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BCM Chess Book Reviews : December 2004Return to the BCM Review Index
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The subtitle describes the book admirably: ‘How Magnus Carlsen became
the youngest chess grandmaster in the world.’ The Norwegian will
just have turned 14 as you open your magazine, so it does seem a trifle
early for a biography (as Jonathan Tisdall says in the foreword). However,
these young chess stars can pack a lot of chess into their days and Carlsen’s
fellow countryman has found some fascinating material to examine in this
well-illustrated book. Carlsen first played chess at five, so it took
him around eight years to get from beginner to grandmaster. The initial
key to his success was his phenomenal memory – he was able to memorise
the area and population of 430 Norwegian municipalities when he was five
– but of course there is much more to his success than that. Agdestein
proves himself to be the ideal author, as the young genius’s chief
mentor and something of a phenomenon himself, and he has a fascinating
story to tell. JS
This collection of opening ideas is divided up into 17 different chapters,
penned by authors such as Sergei Movsesian, Alexander Belyavsky, Ian Rogers,
Jonathan Rowson, Michael Krasenkow and Glenn Flear, each of whom concentrates
on a less than usual line, often within some mainstream opening but occasionally
not. Some ideas are more off-beat than others. For example, Movsesian
exhorts the reader to ‘play like a beginner’ with 1 e4 c5 2
Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 h3!? but that seems positively
conventional compared to Bosch’s chapter on a good way to play against
1 Nc3. His suggestion may be good but it is not exactly an everyday requirement.
But it is a well-presented book with a number of interesting side-lines
to investigate. JS
A short biography of Tal leads into the main body of the book, which consists of White/Black to play puzzles drawn from Tal’s play. The solutions are given in the back, and sometimes a full game score appended. This is an attractively-produced book which allows you to test your tactical ability whilst learning a little about one of the greatest chess players who ever lived. JS
This book on king and pawn endgames is designed for intermediate players
or those who have just set out on the adventure of chess. They are in
good hands with master coach and writer Glenn Flear showing them the way.
If truth be told, we could all do with working our way through this book,
as a sort of refresher course. Excellent value. JS
Another attractively presented (and priced) opening book for the intermediate
player or someone interested in changing their repertoire. 44 games are
annotated, including a couple by the author; it is always a recommendation
when the author practises what he preaches. JS
It’s nearly Christmas and a chess book publisher’s thoughts
turn to puzzle books. Joe Gallagher has selected mainly recent tactical
puzzles, and there is one for every day of the year. One, no. 320, sets
you the task of winning a bishop and knight endgame which might take some
of us a whole year to solve on its own. JS
The ‘instant book of the match’: rather an old-fashioned concept
in this internet age, you might have thought, and not helped by the fact
that only eight of the Brissago games were really worthy of detailed comment.
Coverage of the match doesn’t start until page 97. The author pads
the rest of the book out with some rather tired biographical information
on the world champions of the past and a discussion, derived from internet
debates, on suitable point-scoring systems for reinvigorating the championship
format. JS
This is a reprint of a 1984 book which deals with basic tactical motifs
such as pins, skewers, deflections, back rank, etc. It is fleshed out
with puzzles to solve and examples from the former British champion’s
own play. Well written and pleasant to read. JS
The Scandinavian, or Centre Counter as it is widely known in the English-speaking
world, has grown in reputation and no longer regarded as a poor relation
of the opening family. The English grandmaster throws his net wide in
this detailed study, including offshoots such as the Portuguese and Icelandic
Gambits. Plaskett is a vivid and humorous writer and this is a worthwhile
book on the subject, with a reasonably detailed index of variations. JS
This is a collection of 20 annotated games where the reader has to guess
the next move, is awarded points accordingly and then given an assessment
of strength based on the points tally. 13 of them are culled from the
pages of magazines where they have appeared before, and seven are specially
for the book. Daniel King is one of the best chess authors around and
this is a very enjoyable read. JS
960 tactical positions (six to a page) for readers to solve, batched
under various chapter headings. Generally of a very good standard, with
some old chestnuts, though the author (a young untitled Hungarian player)
has not resisted the temptation to put in a few examples of his own tactical
prowess. The solutions are annotated Informator-style. Very good value
for money, and a good book to travel with. JS
If you a buying a Christmas present for a super-grandmaster this year,
please buy them this book. It will be good to see the Petroff driven out
of super-tournaments for a year or two. Seriously, though, this is a useful
book in which the authors recommend the main line (3 Nxe5) as the way
to beat the Petroff, and back it up with a myriad of possibilities and
suggestions. If it is anywhere near as good as Beating the Caro-Kann,
also by Kotronias – which resulted in serious damage to the reviewer’s
Black repertoire some years ago – it will be a good book indeed.
Recommended. JS
The latest CD-ROM-based magazine has 1,337 games from the latest tournaments,
including the summer Biel and Dortmund events. There are two multi-media
interviews, of between 30 and 40 minutes each, with Vishy Anand and Sergey
Karyakin being interviewed in English by ChessBase supremo Frederic Friedel.
Karyakin’s English is not bad, and quite remarkable for the fact
that he has only been learning it for about a year. Users of older versions
of ChessBase may be nonplussed by the non-appearance of the multi-media
interviews in the database window. They are there, and you can watch them,
but only by going in via Windows Explorer and loading them from there.
A printing gremlin seems to have affected the layout of the accompanying
booklet, with spaces appearing where they shouldn’t and sometimes
not appearing where they should. JS
This CD-ROM is about honing your technique for winning won positions.
There are 121 positions to work through, with all the advantages of speed
and presentation that the computer-based format offers. Two specifications
are printed on the jacket in different places, and both are wrong. Specifications
for ChessBase’s range of products are becoming so complicated that
the company itself seems to be getting confused over them. On checking
the contents of the disk, we managed to work out that you must own either
ChessBase 7 (or later) or Fritz 8 (or later) to use this disk. JS
ChessBase have secured one of the most entertaining chess lecturers around,
English IM Andrew Martin, to present this basic course on the Ruy Lopez,
via ChessBase’s new multi-media system which utilises Fritz in tandem
with Windows Media Player 9. You have to own the former (or equivalent),
and make sure you have the latter loaded on your computer to use this
DVD. System requirements: DVD-ROM drive, Windows 98 or later, and Windows
Media Player 9. You must have one of the following programs – Fritz
8, Shredder 8, Hiarcs 9, Junior 8 or Tiger 15 running on your computer
to use this disk. JS
Danish IM Jacob Aagaard presents six video lectures on the most important
principles of positional play in chess. Weak squares, good and bad pieces,
prophylaxis and pawn weaknesses are concepts which should belong in the
toolbox of every chess player. The lectures are followed by 50 exercises.
In total there are more than four hours of high-class training on this
DVD. Same specifications as the Andrew Martin Ruy Lopez DVD. JS
