA organisers of the 1995 match are almost the only people to receive negative criticism. As for the games, the selection is of an extraordinary quality, the only problem being that, like Tal and Fischer, he makes winning chess games look so deceptively simple. Fortunately the notes are candid and down-to-earth. Whether you are looking for serious study material, or merely to enjoy some spectacular chess as played by one of the truly great players of our age, this delightful book offers very good value.


 

Winning with the Sicilian Dragon 2 by Chris Ward, Batsford, 224 pages, £15.99.

This follow-up to Ward’s 1994 book Winning with the Dragon has the strap-line “A Complete Repertoire Against 1 e4 for the Attacking Player” on the cover. How chess publishers like to put words like ‘winning’ and ‘attacking’ on the front cover! It can only be a matter of time before someone comes up with Searching for the Complete Opening Repertoire Secrets of Easy Winning Chess for the Attacking Player. To justify the ‘repertoire’ tag, a few pages have been tacked on at the end to arm the black player with a few lines against the usual Anti-Sicilians – eight pages in all, but scarcely sufficient to be of much practical use to anyone. Treated as a straight manual on the Dragon, however, the rest of the book reads well, with the material delivered in Ward’s usual effervescent and anecdotal style. Anyone who has seen Ward coaching youngsters will know what an enthusiastic and inspirational teacher he is. This comes through strongly in his writing as well. Very enjoyable.




   

Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess by Drazen Marovic, Gambit, 256 pages, £14.99.

The Croatian grandmaster follows up his Understanding Pawn Play in Chess (reviewed in BCM, September 2000, page 479) with the present volume, which concentrates on the pawn fight for the centre. After a chapter on the history of the pawn centre in terms of its treatment by top players over the past century and a half, the author considers the open centre, the closed centre, pawn majorities and minority attacks, and finally the mobile/dynamic centre. Marovic is an assiduous analyst. His writing style tends towards the dry and academic, but the overall impression is of a trustworthy manual which will benefit the serious student.






 

Opening for White According to Kramnik 1 Nf3 (Vol.2) by Alexander Khalifman, Chess Stars, 239 pages, £14.99.

The second volume in this series covers play after 1 Ìf3 where the game transposes into the Anti-Nimzo-Indian, Anti-Queen’s Indian, English (Hedgehog and Symmetrical Four Knights) and the ‘Knight Tango’ (1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 Nc6 3 d4). Another two volumes have been announced, covering Kramnik’s repertoire against the Maroczy, English (1...c5), Modern and Dutch (Volume Three) and Queen’s Gambit, Slav and Semi-Slav (Volume Four). Though it is Kramnik’s repertoire that is under the spotlight, it is not just an examination of his games, even for the stem games of each chapter. Khalifman writes with great clarity of thought and expression. The rendering in English is generally good, despite not being done by native English speakers, though one is not sure what is meant by a move being described more than once as “the principled reply”. Production values are well up to the standards set by the Bulgarian publisher.





 

French Classical by Byron Jacobs, Everyman, 176 pages, £14.99.

Despite its name (the word “classical” having the undesirable double-meaning of “good quality but outdated” – for which reason the reviewer wishes people would stop talking about “classical chess”), this book gets top marks for topicality. The French Defence is becoming more popular, gaining ground on the Sicilian as a grandmaster’s favourite weapon for countering 1 e4. The French Classical offers a wide variety of possibilities in its own right. Byron Jacobs’ book covers all these lines via an examination of 77 recent games (up to and including the Astana tournament of 2001, reported in the July BCM). This is a valuable new manual on an important and topical matrix of variations.







 

Symmetrical English by David Cummings, Everyman, 160 pages, £14.99.

Another opening handbook in the familiar Everyman format. 63 games have been analysed in detail by David Cummings, formerly of England, later Wales and now Canada. The Symmetrical English is a reliable opening system, with big-name players for White and Black, and the book considers the opening from both perspectives.










 

Chess: The Search for Mona Lisa by Eduard Gufeld, Batsford, 254 pages, £16.99.

This is a book of reminiscences interspersed with games by the colourful former Soviet Grandmaster. Those who have his book Chess is My Life, published by ICE in the mid-1990s, may find that much of the material in this later volume is taken from it, though there are later references. If not, you’ll find Gufeld an amusing raconteur.








 

The Latvian Gambit Lives! by Tony Kosten, Batsford, 224 pages, £15.99.

This is an update of Kosten’s The Latvian Gambit, published by Batsford in 1995. Though the author does a sterling job of explaining lines and supporting his assertions with ingenious analysis, it has the feeling of a defence lawyer pulling out the stops on behalf of a client who is obviously guilty. Not many Russian grandmasters punt the Latvian but those with less exalted ambitions will find that it can pack a punch.








 

World Champion Alekhine by Robert Hübner, Chessbase CD-ROM, £18.50.

This is a motley mixture of databases and texts written by the author. Best use has not been made of Chessbase’s hypertext facilities to link the component parts together to make a logical whole. Ditto, the so-called “tasks” (comprising 40 of Alekhine’s best combinations), which for some reason are not in the usual training database format. There are some short videos of other grandmasters (Shirov, Gelfand, King) retelling anecdotes about Alekhine, plus a 2,225 game database of Alekhine’s games in chronological order, lightly annotated.







 

Informator 81, Sahovski Informator, 435 pages, £21.00.

The latest Informator covers the period February 2001 to May 2001 and contains 500 games with 400 game fragments. Amongst other tournaments there is coverage of Linares, Astana and Sarajevo, with annotations by Adams, Anand, Kasparov, Kramnik, etc.










 

A Selection of Games at Chess, Actually Played by Philidor and His Contemporaries, Moravian Chess, 110 pages hardcover, £15.99.

This is a reprint of a book by George Walker published in 1835. There are 74 games in all, 46 of which involved Philidor himself. The notes are light and informative, with fascinating background information about the players. An appendix contains an essay on odds chess.









 

The Life of Philidor by George Allen, Moravian Chess, 156 pages hardcover, £18.99.

This is a reprint of an 1865 publication by George Allen who was Professor of Greek at the University of Pennsylvania, with a supplementary essay on Philidor as chess author and chess-player by von der Lasa. As you’d expect from a classics professor, this is scholarly work, but also a very interesting and readable, despite an antiquated typeface.








 

London Chess Fortnightly, Vol. 1 (1892-3), Ed. Emanuel Lasker, Moravian Chess, 178 pages hardcover, £26.99.

This is a well-produced reprint of Emanuel Lasker’s publication, or at least a periodical that was “conducted” by Emanuel Lasker. He is listed as annotator of many games therein. It is a chatty and interesting chess periodical with a very modern look and feel.











 

The Chess Organiser’s Handbook by Stewart Reuben, Self-Published, 134 pages hardcover, £12.00.

The second edition of a pocket-sized book first published in 1997, this is an indispensable volume for chess organisers everywhere, containing the FIDE Laws of Chess as at July 2001 plus comprehensive and practical information on the running of tournaments, calculation of ratings, swiss pairing systems and much else besides. Not as dry and routine as might be expected; Reuben has enjoyed a distinguished career as chess organiser, arbiter and administrator and gives forthright opinions on a range of practical matters such as time controls.

There is now a 3rd (2005) edition of this book published by Hardinge Simpole - click here




 

Concise Chess Openings by Neil McDonald, Everyman, 304 pages, £11.99.

A strange concoction, this. It is intended as a handy little (13x11.5cm) opening primer which can be slipped in the pocket to travel to congresses. But its third dimension (the 304 pages come to a good 2cm) make it rather chunky for a trouser pocket; and its fourth dimension (the price) is even less appealing to the pocket. The content is reasonable enough and it might appeal to low-rated youngsters or a general audience, but tournament players will probably stick with the tried and trusted NCO or MCO.





 

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