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BCM Chess Book Reviews : June 2003Return to the BCM Review Index
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Though the cover lists Hübner as author, he is only responsible
for a review of Fischer’s My Sixty Memorable Games, and is
not the annotator of all 900+ of Fischer’s games supplied, which
come from ChessBase’s Mega Database 2003. However, having
said “only” in the last sentence, the German grandmaster’s
deep and rigorously objective analysis of Fischer as player and annotator
is probably one of the finest to appear anywhere. After the textual summary
of Fischer’s strengths and weaknesses, Hübner provides some
140 examples of positions where his own analysis diverges from Fischer.
The CD also contains many pictures and some fascinating film footage.
This includes Fischer playing Tal in Yugoslavia 1958 (Tal’s strange
stare puts one in mind of Harpo Marx), some scenes from the 1960 Leipzig
Olympiad, an interview with Dimitrije Bjelica in Yugoslavia and finally
newsreel film of Fischer fulfilling his destiny in Reykjavik in 1972.
This is fascinating material for a chess world long starved of the sight
of one of its finest players, but in the long run the most valuable feature
of this collection is Hübner’s critique of Fischer as player
and annotator.
In many ways it is surprising that White players didn’t take up
4 Nf3 against the Nimzo-Indian long before they did. As Chris Ward says
in his introduction, it has the advantage of keeping options open for
the c1 bishop to develop to g5 and is generally noncommittal. The move
is also relevant against Queen’s Indian set-ups and it has become
a sort of bridge between the two opening complexes. The first half of
the book concentrates on the response 4...b6 with other responses being
examined in the second half. As a Nimzo player himself, Ward is the ideal
author to take the reader through the options. He is completely at home
with his material and his advice and guidance is as always both readable
and practical. A top-class opening primer.
Glenn Flear, aided by Eric Prié, has produced this work on a fashionable
sub-variation of the Slav (1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 a6). Many leading
players have taken up this system in the last ten years, notably Shirov,
Bologan, Morozevich and Bareev. Finally, in 2001, Kasparov himself gave
the variation his seal of approval by playing it. The opening is presented
via 82 fully-annotated games. A useful work covering a very fashionable
system.
Sub-titled Chess Discourses: Practice and Analysis (a training book
for advanced players), this book is effectively a collection of more
than averagely complicated tactical positions illustrating a whole host
of different motifs. Many of them (by the first-named author) have been
published before in the German magazine Schach Magazin 64, and
there are a few old chestnuts, but a lot of the material is fresh. Anyone
rated 1700 and upwards is likely to derive enjoyment from playing through
the moves, and attempting the exercises, in this well laid-out and absorbing
book.
The last notable book on this theme – Joe Gallagher’s Beating
the Anti-Sicilians – came out as long ago as 1994, so an update
is very welcome. One of the banes of the Sicilian player’s life is
the proliferation of anti-Sicilians. Short of having them banned (a one-time
suggestion of Michael Stean’s when commenting on 2 c3), the only
answer is to learn how to cope with them. This book, by Moldovan grandmaster
Rogozenko, aims to brief the Sicilian player with positive and enterprising
lines against players who are unsporting enough not to play 2 Nf3, 3 d4
and 4 Nxd4. There are 34 pages on 2 c3, against which Rogozenko recommends
2...Nf6 rather than 2...d5. Rogozenko has some interesting observations
on the sort of players who play 2 c3, in a book which is rather more anecdotal
than is usual for one of the Gambit opening series. The author opines
that 3 Bb5 is the main alternative to the Open Sicilian and accords it
49 pages. His recommendations are a careful balance of solid and aggressive.
Generally, the book is very readable and highly recommended.
The title makes it sound like a pure opening manual but in fact the
book (subtitled My Best Sveshnikovs) contains 50 games all played
by the author using ...e5 Sicilian openings for Black. It commemorates
his 50th birthday a couple of years ago. Horváth is hardly a household
name, but nevertheless it is interesting to follow his development as
a player of these counter-attacking lines and his analysis is illuminating.
The English translation is very erratic; but the book remains reasonably
intelligible and is also pleasantly readable.
The latest edition of the top-quality opening periodical features 536
heavily-analysed games from events held between October 2002 and the end
of January 2003 (including Wijk aan Zee, Kramnik vs Deep Fritz, USA Championship,
Kasparov vs Deep Junior, Hastings, etc). Contributors include Kasparov,
Kramnik, Anand, Leko, Adams, Ponomariov, Bareev, Shirov and many others.
Plus the best from Vassily Ivanchuk’s creative output.
The first edition of this one-volume opening manual came out in 1999
and was reviewed on page 29 of the January 2000 issue of BCM. The new
edition has 64 extra pages and plenty of new references (up to 2002).
Obviously it cannot be as comprehensive as its five-volume big brother,
but it is still a very handy and reliable tome to pack in the suitcase
when traveling light to chess competitions.
This is no ordinary chess club bulletin but a very high-quality chess
periodical covering all the major issues of the day. The editor was WN
Potter, and the cover page tells us he enjoyed the co-operation of Bird,
Blackburne, Horwitz, Löwenthal, Steinitz, Wisker and Zukertort in
his endeavours. There is some very high-grade material to be found here.
During the period Howard Staunton died. Potter’s obituary is balanced
and well-argued, lauding Staunton’s as the top player of his era
but not hesitating to cite his “gross unfairness” towards rivals.
More gossipy coverage of chess from the periodical based in Stroud in
Gloucestershire. As always this publication is an excellent source of
information concerning the less exalted members of the chess community
and there is plentiful information about club chess.
More of the same, with the minutiae of the British chess scene accompanying
wider coverage of world chess. A very good read.
In March it was reported that the prime minister, Herbert Asquith, played
chess on more than one occasion during his continental holiday. By the
end of the year he would have had more pressing things on his mind with
the outbreak of the First World War.
The latest CD-ROM-based chess magazine has 1,491 of the latest games,
many with annotations, from around the world, plus coverage of the 2003
Corus Wijk aan Zee. It’s worth the ‘price of admission’
simply to watch a video interview with the personable and outspoken French
grandmaster Vlad Tkachiev. His description of a close encounter with Kasparov
is priceless. He reckons the two of them are about the same height, but
that Kasparov swells to twice the size when his name and achievements
are announced before a game. As his superhuman energy starts to take over,
it becomes impossible to look him in the eye. Or, as Tkachiev puts it:
“Kasparov’s eyes are like a glass of Guinness”. Almira
Skripchenko underlines the current plight of women’s chess: “they
are so busy trying to reunite Kasparov, Kramnik, Leko and Ponomariov that
they have forgotten women’s chess completely.”
Quite a large number of openings converge to positions where White has
an isolated queen pawn on d4; and there are other openings where Black
reaches a broadly similar structure. Consequently it becomes very important
to understand the dynamics of such a position, from both sides of the
board. This CD-ROM features 95 extensively-annotated isolated queen’s
pawn games, with 17 introductory texts, a training database with 70 games,
with ChessBase reader software included on the disk. Compared with a book
on the subject, the material is rather thin but this is compensated for
by a plethora of training material. This can be very absorbing and beneficial
for the intermediate or club player.
