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BCM Chess Book Reviews : November 2006Return to the BCM Review Index
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Now that we have a manoeuvring, positional player in place as the undisputed
world champion and Garry Kasparov has retired, one wonders whether fashion
will change and there will be shift of focus by students of the game towards
the great technical players of the past. Kramnik has often been compared
to Petrosian, and it seems like a very opportune moment to review the
career of the Armenian world champion of the 1960s. One of the reviewer’s
personal regrets is that I was too prone to hero-worship the likes of
Fischer in my youth. Like many, I was carried along by the zeitgeist,
but I now feel I would have learnt far more about practical chess technique
by studying the games of Petrosian. Too late for me, but younger readers
might do well to buy this book and study the 71 victories of Iron Tigran
contained within it. Julian Simpole is acknowledged as providing the bulk
of the text. He has not relied on computer analysis, and the contents
do not overlap to any significant degree with Peter Clarke’s collection
of Petrosian games nor Kasparov’s chapter on Petrosian in My Great
Predecessors. This looks like a most enjoyable read. JS.
The book is sub-titled “the art of attack according to the modern
masters”. Timman has selected 11 leading players, introduced them
with a thumbnail sketch and then annotated three of their games. The players
are Kasparov, Karpov, Timman himself, Topalov (as a result of a proof-reading
glitch, he is referred to as ‘Wild Adventures’ on the contents
page), Anand, Shirov, Short, Ivanchuk, J.Polgar, I.Sokolov and Volokitin.
The latter seems a slightly surprising choice. There is no room for Fischer
(perhaps not modern enough) or Kramnik (not attacking enough?). The book
is then completed with 33 more ‘fragments’ (international chess-speak
for ‘part games’) of attacking players. This is a well-produced
book by an author who never fails to impart some elements of his great
erudition and insight. JS.
A pleasant little book which runs through a great number of opening traps, both familiar and unfamiliar. In many cases the examples are not so much traps as games which end prematurely in calamity. The emphasis is on crudity, not subtlety. For example, in the Caro-Kann section, there were such unimpressive ‘traps’ as 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 g6 4 e5 h5 5 f4 Nh6 6 h3? Nf5 7 Ne2?? Ne3, where it is just a case of White playing an abysmal seventh move. But the author finds no room for a much more sophisticated trap: 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Bc4 Ngf6 6 Ng5 e6 7 Qe2 Nb6 8 Bd3 h6 9 N5f3 c5 10 dxc5 Nbd7 11 b4 b6 12 Nd4 bxc5?? where 13 Nc6! wins (if the queen moves, 14 Qxe6+!! is a very pretty finish) – which has claimed some high-rated victims. Still, the book is still quite entertaining for the sheer Schadenfreude which quick games engender. JS.
A book of this title, and by Mark Dvoretsky, was published by Batsford
in 1991, but this is not the same book. However, it is substantially the
same book as Training for the Tournament Player, by the same authors
and published by Batsford in 1993. As with previous Olms editions, no
clue as to this earlier edition is mentioned in the book. It is sub-titled
School of Future Champions 1, with the text being revised and expanded
and a new translation made (by Ken Neat) and revised. The quality of the
writing is guaranteed by the name of Dvoretsky – one of the very
best chess authors. JS.
The Morra Gambit (1 e4 c5 2 d4 cxd4 4 c3) has long been a favourite at
club level, particularly amongst players who are impatient to get the
game over with, one way or the other but it has never been favoured by
grandmasters. At the higher level it is perhaps a bit too risky to give
up a pawn so easily. But the author, a German FM, is a Morra devotee and
has produced this thick tome of Morra theory, divided up into 11 chapters.
It is well laid out and has a useful index of variations. JS.
The American IM has analysed 25 recent Taimanov Sicilian games in some
depth in this, the latest of Gambit’s new-format opening books. Games
start from 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6,
and the material is designed to suit club players. All the games are from
the 21st century bar one, so there is a lot of fresh material to study.
JS.
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This disk contains a one-hour video report on the Olympiad, all the games
in PGN, all the Olympiad bulletins (in PDF format), Yasser Seirawan’s
video coverage (as broadcast by playchess.com) plus some still photos
of the event. The main feature, the video report, is viewable on a normal
domestic DVD player as well as a computer. It is a well-produced film
of the event made by the Italian organisers and concentrates on the positive,
visual aspects of the competition. It is a relentlessly upbeat, frothy
piece of propaganda but it shows the Olympiad in its true light. It captures
the excitement of the keen amateurs of the small nations as well as giving
glimpses of the serious competition at the sharp end of the tournament.
There is not much substance to it, but it is still very enjoyable to watch.
The FIDE presidential election is covered briefly, with a shot of Ilyumzhinov
and Kok hugging after the former’s victory being employed to paper
over the controversial aspects of this contest. Anyone looking to convince
a potential chess sponsor of the positive benefits of the game might do
well to include this video in their presentation. JS.
The final part of the German grandmaster’s trilogy on the endgame
covers queen endgames, rook versus knight, rook versus bishop and queen
versus rook(s), with and without pawns in each case. Along the way Müller
covers the question of possible fortress positions, mating motifs, far-advanced
pawns, and a number of other aspects of each endgame are considered. By
inviting the reader/viewer to pause and attempt to find answers before
they are revealed, the presenter encourages you to seek your own solutions
to problems and teach yourself as you go along. Müller is a compelling
lecturer who soon engages your interest and gets you hooked on the intricacies
of the endgame. If there is a more absorbing and entertaining way of learning
about the endgame than this, the reviewer has not yet come across it.
Multi-media chess education has truly come of age with this series of
disks. Contains seven hours of video material. JS.
This collection of different grandmasters’ ideas for countering
the Sicilian was first reviewed in the February
2005 issue of BCM. The editors wanted to typeset the book in a larger
format and took the opportunity to update the material that appeared in
the 2004 edition. As well as the editors, contributors include Peter Wells,
Mikhail Golubev and Thomas Luther. It is an interesting book with plenty
of new ideas for opening students. JS.
This is a softback reprint of the 1997 hardback McFarland book, which
was itself a second edition of a work first published in 1986. This is
an excellent and comprehensive record of one of the world’s greatest
national championships, encompassing the eras of Morphy, Pillsbury, Marshall,
Reshevsky, Fischer and others, and complete with eight pages of black
and white photographs. JS.
This is a reprint of the sumptuous 1883 book edited by James Minchin.
London 1883 was a remarkable success for Zukertort who, despite falling
ill and losing his last three games, won the tournament by three clear
points from Steinitz, who was followed at a distance by Blackburne and
Chigorin. It was a 14-player double-cycle all-play-all using a complicated
system in which draws were replayed twice, but with the third result counting
whether drawn or decisive. The games are annotated by the players themselves.
JS.
Another volume of Hoffer’s excellent column, which seems to have
been as useful to contemporary editors (when it came to reproducing material)
as it is to today’s chess historians. Reproduction is rather patchy,
particularly of diagrams. JS.
Sub-titled “a monthly journal for chess and whist”, this Manchester-based
periodical contained coverage of chess on a worldwide basis, with particular
emphasis on the British club scene. It closely resembles the layout of
BCM and other magazines of its day and is of a very high quality
(as is the reproduction). JS.
