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Remember the old story about the guy with a piece of malfunctioning machinery who called in someone to fix it?  The mechanic looked things over, pulled out a mallet and gave a serious tap – and the machinery sprung to life.  “Five hundred dollars for that??” roared the manager when he was presented with the bill. “For ten bucks my son would have come over and hit the machine.”  “It’s ten bucks for me to come over,” replied the mechanic, “and four hundred and ninety dollars for knowing where to hit.”

Building on his well-received Chess Recipes From the Grandmaster’s Kitchen (2002) and Lessons in Chess Strategy (2003), Grandmaster Beim presents How to Play Dynamic Chess. As he notes:

This book follows on from my previous work Lessons in Chess Strategy, in which the most important chapter, supplying the whole work with its central theme, was the one dealing with chess statics.  Accordingly, in the present work it seems logical to concentrate on the other side of the coin: dynamics.

Beim takes the time in the Introduction to lay out his perspective, that players develop best with the help of a trainer – an authoritative and friendly view from someone at their side – and that...

For someone who isn’t a direct pupil of yours but merely a reader of your books, things are that much harder, for with no one to monitor his chess development the defects in his play will accumulate…neither a computer nor the best of books will be able to keep a constant watch on your progress as a chess-player, applying corrective measures as the need arises.

Therefore, for the trainer or the author or for...

anyone working with chess novices or players trying to improve, the main requirement is a systematic approach and a grasp of the fact that we shouldn’t on any account grudge the time spent on “obvious things” – indeed we should make a detailed and extremely clear explanation of them!

And to the students – or readers – Beim believes the same message applies: don’t try to skimp on the time you devote to these matters.

Time spend on the thoughtful study of “commonplace truths” is always repaid in the form of time saved later and points scored in your games.

In How to Play Dynamic Chess, Beim presents over 80 games or positions which he has deeply analyzed, and which he groups into chapters: Dynamics, Development, King Moves for Attacking Purposes, Breatkthrough and Initiative. The examples are well chosen, from classics of the likes of Alekhine – Fahrni, Mannheim 1914 to those like Spassky – Polugaevsky, USSR Champ 1961, to recent instructional battles like Beim – Herzog, Vienna 2003.  Kasparov appears in the most examples, 15.

Beyond the choice of games (Beim likes to present several similarly-themed examples in a row, to enhance learning) and some new analysis (Beim says he likes to bring something new to each presentation) the author also writes and explains very well.  For example, in this position from Kasparov – Adams, Sarajevo 1999, a comment on the positions becomes a lesson all by itself:

The opening has culminated in this position almost by force.  How should it be evaluated?  The pawn-structure is symmetrical, with the isolated queenside pawns of both colours constituting a key factor.  Who is usually able to profit from such mutual weaknesses?  In the most general sense, the answer is simple and natural: the presence of weaknesses on both sides can be more effectively exploited by the side that is more active.  This very formula points to the connection between static and dynamic elements of the position, and tells us clearly that these elements should always be considered as a whole.  A practical conclusion follows.  White’s advantage consists of two elements: the insecure placing of the black knight (a temporary factor, under the heading of dynamics) and the potential superiority of bishop over knight in certain endgame situations (this is to some extent a long-term factor; it falls to some extent within statics).  In order not to forfeit this advantage, White must act vigorously.  A simple developing move like 23. Rad1 would not be energetic enough here; after 23…Qa5! the game would level out.  Kasparov, who without any doubt has studied this position at home plays with extreme precision…

I have seen different writers evaluate Paul Morphy from one-of-the-best to a notch or two above the common hack.  Beim is a fan , referring to him as:

Anderssen’s great historic rival Paul Morphy, the genius who originated the dynamic approach to chess and was ahead of his time by several decades (if not a whole century).

Beim’s view of development, a major factor in dynamic chess, is thoroughly modern: it is not so much the quantity of pieces that have come out of their starting places (although more can sometimes be better) as much the quality of the pieces – where have they gone, what are they doing, are they cooperating with each other?  This is helpful when he analyses such head-scratchers as the following position from Gelfand – Shirov, Linares 1993:

Of course, Black won (0-1,39).

How to Play Dynamic Chess is a well-laid out book (typical of Gambit), usually with two or three diagrams per page.  If there are typos or dypos (diagram errors) they must be few and far between, as none reached out and tweaked my nose as I worked my way through, from beginning to end.  The author has a good sense of humor, and he writes like the trainer that he is.  (I would much prefer him over the Bruce Pandolfini caricature played by Ben Kingsley in “Searching for Bobby Fischer.”)

If I have one caveat – and it is not a criticism – despite Beim’s reference to “obvious things” (quoted above; perhaps it’s a “Russian school boy” kind of thing), unless you are a budding young master moving up in rank, or a very dedicated higher Class player, How to Play Dynamic Chess is going to be a lot of work (not that that’s bad, as they say) and it may be better suited for players at the Expert level or above.  Navigating Karpov – Kasparov, Linares 1993, for example, requires more than just understanding the ideas Beim wants to get across; the reader must pass through challenging analyses that really should be played through, understood, and appreciated in order to get the full effect of the author’s lessons.

The book is full of good illustrations, which means some tough, complicated games.  Perhaps they’re not as psychedelic as the games (and their annotations) in Shirov’s Fire on Board, but when Beim casually reflects that a particular game “calls to mind a kind of training fight in which an experienced boxer reels off his entire stock of attacks and punches against a junior sparring partner,” you have to realize that the sad sack he’s referring to is the eminent Tarrasch… (For readers who like tough texts, let me offer you a lot-of-work comparison. I like Beim.  I like Dvoretsky.  Beim sometimes makes my head spin.  Dvoretsky sometimes makes my eyes bleed.  If you’ve read neither, you might want to start with Beim.)

Want to play dynamic chess?  You could work your way through a pile of Alehkine’s games, chow down on some self-annotated games by Kasparov, or reflect on one of the classics like Suba’s Dynamic Chess Strategy.  However, if you choose to work with Beim, your chess will become more dynamic.  He does know where to hit with that mallet!  On the basis of the strength of How to Play Dynamic Chess, I’d almost be tempted to recommend his Chess Recipes From the Grandmaster’s Kitchen and Lessons in Chess Strategy, sight unseen; but that would mean I wouldn’t get to enjoy turning those pages as well.  I’d much rather read them through first – and then make my recommendations.
 

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