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BCM Chess Book Reviews : January 2002

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Botvinnik’s Best Games: Vol 3 (1957-1970) by Mikhail Botvinnik, Moravian Chess, 464 pages hardcover, £28.99.

This substantial volume concludes the trilogy and covers the latter part of Botvinnik’s career, including games 252 to 381 of the author’s best games plus a number of training games. Always a good annotator, Botvinnik improved as he got older, making shrewd comments on his opponents and the circumstances in which the games were played.
     In his foreword Botvinnik sums up why he was successful: “I was superior to my opponents in the understanding of positions of the most varied nature.” Well, yes. The games show he was good at much else, not least his famous analytical abilities which came into their own at adjournments, his understanding of his opponent’s psychology (the games of his second match with Tal exemplify this), legendary end game technique and so on. But no one achieves as much as he did without a fierce will to win. But the true secret of Botvinnik lay deeper. He loved chess and liked working at it, he had immense confidence in his own capabilities, but combined these qualities with a capacity for objective self-criticism. A formidable combination indeed! One of the outcomes of this is the magnificent collection of games in this volume. Review by Ray Edwards. Click here to see a review of the first volume (April 2000) and the second volume (February 2001).
 

The Sicilian Sozin by Mikhail Golubev, Gambit, 272 pages, £14.99.

BCM readers will already be familiar with the author’s name; he is a young Ukrainian grandmaster who writes the occasional article for the magazine and also maintains a lively news website which is accessible from the BCM website’s links page. This book is very much a labour of love as Golubev is writing about his favourite White system. It’s the familiar, well-indexed Gambit production and a very thorough job by the author. Sozin aficionados will not be able to do without it.






 

Super Tournaments 2000 by Sergei Soloviov, Chess Stars, 446 pages, £19.99.

This is a compilation volume featuring 300 games selected from the best tournaments in 2000. The games are annotated by a distinguished collection of grandmasters led by Khalifman, with comments and interviews on the chess scene by various personalities. Of course many of the games have previously published, but there is a mass of material here and the book is very good value. Like all Chess Stars publications the book is well produced. The translation, however, credited to four people whilst clear is certainly not idiomatic and this is a feature the editor could well look at next time. Review by Ray Edwards.





 

Mastering The Opening by Byron Jacobs, Everyman, 176 pages, £14.99.

This is a companion volume to the “Mastering” middlegame and endgame books reviewed in the last issue, so the comments about the friendly lay-out and presentation apply again. This is a useful introduction to openings for inexperienced players and will be too broad-brush for club players. It contains a strategic summary of all the major openings, from both white and black points of view, with illustrative games. This is a good common-sense book from a reliable author, and reads very easily.





 

The Method in Chess by Iossif Dorfman, Sarl Game Mind, 208 pages, £15.99.

This is the first title of a new French chess book publisher. It is a well-produced volume, written by a Russian grandmaster living and working in France. It is always welcome when an experienced trainer writes about his methods as the practical experience leads to a clarification of exposition that makes for a good book. This volume is no exception. Dorfman bases his teaching method on an analysis of strategic advantages verses dynamic factors and an identification of the critical points when the advantage changes from one to the other. Nothing wrong in this of course but Dorfman’s claim that he “created a new theory” is a misuse of the word “new”, nor is it as all-embracing as the book implies. This takes up 45 pages of the book. The next section “Practical Application” is devoted to 64 of Dorfman’s best games, which are attractive in their own right, with many interesting comments on the background to the games. The book concludes with an appendix featuring more games by Dorfman with brief notes which highlight “changes in the static balance”. Review by Ray Edwards.



 

Simple Chess by John Emms, Everyman, 144 pages, £14.99.

The first reaction to this, from those with long chess memories, will be: didn’t Michael Stean write a book of that title? He did indeed, and the author mentions the fact in his introduction, and that he was impressed by the style and clarity of the original work. This book is also aimed at less experienced players, with chapters on outposts, good/bad pieces, strong/weak pawns, the isolated queen’s pawn, etc, and is a good primer full of essential knowledge for the elementary who is starting to get keen.





 

Paul Morphy: Sketches from the Chess World by Max Lange, Moravia Chess, 356 pages hardcover, £18.99.

This is fascinating source material for the chess historian: a biographical work on Morphy, with annotated games, originally published in 1860, which gives the background to the American genius’ chess conquest of Europe and includes much of the correspondence relating to the match with Staunton that never was.







 

The Exploits and Triumphs in Europe of Paul Morphy by Frederick Edge, Moravian Chess, 203 pages hardcover, £18.99.

More source material on Morphy: this is the controversial 1859 work by Morphy’s late secretary (as the author styles himself; his real name does not appear). Required reading for anyone wishing to follow the circumstances of the Staunton-Morphy non-match.







 

The Field 1900 Chess Column, Ed. Leopold Hoffer, Moravian Chess, 327 pages hardcover, £24.99.

Leopold Hoffer (1842-1913) was a famous chess columnist over many years (see Bernard Cafferty’s fascinating article about him in the August 2000 BCM). This book is a collection of his chess columns from the UK country gentlemen’s newspaper The Field for the year 1900. He edited this column from 1882 until his death. It covered everything from world championships down to the minutiae of UK club and county chess. This volume contains his obituary of Steinitz, his predecessor as The Field columnist.






 

The Chess Player’s Chronicle 1861, Ed. Kolisch and Zytogorsky, Moravian Chess, 384 pages hardcover, £24.99.

Another volume of the periodical which had been founded by Staunton.









 

The Chess Player’s Chronicle 1862, Ed. Kolisch and Zytogorsky, Moravian Chess, 222 pages hardcover, £24.99.

A further, and noticeably thinner, volume of the periodical which on this occasion lacks an index and consists almost entirely of game scores.











 

The Chess Monthly Vol. 7 (Sept 1885 – Aug 1886), Ed. Hoffer and Zukertort, Moravian Chess, 380 pages hardcover, £24.99.

Hoffer is incorrectly given the initial “J” on the front cover but this is Leopold again (see above). This is another reprint of a volume of the leading magazine of its era. This volume has details of the negotiations leading up to the Steinitz-Zukertort match and the match games themselves.








 

The Chess Monthly Vol. 8 (Sept 1886 – Aug 1887), Ed. Hoffer and Zukertort, Moravian Chess, 380 pages hardcover, £24.99.

More of the same, with some games from the Zukertort-Blackburne match.








 

The Chess Monthly Vol. 9 (Sept 1887 – Aug 1888), Ed. Hoffer and Zukertort, Moravian Chess, 380 pages hardcover, £24.99.

This edition includes the obituary of co-editor Zukertort, who expired of a cerebral haemorrhage in London’s Charing Cross Hospital on 20 June 1888, aged 45.








 

American Chess Journal, March 1878 – July 1879, Ed. CC Moore, Moravian Chess, 398 pages, £24.99.

This was the first edition of a new US chess periodical, with contributions from Sam Loyd, GH Mackenzie, James Mason and others. Plenty of readable material, with artists’ impressions of leading players of the time.







 

The Ultimate Tarrasch Defense by Eric Schiller, Pickard CD-ROM, £12.99.

This inexpensive CD-ROM is a beginner’s guide to the QGD Tarrasch Defence using Chessbase/Fritz technology. It comes with a 15,580 game database (300 of the games are annotated), plus a Chessbase tree and features an audio introduction to the opening by the author. There are also photos and an e-book about Tarrasch.







 

Improvers: It’s Your Move by Chris Ward, Everyman, 143 pages, £12.99.

Another another bright and breezy book for youngsters by Chris Ward, with 50 more puzzles for improving club players. The title is a little confusing (with the word “improvers” in a relatively small typeface) as it does not make it entirely clear that this is a different volume from his original “It’s Your Move” (reviewed on page 589 of the November 2000 BCM).





 

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