BCM Chess Book Reviews : February 2000

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Chess Highlights of the Twentieth Century by Graham Burgess, Gambit, 208 pages hardcover, 16 pages of photographs, £19.99.

The idea for this book is an attractive one – each double page is devoted to one year of the twentieth century. The sub-title gives the objective: “the best chess 1900-1999 in historical context”. This has been done by reporting the major events, giving two or three part-games and sections covering World News and Chess News in Brief.

The major difficulty with a book of this type is the proper balance between material included or excluded. This has not been fully resolved here. Much of the World News in Brief could have been excluded concentrating only on those events affecting chess. Chess News in Brief is just that and would have benefited from more background and personal evaluation than Burgess has allowed himself. The problems of material selection are illustrated by the entry for 1987 where the dramatic world championship match of that year is relegated to two sentences in Chess News in Brief and Kasparov’s ‘must-win’ 24th game against Karpov (surely the highlight game of the year) not included. Despite these reservations the book is beautifully presented and the buyer gets much splendid chess for his money. (Review by Ray Edwards)



 

Soviet Chess 1917-91 by Andrew Soltis, McFarland, 450 pages hardcover, 16 pages of photographs, £40.95.

Soltis sets himself the ambitious target of providing a comprehensive history which sets the players, their vast creative and sporting achievements in the historical environment in which they had to live and if possible, survive. This is not easy as Soltis has to evaluate many controversies where the truth has often been deliberately obscured. None the less the growth, rise, triumph and fall of the Soviet Chess world and its intimate relationship to the wider political scene is graphically described. The leading personalities are given sympathetic but balanced treatment. Playing chess for a living is never easy, but given that the economic rewards were surprisingly poor and political penalties for failure severe, no wonder many players (Spassky, Korchnoi ) left the USSR when they could.

The book is beautifully bound and printed as we have come to expect from McFarland, and contains comprehensive indexes, bibliography and sources. It is an outstanding work of scholarship which can be recommended without reservation. (Review by Ray Edwards)



 

Three Hundred Chess Games by Siegbert Tarrasch, Hays, 366 pages, £13.99.

This is a welcome first translation into English of a famous book entitled Dreihundert Schachpartien in the original German. Tarrasch was in his early thirties when this book was first published (1895) and could then be considered to be in his prime. This is basically an autobiographical journey from his chess beginnings in Breslau up to his big tournament successes of the 1890s. Tarrasch has an engaging style of writing, and can be self-deprecating as well as boastful. Generally his opponents receive generous praise for their worthier efforts and he presents many of his worst disasters alongside the victories. The translation (by Sol Schwartz) flows well; the occasional typo does not mar what is an excellent production and a long overdue addition to the English-speaking chess-player’s library.





 

Mikhail Chigorin - The First Russian Grandmaster by Alexander Khalifman and Sergei Soloviov, Chess Stars Semko, 338 pages, £14.99.

Published in Bulgaria but written in English, this is a collection of 200 annotated games by the great Russian grandmaster. The book is divided into chapters corresponding to different periods of Chigorin’s chess career, each prefaced with full biographical details, statistics, cross-tables and a discussion of his (very considerable) contribution to opening theory. The book is rounded off with a further 575 unannotated games. All games are presented in Informator style. It is not clear to what extent the current FIDE World Champion contributed to the writing, but all in all it is a gem of a book and excellent value for money.






 

The Chess Player’s Chronicle, Vol.6, 1846, Moravian Chess, 399 pages, £23.99.

The Staunton-St.Amant recriminations rumble on into another year, and there is some mock Dickensian writing from Captain Kennedy. There is an amusing article on “the game at chess by telegraph” in 1845 between Staunton and Kennedy in Gosport and a group of players at the London Vauxhall railway terminus. The Gosport allies missed the last train home because of the delay caused by the telegrapher retransmitting the moves to people following the game in Southampton. Though not the first game by telegraph, this could have been the earliest instance of the phenomenon known to internet chess players as ‘lag’.



 

Correspondence Chess in America by Bryce D. Avery, McFarland, 278 pages hardcover, £33.50.

This is a superbly produced volume with chapters on the various eras of correspondence chess in the USA, including biographical coverage of two of its most famous players, Berliner and Palciauskas. There are 232 games, most of which have textual annotations and the book is well indexed with a plethora of statistical and background information. The author draws an imaginative parallel between the “British Invasion” of annotators used by the magazine The Chess Correspondent in the 1950s, and the British invasion of American rock-and-roll a few years later. I don’t suppose anyone has compared Barden, Clarke, Wade and Golombek with Messrs Lennon, Macartney, Jagger and Richards before, but it’s a stimulating thought.


 

Popular Chess Variants by David B Pritchard, Batsford, 143 pages, £14.99.

Most chess players have occasionally dabbled in chess variants, perhaps because they offer a chance to escape the restrictions of opening theory and accepted practice. Veteran player David Pritchard is very much an expert in this field, having previously written The Encyclopaedia of Chess Variants. He details some 18 deviant forms of chess and offers practical advice, tips on strategy, and basic opening theory pertaining to each of the variants.








 

Winning Endgame Strategy by Alexander Beliavsky and Adrian Mikhalchishin, Batsford, 208 pages, £14.99.

Following up their 1995 book Winning Endgame Technique, the same two authors write more about the endgame, for the most part utilising more up-to-date material than in the first volume. This book is filled with examples of all types of endings, together with exercises to test the readers’ comprehension. The book is divided into chapters clearly delineating different types of endgame, and is readily usable as a reference work, making it a good option for the serious student of the endgame.








 

The King in the Middlegame by Edmar Mednis, Chess Enterprises, 181 pages, £7.50.

This material appeared originally in descriptive notation in a book called King Power In Chess, published by David McKay in 1982. Grandmaster Edmar Mednis endeavours to explain when the king should step out boldly in the middlegame – and when it is safer to stay at home and wait.The author’s quoted examples are well-chosen and illustrate the king’s many possibilities for activity.




 

The Steeplechase by Victor Charushin, Pickard, 123 pages, £10.99.

The title is intended as an analogy for the pawn’s race down the board to become a queen, clearing obstacles set in its path. Correspondence IM Charushin looks at openings featuring turbo-charged pawns, and also middlegames and endings with long pawn marches, illustrated with over 200 games, mostly unannotated. There is no real attempt at classification and a few misprints could be found.



 

Hanging Pawns by Adrian Mikhalchishin and Wit Braslawski, International Chess Enterprises, 203 pages, £13.99.

A cheaply produced but entertaining collection of games and part-games demonstrating how to play with (and against) hanging pawns. The typesetting is erratic but the content is well-selected, if somewhat disorganised.



 

Mastering the Bishop Pair by Jaroslav Srokovsky, Ekaterina Borulia and Wit Braslawski, International Chess Enterprises, 220 pages, £13.99.

This is second book (after Hanging Pawns, reviewed above) in ICE’s six-book series on strategic themes. As with the previous title, the theme is illustrated via a collection of lightly-annotated part-games showing the strength of two bishops working together. The introduction is followed by a useful theme index.


 

Mastering Rook vs Minor Pieces by Andrei Maximenko, Jaroslav Srokovsky and Wit Braslawski, International Chess Enterprises, 205 pages, £13.99.

This is the third in ICE’s strategic themes series: this time the authors are dealing with the specific theme of rook versus two minor pieces in the middlegame and endgame. The typesetting is off-putting, and the book remarkable for its avant garde indexing. The contents are listed at the bottom of a page three quarters of the way through the book, and the players’ index scattered throughout the book in small segments, where the typesetter feels in need of filling up some white space. Weird minds at work here, but the content is worthwhile.


 

All Reviews by John Saunders except where otherwise indicated