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BCM Chess Book Reviews : April 2006Return to the BCM Review Index
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An original and interesting work by the Israeli FM, which looks at psychological
trickery at the chessboard. Themes explored include the use of unexpected
moves, sacrifices to change the course of the game, unusual tactical ideas,
etc. Much interesting chess, but at the end of the day, it is hard to
draw any real conclusions from the various examples. Fundamentally, the
message which comes through is that tactical ingenuity wins an awful lot
of games – not something which will come as a surprise to most readers.
Still, this is an interesting and enjoyable book, which contains some
striking chess. The subtitle is slightly misleading: there is no true
bending of the rules being advocated here. Connoisseurs of chess skulduggery
may be disappointed. Review by Steve Giddins.
This volume concentrates entirely on the main line of the French Winawer,
i.e. 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5. As with other titles
in this series, it is well written and laid out, with plenty of textual
commentary and fresh suggestions. Note that Volume 7 has been published
before Volume 6: when the latter emerges, it will cover the French Defence
with 3 Nc3 followed by moves other than 3...Bb4. This is
a series of repertoire books for White, and the writer/editor is not proposing
to cover moves such as 3 e5 and 3 Nd2 against the French.
This is a collection of crosstables and match results, adding more than
100 to those that appeared in volumes two and three of Jeremy Gaige’s
Chess Tournament Crosstables. British, Australian, US and Middle
European events are well represented, though without a good deal of study
it is impossible to judge how comprehensive or accurate this work is.
It is certainly well indexed.
The latest issue follows the usual format, with 32 opening surveys, plus Sosonko’s regular column, readers’ letters, etc. The surveys include an update by Simon Williams on his 7...Ne4 in the Dutch, whilst Glenn Flear reviews recent opening books.
Back in 1955, the late Ken Whyld started up his own magazine of book
reviews, partly because he loved chess books but also because it had the
added benefit of providing free copies of books from publishers to help
build his library. By doing so he conferred a great benefit on chess bibliophiles;
volumes of The Chess Reader are much sought after as useful reference
material as well as early examples of Ken Whyld’s excellent writing
style.
Another month, another book on the Sicilian, you may be thinking. But
this one is different. Rather than present reams of variations and references,
Yermolinsky studies the opening by deeply analysing 25 recent master games,
explaining the ideas, plans and nuances in words, rather than just by
moves or symbols. The result is an impressive introduction to one of the
most important Sicilian lines (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4
4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6). Yermolinsky is a fine writer
of chess instruction, and has played the opening in question for 30 years,
so he is the ideal person for the job. Highly recommended; I look forward
to seeing more titles in the same format. Review by Steve Giddins.
The complete story of 2005 in chess between attractive maroon cloth covers.
It was quite a year for chess, with the exit of Garry Kasparov, and the
entrance of a new FIDE World Champion, Veselin Topalov. BCM’s
globe-trotting contributors were there to see it all happen and record
it for posterity. It will look a picture on your bookshelf. Note: the
image shown above is not the front cover of the book, which is bound in
plain maroon hard covers, with 'British Chess Magazine 2005' gold blocked
on the spine.
The latest disk-based magazine includes a multimedia report on the latest
Man-Machine match that took place in Bilbao in November 2005, where Khalifman,
Ponomariov and Kasimdzhanov took on Hydra, Deep Junior and Fritz 9. It
comes with 1,759 games, many annotated, including the FIDE World Championship
in San LuBs, plus some theoretical articles.
