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BCM Chess Book Reviews : July 2005Return to the BCM Review Index
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As well as being one of the strongest players of the 1950s, and lending
his name to just about the most popular opening variation of modern times,
Najdorf was also one of the great characters of the chess world. A decent
biography and collection of his best games is therefore long overdue,
and the present volume is a welcome attempt to fill the gap. 60 pages
of biography and career record are followed by 131 games, all of them
annotated, approximately half by Najdorf himself. The book is rounded
off with three short sections, one on some of his endgames, one with “Find
the win” puzzles, and the last containing a selection of anecdotes
concerning his career. The biography makes some attempt to present Najdorf’s
off-board life and character, but it must be said that this part does
not wholly succeed, and it tends to become more a parade of tournament
results. Similarly, the last three sections also appear slightly incongruous.
The authors point out several times that technique was not Najdorf’s
strong point.
However, although starter and dessert may not be worth
a Michelin star, it is the games section which is the meat of the book,
and this is thoroughly lip-smacking. Najdorf’s style was sharp and
full of original and creative ideas, and this makes his games especially
attractive. His victims include Botvinnik, Euwe, Petrosian, Fischer, Spassky,
Tal, Keres, etc. The book also includes several losses, and it is fascinating
to compare Najdorf’s notes on some of these with those of the victor.
The present reviewer was particularly interested by
game 67 (Euwe-Najdorf, Zurich 1953), where the loser draws conclusions
about White’s opening play which are diametrically opposed to those
of Euwe, Bronstein and other annotators - definitely food for analytical
thought! I was also struck by the naive but nonetheless charming simplicity
of some of Najdorf’s notes, which sometimes read as though he is
showing the games to a beginner.
The book is well produced (I spotted only one wrong
diagram, on page 12) and reads well in a smooth translation by John Sugden.
Although not in the class of some other recent games collections/biographies
which have appeared over the past couple of years, this is a worthy collection
of games by a great player, and deserves a place on every chess fan’s
bookshelf. Review by Steve Giddins.
About half this book is taken up with 4 f3 after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3
Nc3 Bb4, with chapters on 4 a3, 4 Bg5, 4 g3, 4 Qb3, plus a short chapter
on other odds and ends. In fact, it covers everything other than 4 Qc2,
4 Nf3 and 4 e3. Chris Ward is the ideal author for this book: not only
is he a lifelong Nimzo player with Black, he has also dabbled with all
the systems covered with White. As he says, it is probably a little harsh
to call them offbeat: they are all highly respectable ways of countering
the Nimzo-Indian. JS.
The best-selling first volume of Fire on Board was an outstanding collection
of games imbued with imaginative ideas written by a young master confident
of his abilities and the future. The second volume is just as good and
there is no reason why it should not emulate the success of the first
volume. The changes in the chess world since then are reflected in the
writing. Shirov, like all grandmasters, now uses strong computer software
to check his annotations, but one senses that he does not like doing so,
as he often tries to show that a computer does not possess his own human
creativity. Shirov also comes across as disillusioned by the current state
of the chess world. But the 53 games are the heart of the book. Besides
being a fine player, Shirov is a perceptive annotator with remarkable
insight into the amazing chess positions he so often reaches. Review
by Ray Edwards.
This book contains 17 articles on unusual opening ideas, penned by authors such as Rogers, Beliavsky, Romanishin and Mikhail Gurevich. There is much material here for the connoisseurs of off-the-wall openings. For example, Mark Bluvshtein has a look at 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Bd3!? which he himself has employed on a number of occasions, and with some success. After 3...dxe4 4 Bxe4 Nf6, he played the bishop back to f3. JS.
This anthology of correspondence chess writings ranges from classic tales
from the past, through articles that have appeared in Chess Mail or on
the web, to contributions specially commissioned for this volume. Those
with unshakeable faith in computer superiority might do well to read Dick
van Geet’s salutary article on how he might have won the 2001 Von
Massow tournament had he not consulted a computer program. Very readable.
JS
Sub-titled “The Battle of Minds that Shook the Chess World”,
this is a fresh look at the last Candidates’ tournament – as
opposed to Candidates’ matches which became the norm after the furore
over alleged Soviet collusion. Plenty of background material and some
excellent photos, plus pen pictures of the combatants, as well as round
reports and game annotations. JS.
This book gives advice on the relative values of rook, as opposed to
bishop and knight, in the middlegame and endgame. After chapters on the
theory, and resultant endgames, Lund looks at two relevant opening lines,
in the Catalan and the Scotch, which reach such positions. JS.
This is a chess puzzle book, with textual descriptions of the position
and a hint at the bottom of the column. Most of the material is up-to-date,
much of it culled from sources such as Informator and BCM’s
own Spot The Continuation feature. JS.
This is a repertoire book for Black based on 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 Nc6. Like
all such openings, it is not as bad as it looks, hence good enough for
club chess. Well-presented and thorough. JS.
500 of Shirov’s games, annotated in Informator style, with an introduction
in Russian, plus some pages of photos. Cheaply produced, but good value.
JS.
This book gives broad overviews of all chess openings in the one volume,
concentrating on a textual description of one or two main lines in each
system. It is clearly written, though it is not obvious what the target
audience is for such a book. JS.
Another sizeable slab of historical material, with articles on Duras,
Marshall and Hromadka, the 1929 Bradley Beach tournament and three Yates
matches, amongst others. JS.
The Austrian IM Sommerbauer treats two main defences after 1 e4 c5 2
Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4: the Kan (4...a6) and the Taimanov (4...Nc6).
Coverage is generally thorough and systematic, and many of the 89,275
games have notes. Both systems are unfashionable at the highest level,
and at times Sommerbauer glosses over Black’s theoretical problems.
An example is the line 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6 5 c4 Nf6 6
Nc3 Qc7 (the critical 6...Bb4 is shown to be terribly risky after 7 Bd3
Nc6 8 Nxc6 dxc6 9 e5): and now 7 a3 with which Kasparov has squeezed various
players. At lower levels Black can have confidence, though, and one practical
advantage is that the trendy English Attack (Be3, Qd2, f3, g4) isn’t
too effective when Black delays ...Nf6. The CD is marred by typos, some
annotations only in German, and most annoyingly some links which don’t
work but, despite the presentation problems, this CD offers both a useful
theoretical survey and practical help with a transpositional complex of
openings. Review by James Vigus.
This disk contains detailed opening theory on all openings as at 1 January
2005. Comes with its own reader software, and two chess-playing programs.
System requirements: IBM compatible PC, 64MB RAM, 500MBs of hard disk,
Windows 2000 or more recent, CD-ROM drive. JS.
This training program has more than 4,000 training examples and exercises
classified by more than 100 tactical motifs, for a broad range of abilities.
System requirements: IBM compatible PC, 64MB RAM, 100MBs of hard disk,
Windows 2000 or more recent, CD-ROM drive. JS.
This is the first training program on chess tactics for a Pocket PC (which
runs under Windows Mobile 2003 operating system on MIPS, SHG, ARM or Xscale
processors). This is a handy way to test and improve your tactical skills
whilst on the move. JS.
.
