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BCM Chess Book Reviews : January 2006Return to the BCM Review Index
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JONATHAN ROWSON has been at it again. The two-timing British champion
has been fabulating a myth about studying folk psychology and philosophy
at Harvard while all the time secretly engaging in decadent sessions of
caffeine-fuelled narrative creation on his subversive new project, deceptively
entitled Chess for Zebras (Gambit, 256 pages, £17.99) –
a title clearly aimed at appealing to the young and defenceless –
but with a Machiavellian purpose, now disclosed for the first time, which
is to shake us innocent, peace-loving, traditional-thinking inhabitants
of the chess world right out of our comfort zone.
I first browsed the book just before playing a
game in the 4NCL and only had time to look at the chapter and section
headings as I attempted to grasp the structure of the book. I laughed
out loud at some of them:
This humour in the chapter headings made me (falsely) think that the book would be good fun and an entertaining, light read. In fact, it is a very serious piece of work, rich in original thought and with some deep ideas, especially when it comes to the psychology and teaching of chess.
Rowson is a terrific writer, arguably one of the best – possibly the best – writing on chess today, but the subject matter of this book is intrinsically complex and so demanding of the reader (requiring at times almost a contemplative self-awareness and self-probing into the way their brains tackle chess) that it is very heavy-going in places despite Rowson’s skill with words, relaxed humour and general lightness of touch as an author.
The book is split into three parts. Any attempt I now make to summarise the content will be inadequate (and you should read the book rather than thinking I have summed it up for you) but I’ll have a go anyway.
Part One is very psychological in nature and looks deeply at the way our brains go about assimilating chess knowledge. It is about the context in which we frame the new things we learn, the way we create narratives in our head while we play and the way the folk psychology (or received wisdom) of chess sometimes streamlines our thinking down false channels.
I found this way of looking at the way we play chess very compelling and got the impression that Rowson had brilliantly synthesised some of his own academic studies into what he was writing. It would not surprise me if chess players make real use of some of the concepts introduced here in years to come when describing their games.
Part Two, more based on examples, looks at a number of aspects of practical play and offers a number of useful tips on how to gear yourself up to play certain types of chess positions. There is a chapter on grinding, one on the psychology of defending and another chapter on when to ‘do’ (initiate the chess action) and when to just ‘be’ (just letting it happen).
Another section looks at the need to be flexible and light when it comes to planning, but resolute and clear when it comes to making move-by-move decisions.
This part of the book also contains Rowson’s four-dimensional way of looking at chess:
This last dimension gets further broken down into structure, scope, space and safety. Rowson makes no big claims for his theory, just that it works for him and he uses it well (communicatively) to describe the examples he chooses to illustrate the ideas.
Part Three looks at some different issues regarding playing white and playing black. It offers a critique of some of Adorjan’s ideas in his famous Black is OK series of articles and books. Generally I found this part of the book the least satisfying in that it did not seem to amount to all that much. Still well worth reading even if (for me) it was not as good as the other two parts. Probably we all have our own ideas on the realities of being White and Black and the problems that our individual repertoires cause when needing to go all out for a win.
Throughout the book Rowson makes good use of examples, many drawn from his own games, some from his students’ games, and some from the ‘usual suspects’ involved in world-class chess. Quite a few of Luke McShane’s recent games find their way into the book too. Rowson plays interesting chess and is quite happy to show you his losses as well as his wins. His loss to Sokolov (p113) was really quite spectacular, as was his win against McNab (p246) in a kind of equal but opposite way.
It is difficult to summarise Rowson’s approach. He is both Eastern (in a Zen/Taoist sort of way) and Western (in a logical, analytical and academic way). He is contemplative and deep, and likes to delve into the inner workings of his mind as a player.
He has become a top-class player himself through a rigorously self-critical approach to the way he thinks and this reflects in his writing. (I was like that about 20 years ago but have long since given up being quite so hard on myself: in part no doubt explaining the gulf between our Elo ratings).
In the book Rowson demonstrates some examples that he discussed with his pupils and gives us a glimpse into what it must be like to have a lesson with him (almost a spiritual experience at times I suspect). The transcript of the lesson starting on page 69 is most entertaining. The pupil is not named (I think I know who he is) but he gives as good as he gets as Rowson ruthlessly sinks his very sharp teeth into the poor student’s thinking process.
In conclusion I strongly recommend this superb book. It may not appeal to everybody but it is a very interesting read indeed. There are a number of very good chess authors around at the moment, consistently producing very high class material. Nunn, Emms, Gallagher, Wells all spring to mind and there are others too. But somehow Rowson’s work is a little bit special and of a different nature. More ambitious and more penetrating at least on a psychological level. Not many chess books are genuinely ‘eagerly awaited’ no matter how many times publishers claim that they are. At the moment Kasparov’s work falls into that category, simply because he is the greatest player of all time and a decent writer too, but I think Rowson also deserves a special status, not only because he is a very good player, but because he is a really superb teacher, writer and communicator of ideas. Review by Jonathan Levitt
The title is perhaps a trifle misleading, but that is the only criticism
I can make of an outstanding book. It is actually a third volume of Nunn’s
best games, taking up the story from 1993, where John Nunn’s Best
Games left off, and running through to his retirement from international
chess in 2004. Since ending his playing career, Nunn has successfully
revived his old love of chess composition, and the book also presents
all of his studies and problems, many previously unpublished. The notes
are as detailed and instructive as one would expect, with the introduction
explaining that the style and book title were derived from the success
of his previous book, Understanding Chess Move by Move. The games
are interspersed with narrative, outlining his career and adding many
of those anecdotes and observations, which made his previous best games
collections so entertaining.
The final part of the book contains two short essays, one
on the state of the chess world, and the other giving some fascinating
background on the chess publishing industry. Reading these, the former
in particular, can only make one feel deeply sad at the state the chess
world has reached, whilst also regretting the fact that someone of such
common sense and intelligence could not have had more influence on the
way chess is run. If British and world chess had been managed by such
people as John Nunn, one suspects that many talented players recently
lost to the game – including Nunn himself – might still have
been playing chess professionally. Review by Steve Giddins.
Nigel Davies has become one of the more prolific authors of opening
books in recent years, and this is his latest offering. Not all of his
other books have been about openings which he himself plays, but he does
frequently play 1...e5, which should add to the reliability of the present
volume. As befits a book which is dedicated to the memory of Paul Keres,
the core of the repertoire is the Keres System in the closed Spanish (11...Nd7),
which has enjoyed a revival in popularity in recent years and currently
looks quite respectable for Black. Other recommendations include the interesting
5...Qf6 against the Exchange Spanish, 4...Bc5 against the Scotch, and
2...Bc5 against the King’s Gambit. As Davies himself points out,
the biggest practical problem with playing 1...e5 is the large number
of lines White can adopt. Davies’ solution to this dilemma is to
put the emphasis on simplicity, and he therefore tries to avoid lines
which require memorisation of long forcing variations. This has the added
benefit of making it easier to fit the material into 190 pages, although,
inevitably, the coverage remains a little sketchy in places, and there
are one or two omissions.
It is always interesting to see the opinions of a strong
player on these various lines, and this book is likely to have something
of interest both for existing 1...e5 players, and for those looking to
take up the move. The main problem for the average club player is that,
if my observations are anything to go by, he will be lucky if he gets
the Keres System on the board more than once a year. Such players will
probably benefit most from the sensible, solid replies offered to White’s
numerous open game alternatives. Review by Steve Giddins.
Gambit’s two latest offerings cover some key lines of the French
defence. Pedersen is an experienced author of opening books and these
two volumes offer excellent, thorough coverage of the lines concerned.
In themselves, the books can hardly be faulted, but the French Defence
book market is a very crowded one, and it is not clear that they offer
the French player very much that he will not find in, for example, Psakhis’s
recent books. Review by Steve Giddins.
On both 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 Bb5+ and 2...Nc6 3 Bb5, Palliser’s book is the second on this trendy opening to appear in 2005, following Neil McDonald’s Bb5 Revealed. That most of Palliser’s illustrative games were played during the last three years further reflects the surge of popularity for Bb5. Despite the misprinted subtitle (‘a dynamic and hypermodern opening system for Black’) the coverage is unbiased and can be recommended for players of both colours. Palliser combines thorough analysis with clear explanations, leading the reader through each chapter with careful introductions and summaries. His attention to the newly fashionable Black tries (2...Nc6 3 Bb5) 3...e6, 3...d6 and 3...Nf6 is especially welcome. After 3...d6 the flexible move 4 c3 gets only a passing mention, but now 4...Nf6 5 Qe2 Bg4 6 d3 e6 7 Nbd2 Be7 8 h3 Bh5 9 e5 dxe5 10 g4 as in Smirin-Wang Yue, Russia 2005, looks promising for White. Theory in such lines will doubtless keep evolving, but meanwhile Palliser is an admirably reliable guide. Review by James Vigus.
The ‘Hippo’ is a flexible Black defence based on a double fianchetto,
and often involving the development of the knights on d7 and e7. Its major
disadvantage is that it is rather passive. IM Martin covers it in conversational
mode, making it readable and entertaining. One black mark against the
book is the unhelpful list of initial moves of games at the back, masquerading
as an ‘index of variations’. The book doesn’t contain a
huge number of variations but it makes for an interesting overview of
an offbeat system which is definitely worth a try in the context of club
chess. JS.
Another sumptuous offering for the historically focused: Ostende 1906
was a great tournament, won by Schlechter from Maroczy, Rubinstein and
other leading players of the day. Gillam has done a superb job of hunting
out missing game scores, many previously buried in old newspaper columns.
Extensive background material completes the picture of a great tournament,
and this is a must for anyone with an interest in chess history. Review
by Steve Giddins.
Completing the Siberian grandmasters’s trilogy on the Dutch Defence,
this CD covers a hotchpotch of lines after 1 d4 f5: those where White
omits or delays c4, e.g. 2 Bg5, 2 Nc3, 2 e4; or where White plays c4 but
does not follow with g3, e.g. 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 f3, and the older Stonewall
2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e6 4 Nf3 d5. Dutch books often skimp on such lines, so
Schipkov’s relatively detailed coverage is useful. Besides the large
database there are 20 introductory texts, 370 games annotated by the author,
and a ‘training database’. However, Schipkov’s verbal comments
are too brief to explain much, and some of his languageless annotations
seem pretty cavalier. Also, the classification by ECO code means that
certain material is confusingly distributed. In my review of the CD on
the Leningrad Variation I complained that the White plan of b4 and Bb2
without c4 was left out – but in fact it is covered (quite reasonably)
in the present CD. Thus one would have to move between CDs to check transpositions
in this line, since the timing of White’s c2-c4 is a defining feature
only of the ECO code, not of the line itself. That such transpositional
problems are not even discussed seems to me a major problem. Dutch players
looking to plug gaps in their repertoire could do worse than turn to this
CD, but should handle it with care. Review by James Vigus.
The first thing immediately apparent about this book is that the translation
is absolutely terrible. It is a primer on the general principles of the
endgame, with sections on combinations and some elements of strategy.
It is very disorganized: for example, some Cozio ending analysis from
1766 appears twice, once in the endgame section and again under combinations.
Not recommended. JS.
An entertaining collection of opening traps, varying from huge errors
to relatively minor positional gaffes. As well as the 1,000 games, there
are 20 texts which help to classify the traps under different opening
systems. JS.
Gregory Huber’s disk actually covers two openings, with the Bishop’s
Opening (1 e4 e5 2 Bc4) being covered as well as the Vienna Game (2 Nc3).
The main analysis database has 26 texts and 330 games, 220 of which have
been annotated by the author. In addition there is a large database containing
more than 27,000 games (more than 300 annotated), a training database
with 124 training questions and a large opening tree. JS.
The multimedia report is dedicated to the Dortmund Super-GM tournament
in the summer, with pictures and games, and ten video files based on the
televised internet coverage of the tournament. It also includes lessons
on strategy from Peter Wells and tactics from Valery Atlas, plus 1,923
games of which 500 have commentary and analysis. JS.
This program provides data and instruction on all chess openings. Each
variation is supplied with evaluations and characteristics of the key
moves. The history of the variations’ development is described, as
well as their current status. Theoretical material is exemplified by classic
games with detailed annotations that demonstrate the principal ideas and
plans of each variation for White and Black. It allows users to add their
own notes, and edit and print their own material, and to test lines against
the built-in Crafty, Delfi and Dragon programs. JS.
