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BCM Chess Book Reviews : June 2002

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Nezhmetdinov’s Best Games of Chess by Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Caissa Editions, 182 pages, £17.99.

Translated into English for the first time by Karen Taylor, and edited by Dale Brandreth, Jack O’Keefe and Richard Cantwell. The Soviet player Rashid Nezhmetdinov (1912-1974) was 'only' an International Master, yet competed at the highest levels and played many games of rare brilliance. His emphatic plus-score against Tal and his beautiful sacrificial king-hunt against Polugayevsky brought Nezhmetdinov fame: but generally his games have unfortunately not been widely circulated in the West. This edited translation of the Russian’s own annotations to his selected games is therefore very welcome. The first five chapters present 72 games in chronological order, interspersed with brief passages of autobiography. Finally there is a chapter to illustrate certain positional and tactical themes, with emphasis on the endgame. Every page brings a new explosion of creative tactics, and the annotations are good quality: concise prose explanations are backed up by substantial but not excessive variations. The editors have made various minor analytical corrections while mostly allowing Nezhmetdinov to speak for himself. Even though this means that the opening notes in particular are often dated, readers with a taste for sharp Ruy Lopez, Sicilian and King’s Indian positions are sure to find inspiration here, and the author’s own accounts of his preparation are worthwhile.
     In fact Nezhmetdinov’s commitment to preparation surprised me, given the reputation he seems to have now as an erratic gambler. The autobiographical sections at times resemble a religious confession: the author becomes aware of his deficiencies first in general strategy, then in the opening, then in the endgame, and so on. The cure always involves hard work, healthy eating and regular exercise, a regime which took its toll if Nezhmetdinov’s dour expression in the two photos is anything to judge by. But even if parts of the book are dry, the games themselves make this a thoroughly entertaining work. Both for the savage onslaughts of his early career and the sophisticated attacking concepts of his prime, Nezhmetdinov’s collection deserves to be read and re-read. Review by James Vigus.
 

Informator 83, Ed. Sahovski Informator, 397 pages, £21.00.

The latest Informator covers top-level chess played between October 2001 and January 2002. It contains 584 annotated games, with such names as Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Adams, Ponomariov and Ivanchuk included amongst the annotators. Tournaments include the World Team Championships, the FIDE world championship, the European Team Championship, the Kasparov-Kramnik match in Moscow and Corus Wijk aan Zee. There is a biographical retrospective on Jan Timman, plus the usual best games and best novelty features. Still the best way to stay up-to-date and keep abreast of the opening theory. The best game from the previous edition was Kramnik’s win over Anand from Dortmund 2001, and the best theoretical novelty was Rogozenko’s 14 Qb1 against Filipenko from the WICC 2001.


 

Quarterly for Chess History, Spring 5/2000, Ed. Vlastimil Fiala, Moravian Chess, 480 pages hardcover, £21.99.

Another prodigious new tome from Moravian Chess, which rather belies the title (publication is becoming rather more leisurely than the projected 'quarterly'). This issue kicks off with 122 pages on HN Pillsbury’s European activities of 1902/3, compiled by the editor, followed by 24 pages on Bernhard Horwitz, and further biographies of Hromádka and Morris Freed. The chapter on 'forgotten tournaments' features Amsterdam 1911 and 1923, and the 8th American Congress, Atlantic City 1921. That only takes us up to page 230; there is much more besides in this mighty volume.




 

Fischer World Champion! by Max Euwe and Jan Timman, New in Chess, 159 pages, £13.99.

The exclamation mark might draw a wry smile; the great US player’s elevation to the highest title hardly rates as a surprise 30 years on, and an 'instant book of the match' this is definitely not. But it is the first time the book has appeared in English, and the conjunction of the two greatest names in Dutch chess provide us with a feast of good chess writing. The then president of FIDE, Max Euwe covers the ‘wretched business’ (his words) leading up to the start of the match, and, given his central role in the match, is able to dispel many of the myths that have grown up around it. Timman gives a brief sketch of what happened during the match before getting down to his main role: game analyst. In the preface he acknowledges help from Andersson and Donner. Timman was not yet 21 when he co-wrote the book, but already his style was mature and objective. He does not get caught up in the hype surrounding the match and is not blinded by the dazzling light of Fischer. His deep and insightful approach helps to put these famous games into perspective. All in all, a delightful read.
 

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings Vol. B - 4th edition, Sahovski Informator, 672 pages hardcover, £25.00. Copies ordered from overseas will be sent via surface mail.

A brand-new, 2002 edition of one of the five volumes which make up the world-famous ECO: volume B covers lines beginning 1 e4, excluding 1 e4 e5 and 1 e4 e6 (which form part of Volume C). No serious chess player will want to be without this definitive work.

School of Chess Excellence 2: Tactical Play by Mark Dvoretsky, Olms, 264 pages, £18.00.

This is a new translation of Dvoretsky's Secrets of Chess Tactics, originally published by Batsford in 1992 and reviewed on page 630 of BCM, December 1992. Dvoretsky draws on his vast training experience – few can boast a pupil list as impressive as his – to put together an advanced manual on the subject of chess tactics. This is a superbly written and produced book. As our original review said: "there is so much meat in this book that a close study of it will take months, and should make one a better player".





 

Rapid Chess Improvement by Michael de la Maza, Everyman, 126 pages, £12.99.

The selling point of this book, for elementary or weak club adult players, is the fact that the author has improved his own play by more than 400 USCF (50 BCF) rating points in 12 months using his own work plan. There’s some advice about concentrating on tactics to the exclusion of all else, then some drills and exercises designed to improve visual skills, and feedback from players who have followed the author’s plan. It is persuasively written, and might provide the necessary stimulus for underachieving adult players who wish to get serious.

Starting Out: The King’s Indian by Joe Gallagher, Everyman, 176 pages, £12.99.

This, together, with John Emms book on the Sicilian (see below), is the first of a series of opening books pitched at elementary or junior players, or perhaps those who fancy a change of opening repertoire. The emphasis is on user-friendliness, with lots of hints, tips and summaries to ease the reader’s way. British champion Joe Gallagher is the ideal author for this book on his favourite King’s Indian Defence, and stronger players might also be tempted to read it for his illuminating annotations of the 68 illustrative games included.

Starting Out: The Sicilian by John Emms, Everyman, 174 pages, £12.99.

See the above review for comments on the book’s general lay-out and target audience. A 174-page book on the Sicilian can hardly claim to be comprehensive (and the author makes no such claim), but this provides a broad and well-written overview and much general advice on the vast range of Sicilian variations for the improver or stronger non-Sicilianists who are considering a change of opening and wondering which system would suit them best.

Columbia Chess Chronicle, Vol. 2, Jan-June 1888, Moravian Chess, 218 pages hardcover, £24.99.

The January issue opens: “What happened to our Christmas number? Come with us into the silent and impenetrable wildwood...”. The editor goes on for 160 or so words, with references to whippowills, gibbets and ravens, in order to explain that the printing press had broken down causing the issue to be late. Edgar Allan Poe it isn’t, but it’s lively and readable.

ChessBase Magazine 87, April 2002, ChessBase CD-ROM, £17.50.

"It's basically the English team together with a few foreigners... we occasionally allow other nationalities in, but prefer to keep it a bit exclusive": John Nunn’s comment, not on Beeson Gregory in the 4NCL, but Lübeck in the German Bundesliga. This latest edition of the CD-ROM magazine has some excellent multi-media material: a 25-minute interview and analysis session with Nunn, plus no less than 56 minutes with Peter Svidler, who talks about chess, books, humour, cricket and the reason why he played in last year’s 4NCL (answer: so that he could watch the world snooker championship on TV).

The Slav Defence by Dorian Rogozenko, ChessBase CD-ROM, £18.50.

The author was a pupil of the late Moldavian coach Chebanenko, who gave his name to the variation (1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 a6) which, until now, has been poorly documented in chess literature. There’s much more besides: a 32,000 game database, a tree of variations plus a training database of 22 exercises, plus ChessBase reader software.

How to Play the Nimzo-Indian by Reinhold Ripperger, ChessBase CD-ROM, £14.50.

The title and blurb hint at study material for the Nimzo-Indian, but the 17 introductory texts (in indifferent English) do not contain much content, but are little more than lead-ins to certain games within the 345-game annotated database. Comes with a 35-game training database, and a 47,000 database of unannotated games.

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