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Garry Kasparov On
My Great Predecessors, Part 1
Reviewed by David Surratt
ISBN 1857443306 Hardcover, 464 pages, FAN notation English Translation by Ken Neat
Bobby Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games, David Bronstein's book on the 1953 Zurich International Chess Tournament, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal and a small handful of others represent the select group of annotated game collections which reach legendary, almost cult, status. Is Kasparov's latest effort in that same category? Of course, only time will tell, but I think it has a chance... First in a planned series of probably five books, this first volume focuses on the play of champions Wilhelm Steinitz (1886-1894), Emanuel Lasker (1894-1921), Jose Capablanca (1921-1927) and Alexander Alekhine (1927-1935 and 1937-1946). Future volumes will feature the play of the other World Champions, from Botvinnik through Karpov, and on to Kasparov's own games of course. These books are planned to document an era in the development of the game that may be coming to an end. In an interview at Chess Cafe (see below) Garry asserts that "these books [are] sort of the milestone that ends a great period of the history of chess...the chronicle of the game, because the game is different now with Rapid chess, with world championship matches decided by blitz games, with Internet, we have to admit it's another game." If so, then these books will lay down the foundation for understanding that era. It is accurate to say that this book covers the era represented by these players, not just the Champions themselves. The tone is set early, in the sub-title of the Introduction, "The Champions as Symbols of Their Time". By looking not just at the Champion, but at his contemporaries and challengers, Kasparov grounds each Champion in his natural historical context. He then tries to demonstrate the development of chess thought as represented by the games of all these great players. Chapter One, "Chess Before Steinitz", begins with a look at the Italian School, characterized by "never missing a chance to give check, bring the queen immediately into play and, not thinking about the development...launch a dashing attack on the king." Kasparov declares the Frenchman François-André Danican Philidor to be so much stronger than his contemporaries that from 1747 (when he "crushed" the talented Syrian player Stamma in a match) until his death he could give odds to any other player on earth. The first match for the de facto World Championship, he gives as the 1834 match between the Irishman Alexander McDonnell and another Frenchman, Louis Charles de la Bourdonnais. Chapter One goes on to look at such legendary players as Saint-Amant - "...[one of] the two strongest players in the Old World.", Staunton - "...not properly recognized by either his contemporaries, or chess historians", Anderssen - "The...uncrowned King of Chess.", and Morphy - "...the prototype of the strong 20th century grandmaster...greatly ahead of his time." Chapters Two, Three, Four, and Five look at the first four "official" World Champions: Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, and Alekhine. As in Chapter One, each chapter attempts to show the Champion in the context not just of his political and cultural times, but that of his chief rivals as well. The Steinitz chapter, for example, contains material on Anderssen, Paulsen, Blackburne, Zukertort, and especially the icon of Russian chess history, Mikhail Chigorin, as well as another chess legend, Siegbert Tarrasch. The first game analyzed in detail for this book (and there are 148 of them!) is Game 1 of the 1834 McDonnell-la Bourdonnais match, and Kasparov spends two and one-half pages on this game of just 37 moves. Plenty of diagrams make it more interesting to read through, but of course to really reap the benefits of the immense amount of analytical work that went into this book one needs a board to play through the games. Garry Kasparov is well known for the army of talented IMs/GMs that work for him, and his acknowledged assistants in this book include the latest chess software engines, and Dmitry Plisetsky, "for many years deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine Shakmaty v SSSR/Rossii, and the author of a large number of articles and books, so you know the analysis is thorough. The authors have clearly done their historical homework on these games, often quoting other, earlier analysts (including the combatants themselves) and pointing out omissions or even outright errors in the prior analysis. Kasparov points out where modern chess understanding would dictate a different course of action than occurred in the game, even while acknowledging that in many instances, the line played at the time was consistent with the best chess thought of that time. In the following position, from Saint-Amant-Staunton, 21st Match Game 1843:
White plays 9.cxd5. Kasparov writes: "A rather premature exchange, provoked by a desire to block the bishop at b7. Nowadays 9.Bb2 cxd4 10.exd4 Nc6 11.Qe2!? or 11.Rc1 would have been played. However, it is hard to condemn seriously the opening and middlegame of this game: the players were proceeding through virgin territory, intuitively trying to grasp the rudiments of positional play." There are some classic games analyzed here, including the Evergreen and Immortal games of Anderssen, and Morphy's flight of operatic fancy with Count Isouard and the Duke of Brunswick. There are also some less famous games, gems that not so often see the light of day. All with Garry & the computer's high-octane intellects churning away at the analysis. This is the greatest value in this book, although not the only one. The style of writing flows smoothly, and it is easy to get wrapped up in the expert weaving of historical anecdote, biography, and analysis. Here, directly from the publisher's site, is an excerpt in PDF format of a dozen pages from Chapter One. Here's another snippet to whet your appetite: "Chess captivated Steinitz entirely. For the sake of it he gave up the higher polytechnic school, which promised the comfortable life of a qualified engineer, and soon he was the strongest player in Vienna. And when in 1862 an invitation arrived from London to the second international tournament, the Vienna Chess Society decided to send their 26-year-old champion to it. Steintiz's international debut was not bad: sixth prize out of 14 participants (all of five pounds sterling!), but the main thing was his memorable win over Mongrédien. The winner of the tournament, the legendary Adolf Anderssen, acknowledged it to be 'the most bold and brilliant game', and called Steinitz 'a rising chess star'. In turn, the organizers called the game 'the diamond of the Austrian champion' and awarded it a special prize, as the most brilliant of the tournament." Oh yes, the book itself - it's 7 inches by 10 inches, hardbound with dust jacket, and a glued binding. Good paper, crisp printing, and average but clear diagrams (approximately 2 inches square) in a two-column per page format make the book easy on the eyes.
The Chess Cafe archives contain the following
Interview with Garry Kasparov
about this book (in pdf format):
Part 1
Part 2.
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