Manchester Chess Federation
Chess in the Greater Manchester area

Book Reviews

The Petrosian System Against the QID
By Alexander Beliavsky and Adrian Mikhalchishin
 Chess Stars, November 2008
 ISBN: 978-9548782685
This is an excellent monograph on the Petrosian system (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3), which is currently considered to be White’s most testing response to the Queen’s Indian Defence.  The beginning of the book (Part 1) deals with the consequences of 4 … c5 and 4 … Ba6, but the main focus is on 4 … Bb7 (Parts 2-11).  A final section (Part 12) focuses on gambit lines.  The purpose of 4.a3, curious though it may seem at first sight, is to fight for the e4 square.  White spends a tempo to prevent … Bb4 in response to Nc3, which enables the knight to support e2-e4.
After the usual 4 … Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5, the first player has three options.  The older 7.e3 generally leads to quiet positional play, initially at any rate; the e-pawn will reach e4 in two moves, not one.  The modern 7.Qc2, aiming for an immediate e2-e4, is sharper.  White will meet … Nxc3 with bxc3, capturing toward the centre, and castle kingside after Bd3.  The Dementiev system, characterised by 7.Bd2, is sharpest   
of all, mind.  White aims to play Qc2, 0-0-0 and a later e2-e4, recapturing on c3 with the bishop.  If Black responds with … c5 at some point, as he should, the situation can get rather dicey for both sides.  Whichever option he chooses, White can usually count on a smooth harmonious development.
Each part or section has the same format: ‘Main Ideas’ gives the gist – a general overview – of a particular variation or system, while ‘Move by Move’ is concerned with the analytical nitty-gritty.  This strikes me as an effective, user-friendly way to set out the material, though some complete illustrative games would have been welcome.
The prose is generally fine, though the translation does read peculiarly in a few places: ‘that’ where ‘this’ would be appropriate, the omission of an indefinite article here and there.  There is plenty of helpful expository and explanatory text, along with the often heavy-weight analysis, and a conclusion ends each section.
For those in the know, the presence of Beliavsky as co-author will be a virtual guarantee of quality, and so it turns out.  It is bang up-to-date, too: Beliavsky’s own win  
(as Black) versus Krasenkow, played at Kallithea in 2008, is mentioned on pages 57 and 61.  It is game 284 in the latest volume (No. 104) of Informator.
All in all, this book presents a thorough, balanced and authoritative examination of current thinking on the Petrosian system.
Paul Kane of Salford has kindly agreed to write a series of book reviews for the website.
William Steinitz, Chess Champion: A Biography of the Bohemian Caesar
 By Kurt Landsberger
 McFarland & Company, October 2006
 ISBN-13: 978-0786428465
This is an enthralling biography of William (or Wilhelm) Steinitz, the first world chess champion and the father of modern chess.  Steinitz was the player and theorist who laid the foundations for our current understanding of chess, and he was probably the game’s deepest thinker; his only other rival in this regard is Nimzowitsch, who reacted to Tarrasch’s simplified codification of Steinitz’s thought.
Many years of research have gone into the writing of this long and detailed work, which is clearly a labour of love.  Landsberger traces the trajectory of Steinitz’s life from his childhood in the Prague ghetto, about which relatively little is now known, to his short time in Vienna as a young man and his later emigration to London, where he stayed for 20 years.  It was in London that he came to prominence, most notably by defeating Adolf Anderssen in a match in 1866.  From that point on, Steinitz was regarded as the           
world’s best player until his defeat by Lasker in 1894.  By that time, he had settled in America.
There were elements of tragedy to Steinitz’s life, and the author does not shy away from these.  As is generally known, he had mental health problems in the last years of his life and he often had difficulty in eking out a living as a chess player and journalist.  In essence, though, his life was one of immense intellectual achievement; he revolutionised our understanding of chess.

Some excellent extras enhance the text.  Andy Soltis provides deep annotations to 15 of Steinitz’s best games and two other games, played by correspondence between London and Vienna in 1872-1974, are annotated by Steinitz and Potter: they were significant as a test of Steinitz's ideas.  David Hooper’s perspicacious article on Steinitz’s theory of chess is reprinted from the British Chess Magazine, September 1984; and there are 46 black and white plates, which include photographs of the great man and his contemporaries, some facsimiles of his letters and an array of stamps issued in his honour.
The author includes many contemporary accounts and profiles of Steinitz, as well as excerpts from his letters and writings, and those who have a fascination with chess history will find this deeply-researched book to be engrossing.  Imagine a period when the headline, ‘Great Discovery in Chess’, could appear in a daily newspaper, as it in fact appeared in the New York Sun for 2 June 1895.  And the nature of this ‘great discovery’?  Steinitz had just announced that he had discovered a perfect defence to the Evan’s Gambit.  It was a different age.
Fighting the Ruy Lopez
 By Milos Pavlovic
 Everyman Chess, June 2009
 ISBN-13: 978-1857445909
It is heartening to hear the author caution early on, on page 5 in fact, that one should not ‘expect to find instant solutions inside a book – amongst other things chess is a process of continual learning’; it indicates that there won’t be any easy answers here, or any simplistic remedies.  Pavlovic has written a repertoire book which provides a complete Black response to the Ruy Lopez.  As such, it does not present a total solution to the perennial problem of how to meet 1.e4, but it certainly aims to take you a long way down that road.
The centrepiece of the proposed repertoire is the Marshall Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5!), which is thoroughly covered in Part 1 (chapters 1-7).  Throughout, the theory is about as current as a printed book could be.  So, in the main line, Kramnik’s 18.Qf1 Qh5 19.f3, temporarily sacrificing the bishop on e3, is included; it was first played against Aronian at Yerevan 2007.  And there is a full discussion of 15.Qe2, a move introduced by Svidler in 2007, which seems to have caught on – there are a lot of 2008 references here.  It should be noted that, in the main line of the Marshall, theory often extends past move     
20, and so you must sometimes be prepared to follow another player’s moves for quite a long while.  
The second part (chapters 8-11) covers various Anti-Marshall lines, and it is interesting that Kasparov never allowed Black to play the Marshall; he always avoided it with 8.a4 or 8.h3.  One curious omission here is 8.a3, Suetin’s move; it is a minor option, but still.  Together, these first two sections make up the bulk of the book, while the last part (chapters 12-15) covers early white deviations.  These include the Exchange Variation (4.Bxc6), the Worrall and Centre Attacks (6.Qe2 and 6.d4), 6.Nc3 (a move which Keres had an inexplicable fondness for) and the rather dreary DERLD (6.Bxc6).  Against each White system, Pavlovic gives just one Black choice (e.g. 5 … Bd6 versus the Exchange Variation after 4 … dxc6 5.0-0), but it is generally an active line, yet principled and sound.  So it is in keeping with the overall character and tenor of the Marshall Attack.
There are pros and cons to adopting any mainstream opening line.  In order to play it well, you will need to make quite a substantial investment of time and effort.  It is likely to be time well spent in this case, mind.  The Marshall gives good winning chances and is generally reliable, being the choice of many elite players; it is unlikely to be refuted any time soon.  And you cannot    
say the same for many other gambits or aggressive defences against the Ruy.
This volume is an excellent place to start if you are thinking of taking up the Marshall Attack, though bearing in mind the author’s words of caution about not expecting ‘instant solutions’.  Milos Pavlovic plays the Marshall himself, and he has contributed to its theory.  In each chapter, he sets out the material well, highlighting the strategic themes and outlining the various typical plans and schemes of development for each side, before examining the theory in depth.  Although an advocate for the Black side, his appraisals and evaluations strike one as being honest and objective.  Fighting the Ruy Lopez is what the author hoped it would be: a serious book.
Kill KID 1
By Semko Semkov
 Chess Stars, April 2009
 ISBN-13: 978-9548782708
No, this is not the screenplay, or a 'novelisation', of an obscure Quentin Tarantino movie.  Instead, Semkov's book presents an aggressive yet principled white repertoire that aims to demolish the King's Indian Defence.
At its centre is the Four Pawns Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4), with the theoretical material set out in three sections.  'Modern Benoni Pawn Structures' (Parts 1 and 2) covers the main line (5 ... c5 6.d5 0-0 7.Nf3 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5).  Here, 9 ... Re8 is usual but Black has played a number of other moves as well (e.g. 9 ... b5, 9 ... Bg4 and 9 ... Nbd7); all are covered thoroughly.  Of most significance in this section is the author’s preferred way of meeting 9 … Re8, to wit: 10. e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Ng4 12.e6! fxe6 13.d6! – and here I follow the author’s punctuation.  Semkov provides extensive original analysis to show that this pawn sacrifice gives White an enduring initiative.  Indeed, demonstrating the viability of this line was, in main part, the rationale for writing the book.
The second section, ‘King’s Indian Defence and Volga Pawn Structures’ (Parts 3 and 4),   
deals with lines where Black forgoes or delays … c5 (e.g. 5 … 0-0 6.Nf3 Na6) and lines where Black forgoes 7 … e6 (e.g. by playing 7 … b5!? instead).  These options are comprehensively examined, and the author also takes the opportunity to challenge analysis and evaluations by other authors, such as Joe Gallagher and Mikhail Golubev.
The final section (Parts 5-7) includes some aggressive suggestions as to how to meet the Modern Defence and the Old Indian.  The rationale here is that Black may use either of these move orders (1 … g6 and 2 … Bg7, etc. or 1 … Nf6 and 2 … d6) to attempt to avoid the Four Pawns Attack.  For example, after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 White may be tempted to play 3.Nf3 (to stop … e5),  when after 3 … g6 Black has got a King's Indian Defence, sidestepping the Four Pawns Attack in the process.
The structure of Chess Stars’ opening books – ‘Quick Repertoire’ for the essence of a line and ‘Step by Step’ for a considered analysis - has already been favourably remarked upon (in my review of The Petrosian System Against the QID).  Here, in addition, there are 19 complete illustrative games.  The English syntax is still a little strange sometimes, and on occasion the vocabulary is just plain wrong, e.g. ‘transiting’ on page 84, when transposing would be correct.
In summary, though, this is a neat package.  Part 2 in particular (detailing the intricacies of 12.e6! fxe6 13.d6!) looks like a significant contribution to the theory of the Four Pawns Attack.  
In Semkov’s analysis of this opening, the positions are at worst double-edged and look exciting to play.  White generally has good prospects of a kingside attack, so there should be a lot of ‘red’ on the board, to use Tarantino’s term, if you play this line.
Karlsbad 1907 International Chess Tournament
 By George Marco and Carl Schlechter
 Translated by Robert Sherwood
 Caissa Editions, 2007
It has taken well nigh a century for this classic tournament book to be translated into English.  Much too long, of course, but one has to concede that it has been well worth the wait.
Karlsbad 1907 was a fairly strong tournament.  Although it lacked the presence of Lasker and Tarrasch, the rest of the best players of the day participated.  Rubinstein, then in his prime, came first and was closely followed by Maroczy.  Other participants included Chigorin, Janowsky, Marshall, Duras and Nimzowitsch.  The future author of My System was 20 years old at the time and shared fourth and fifth place with Schlechter.  We are told by one contemporary commentator (quoted here, in a newspaper account of the tournament) that he was ‘a young, upcoming talent, whose supporters will have to help curb his temperament if he is to attain successes at the chessboard and in the intercourse of society’.  What the latter comment refers to is left unsaid.
All of the 210 games are annotated, about three quarters of them by Marco and the rest by Schlechter.  The translator, Robert Sherwood, has added to these annotations: expanding, correcting and validating the authors’ analysis as appropriate.  As an aid, Sherwood has made use of both his faithful   
Rybka and notes from a few other sources (such as Kmoch’s book on Rubinstein).  From the many splendid games on show, here is a favourite five:
· Maroczy-Marshall
· Janowsky-Rubinstein
· Vidmar-Dus-Chotimirsky
· Leonhardt-Maroczy
· Tartakower-Maroczy

 Marco has quite a high reputation as an annotator, and it has to be said that he more than lives up to it.  The breadth of his mind is everywhere evident; his notes are by turns poetic and methodical and rigorous.  He has a knack for identifying critical moments and turning points.  Indeed, his annotations are often of greater interest than the games themselves.  Or rather, they are so penetrating and instructive that they make even pedestrian games interesting, by clearly demonstrating their internal logic.  One modest example: Mieses-Maroczy, a bishop and pawn ending, was agreed drawn after 46 moves.  Does this sound appealing?  Well, perhaps not.  Yet Marco’s note to Black’s 37th move, which extends over two pages and is full of detailed analyses and intricate explanations, compels you to look at this game with renewed appreciation.  And this is by no means a solitary example; e.g. the note to move 48 in Salwe-Cohn is of a similar length and depth.
Often, Marco’s notes are of a more general nature.  Recurring themes are the role of chance, risk and uncertainty in chess, and      
the ineluctable nature of human fallibility and folly (‘It is remarkable how often, in the realization of its aims, the human mind uses the most impractical methods,’ begins one such exasperated meditation).  His note to the fourth move of Marshall-Cohn is a reflection on why paradigms are so slow to change, in science, religion and chess, and it pretty much anticipates the thought of Thomas Kuhn.  (Well, perhaps I exaggerate somewhat here.)
Karlsbad 1907 International Chess Tournament is, without a doubt,  a classic of chess literature and this beautifully produced edition, bound in red cloth, is commensurate with its worth.  Ideally, it should be read in a wood-paneled library, with a glass of port by your side and your faithful bulldog napping by the fire.  It is an absolute pleasure for all who love chess.
Kasparov: How His Predecessors Misled Him About Chess
 By Tibor Karolyi and Nick Aplin
 Batsford, February 2009
 ISBN-13: 978-1906388263
The books that have successfully combined chess and humour are few in number.  Offhand, one can recall only three outstanding examples: The Twelve Chairs, a satiric Russian novel of 1928 by Ilf and Petrov; and a couple of more recent efforts, How To Cheat at Chess and Soft Pawn, both from the adept pen of William Hartston.  Tibor Karolyi and Nick Aplin’s book is a creditable effort to join their number.
Kasparov: How His Predecessors Misled Him About Chess is probably best described as a spoof.  The authors adopt the voice and persona of ‘Gary Kasparov’, or rather an imaginary version of the great world champion.  Their Kasparov is a little wimpy and whiney at times, and he is prone to blame his mistakes on past champions.
There are twelve chapters, with each one devoted to a prior world champion, from Steinitz to Karpov.  Every chapter has more or less the same format.  Typically, we see a given world champion making use of a particular tactical motif or strategic device (e.g. Tigran Petrosian’s use of the positional exchange sacrifice) or playing a particular kind of position (say, a rook ending) - and, crucially, succeeding.  We then see a game    
or three where Kasparov makes use of the same stratagem, or finds himself in a similar position, but matters do not turn out so well.  The joke (there is just the one) is that Kasparov has simply been aping or superficially emulating the great player’s approach without understanding it fully.
It is a neat conceit, but it does become a bit wearing after a while, and it simply cannot be sustained in a book just shy of three hundred pages.  Eventually, one just wants the authors to show the games.  Also, some of the analogies drawn between the past champions’ and Kasparov’s games can be misleading, or not awfully enlightening, as to the nature of the chess.  A firefly is ‘like’ a fire, but phosphorescence and combustion are quite different processes.
The great virtue of this book is, in fact, the chess.  All of the games involve at least one world-class player, so they are of a very high standard indeed.  Generally, the annotations are erudite and enjoyable; the analyses are deep when necessary and accurate.  There are a number of heavyweight K. versus K. encounters, with Kasparov taking on Karpov and later Kramnik.
One overriding message to glean and take home: chess is a concrete game.  It is the details, even the quirks of a position, which determine whether a certain approach is appropriate and likely to prevail.  Therefore, it is never wise to simply parrot or ape an      
aspect of a great champion’s play (not that the actual Kasparov has ever done this, mind).  Context is all!
Overall, Kasparov: How His Predecessors Misled Him About Chess is fun and instructive, though as indicated the humour is a trifle laboured.  A final thought: it would be interesting to see a book that takes a cool objective look at all of Kasparov’s losses, along the lines of Edmar Mednis’s How To Beat Bobby Fischer.  Perhaps this might be a future project for Karolyi and Aplin?
Dangerous Weapons: Anti-Sicilians
 By John Emms, Richard Palliser and Peter Wells
 Everyman Chess, May 2009
 ISBN-13: 978-1857445855
The Dangerous Weapons series from Everyman Chess aims to acquaint and equip the reader with a number of ambitious or little-known or paradoxical or underestimated lines – dangerous weapons, in short – all centred around a particular opening.  A comparison can be made with the Secrets of Opening Surprises volumes edited by Jeroen Bosch, which cover similar territory: unorthodox or unusual opening variations.  However, the latter are not quite as focused; generally, Bosch’s contributors deal with a hodge-podge of openings in each volume.
There are twelve chapters to Dangerous Weapons: Anti-Sicilians, each one a self-contained and quite discrete theoretical article.  Six of the chapters suggest lines for White, while six look at matters from Black’s perspective.  Peter Wells wrote two of the chapters, with Richard Palliser and John Emms contributing five apiece.
‘Danger with the d4 Gambit’, penned by Wells, is the most substantial chapter, coming in at 42 pages all told.  The gambit in question arises after the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4. 0-0 Bg7 5. c3 Nf6 and now 6.d4!?  A dangerous weapon par            
excellence.  Wells’ chapter is quite excellent – considered, rigorous and instructive, giving an insight also into his own general approach to thinking about gambits  – and it follows a set format.  First, there are some introductory remarks regarding the opening variation in question.  Second, there is an illustrative game or two, showing the line to best advantage: here, the brilliant miniature, Lutikov-Ermenkov, Albena 1976, is deeply annotated.  Third, in a section entitled ‘Looking a Little Deeper’, there is a measured, systematic analysis of the variation, looking at the most testing lines and options.  Quite a welcome amount of explanation appears in this section too; in essence, it is the meat of the chapter.  Finally, we are given a conclusion or summing-up.  Occasionally, in certain of these concluding remarks, one can detect a twinge of resentment against the opponent who would plumb for solid equality, avoiding all tricks and traps; as though he or she were a spoilsport, a boring person who shouldn’t be invited to parties.
Not all of the chapters deal with gambits or double-edged attacking possibilities, incidentally, with John Emms’ ‘A Turbo-Charged King’s Indian Attack’ being a case in point.  Emms examines the little-played line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 (rather than 3.d3, the usual route to the KIA).  The key point is that White reserves the option of an immediate d4, or can play c3 and d4 in one go (rather than c3 and d3-d4, which sometimes occurs   
after 3.d3: for example, in the famous game Fischer-Panno, Buenos Aires 1970) and this creates some quite unusual problems for Black.  A useful and worthwhile contribution by Emms.
Dangerous Weapons: Anti-Sicilians is certainly a thought-provoking work.  In all of the chapters, there is in general a good balance between advocacy of a particular variation and an objective assessment of its merits, though the authors do sometimes rather hedge their bets.  If you play 1.e4 as White or the Sicilian Defence as Black, you will be sure to find something explosive or combustible to add to your opening arsenal.
Secrets of Opening Surprises 10
Edited by Jeroen Bosch
New In Chess, March 2009
ISBN-13: 978-9056912604

This is the latest volume in a series which remains a rich source of unusual opening ideas, ideal for presenting problems to the opponent at an early stage of the game.

The first chapter is an update, featuring several games that make use of lines that had been discussed in previous volumes. The pick of these games, by a country mile and a half, is Mike Surtees’ victory over Jovanka Houska from the 2008 British Championship, which began 1.e4 c6 2.Ne2 d5 3.e3 c5 4.b4!?

Later chapters (there are a further sixteen) discuss a range of unusual opening lines, with each chapter being essentially a self-contained theoretical article. Bosch himself has written the bulk of these (he has provided five chapters in total) and other contributors include Sergey Tiviakov, Adrian Mikhalchishin and David Navara.

 
There is an eclectic mix of lines on show, ranging from the sharp (the Lewis Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.d4) to the provocative (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 and now 3 … Nc6) to the positionally-based (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.c4, the last move being an idea of Romanishin’s) to the seemingly naïve (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4, rather than first 3 … d6). One chapter examines the sequence 1.e4 e6 2.e5, which looks plainly perplexing; it is an anti-French line that Steinitz had a fondness for.

If you are looking for a sideline to catch a particular opponent off-guard, or simply want to replenish your opening repertoire, you would do well to turn to one or two of these volumes for inspiration.

A few pdf samples from the series can be found here:

http://www.newinchess.com/SOS/Default.aspx

New In Chess Yearbook 91
Edited by Genna Sosonko
New In Chess, August 2009
ISBN-13: 978-9056912659

It is not, strictly speaking, a ‘Yearbook’, since it appears four times a year. So: Chess Yearbook 91, in actual fact a quarterly, presents the latest developments in opening theory as based on current grandmaster practice.

Here is the set-up for this volume: Forum, Sosonko’s Corner, Surveys and Glenn Flear’s Book Reviews.

Forum is essentially a readers’ letters section, albeit one where the readers are generally strong players, and sometimes grandmasters, and the letters usually include interesting games and/or telling analysis.

Sosonko’s Corner is a column where Genna Sosonko, author of the wonderful Russian Silhouettes, is given free rein to write about what he wants, as long as it pertains in some way to the opening. Here, he discusses some of Dzindzichashvili’s recent opening discoveries.

The meat of the book is provided by the surveys of thirty-three (!) topical opening lines. Each survey follows more or less the same format: a discussion of the options        
available to each side, followed by a conclusion assessing the current state of theory (Can Black equalize? Does White have prospects of an advantage? Can the line be recommended?). There then follows a fair few games, most of them annotated, with the emphasis of the annotations on the opening stage of the game. Eight surveys are devoted to the Sicilian Defence, but the Ruy Lopez, Slav Defence and Nimzo-Indian Defence are also well covered. The contributing authors include Lev Gutman (probably the greatest living opening theoretician), Sergey Tiviakov and England’s Richard Palliser. Grivas’ article on how to meet the Grand Prix Attack was of especial interest, while Hazai and Lukacs’ ‘Not the Refutation of the Marshall, But...’ provided a thorough examination of Svidler’s
15.Qe2, a move alluded to in the review of Milos Pavlovic’s Fighting the Ruy Lopez.

Finally, to end, Glenn Flear reviews four recent opening books, including The Petrosian System Against the QID. Flear is an engaging writer and is thorough and generally fair in his appraisals.

In summary, New In Chess Yearbook 91 is an excellent volume in a series whose mission is to provide crucial high-quality opening gen for ambitious chess players.

A few pdf samples from the series can be       
found here:

http://www.newinchess.com/Yearbook/Default.aspx?PageID=200
Chess: 60 Years on with Caissa and Friends
By Alan Phillips
Caissa Editions, 2003
ISBN-13: 978-0939433650

In all, there are two hundred lightly annotated games in this book, all featuring British players. The first game is a loss by Frank Parr to Alekhine, played in a simultaneous display in 1938, while the last game is John Littlewood’s victory over Krasowski, from the World Senior Championship in 2000.

Throughout, Phillips’ annotations are entertaining and his reminiscences are evocative. Besides Phillips himself, there are games by David Hooper, Alexander, Gerald Abrahams, Golombek and others. Most of the games are not well-known (or were not known to me), but there is the odd famous    
one; e.g. Penrose’s victory over Tal at the Leipzig Olympiad in 1960 is game 111. With a few exceptions (Golombek, Barden, perhaps Winter), these players shared one further characteristic - besides being British - in that they were all amateurs, and had careers outside of chess.

An attractive feature of the book is the twenty pages of photographs, mostly of British players naturally, though luminaries such as Bronstein, Tal and Smyslov are in there too.

Overall, Alan Phillips’ book offers an absorbing backward look at another century and, recalling L.P. Hartley’s famous words, another country too.

The following miniature by John Littlewood is game 159 in Phillip's book:
                










                    No image available
As an aside, Tim Harding's fine tribute to John Littlewood has deep annotations to several of his games, including his win against Jeff Horner at Chorley in 1977. Read it here:

http://www.chesscafe.com/Tim/kibb.htm
Football and Chess: Tactics; Strategy; Beauty
 By Adam Wells
 Hardinge Simpole, December 2007
 ISBN-13: 978-1843821861
One rather shop-worn phrase that football commentators are prone to come out with, especially when they are viewing a match where neither side has scored and where few chances to score have been created overall, is ‘It is like a game of chess’.  In other words, it is a dull, drawish game that is without interest.  Perhaps Adam Wells’ book will go some way to convincing such pundits that a mating attack by Alekhine, Tal or Shirov can be as spectacular as a goal by Wayne Rooney.  We can always hope.

The aim of Well’s book is to explore the relationship between football and chess, to draw out significant analogies.  It is clear that both games involve attack and defence (in some sense) and that each one emphasises the importance of the centre (or the midfield) and the initiative (the capacity to make threats, ball possession).  That old football cliche to the effect that a side has to score when they are on top is matched by Steinitz’s imperative that when you have the advantage you must either use it and attack, or forfeit it.
What may surprise some is that strategic and tactical understanding has evolved in a similar fashion in both games.  At first, football teams adopted the so-called ‘Pyramid’ formation: two in defence, three in midfield, five in attack; just as, during the Romantic period in chess, players thought mainly of gambit, sacrifice and attack.  Gradually, though, a more defensive, positional, counter-attacking approach took hold, perhaps best epitomised by the ‘catenaccio’ system, which to all intents and purposes is a form of prophylaxis.  Here, Wells’ section entitled ‘Stretch and Compress’ reminded me of Sergey Makarichev’s musings on the origin of the Hedgehog (quoted on page 39 of Revolution in the ‘70s by Garry Kasparov), one of the distinctive opening systems of modern chess:
There is also another version of how the legendary system was born.  Long, long ago, back in the 1960s, one of the future grandmasters – perhaps the young Ljubomir Ljubojevic – was so captivated by the play of Inter Milan under the management of Helenio Hererra, that he firmly decided: ‘When I grow up, I will think up something similar in chess.  My pieces, just like the Italian footballers, will completely concede space, but at the same time, when standing in defence, they will be constantly pressing, and when my opponent hesitates, even for    
an instant, they will punish him with a deadly counterattack.’
Elsewhere, Wells ranges widely and discusses some of the psychological factors important to both games (creativity, concentration, emotional control, etc.) and aesthetics, at one point comparing a move by Mikhail Tal to a pass by Ronaldinho (!).
Football and Chess: Tactics; Strategy; Beauty is a fascinating book, though you also probably need to have a strong interest in football, and in particular in football tactics, to get the most out of it.  If you want a straight introduction to football tactics, Jonathan Wilson’s recent Inverting the Pyramid (2009) is strongly recommended.
Play 1.b3!
By Ilya Odessky
New In Chess, November 2008
ISBN-13: 978-9056912567
Ilya Odessky’s book is an ode to the Nimzo-Larsen Attack, ‘a Friend for Life’, to quote its subtitle. It is also, in more than a few passages, something of a lament; a tone of playful pessimism pervades much of it. The author seems to regard an opening (or 1.b3 in particular) as akin to a football team that you’ve followed since a boy, or a wife that you don’t want to or cannot divorce. You are honour-bound to give your support and you absorb the small hurts because, just occasionally, there are resplendent moments of joy.
By no means is this a typical opening book, as the chapter titles alone make clear. Just to give three examples: ‘Wanderer, There is No Path Through’ is chapter 2 and it is concerned with a promising variation which, apparently, leads only to equality; ‘Don’t Interfere’, chapter 7, is a rubbishing of the Dutch: the title is a riff on Petrosian’s remark that ‘if your opponent wants to play the Dutch Defence, you shouldn’t try to prevent him’; and the 14th chapter is entitled ‘Casus’, a Latin term which refers to ‘an action, outwardly appearing criminal, but which is free of any element of blame’. It is about a principled      
yet trappy variation where Black frequently comes to harm.
Rather than presenting an exhaustive survey of Black’s possible responses to 1.b3, Odessky examines closely a number of key variations and positions. One chapter looks at the fashionable line 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bd6!? (intending …0-0, …Re8 and …Bf8); another explores the curious Litus Gambit (1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Bg4 3.f3 Bh5 4.e4!?). Two chapters provide a substantial examination of the Nimzowitsch Attack (1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb5). There are three chapters focusing on Petrosian’s experiences with 1.b3, and these are undoubtedly the most fascinating part of the book.
Odessky is a genuinely engaging and entertaining writer and Steve Giddins’ smooth translation ably captures his mock-melancholic voice. As an introduction to the Nimzo-Larsen Attack, this book could hardly be bettered; yet the author also has many interesting things to say about positional play, chess strategy and simply playing good chess. And ultimately, the book is as much about these matters as the opening which, we are made to understand, has been the bane and joy of the author’s chess career (‘Don’t Grieve!’ is the title of the last chapter, incidentally: don’t!).
Zuke'Em:TheColle-Zukertort Revolutionised
By David Rudel
Thinkers’ Press, June 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1888710359

Typically, the Colle-Zukertort arises after the sequence 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3, though naturally this move order may vary. Once White's queen's bishop is developed on b2, the 'Horwitz Bishops' - to employ Nimzowitsch's term - will exert sustained pressure both in the centre and on Black's kingside. It is a simple yet elegant system and, as David Rudel shows in this excellent book, it should not be underestimated. Rudel demonstrates that White has promising play against the Bogolyubov Defence (where Black goes … Nc6 and … Bd6) and the Classical Variation (where Black's king's bishop is developed on … e7), as well as against various minor or less frequently played defences. Against the Classical Variation, Rudel presents an attacking scheme of Kovacevic's that is rather neat. It involves a rook lift (Re1-e3) and the transfer of the queen to the kingside by g3 and Qf1-h3; and it was played in Kovacevic-Farago, Hastings 1982-1983, if
you'd like to play it through from an online database. One wonders whether Kovacevic's inspiration was Fischer's 21.Qf1!? from his first game against Larsen at Santa Monica 1966, though the idea wasn't successful there, of course.

Rudel's consideration of deviations from the above sequence (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3), the so-called 'anti-Colles', is impressively detailed overall; and naturally he looks at deviations that might arise from a different move order, such as 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4 or 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bf5 or 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5. However, it is not quite exhaustive. One would be interested to have the author’s suggestions as to how a Zukertort player might meet the Polish Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b5!?) or an Old Indian set-up, where the … d6/… e5 pawn chain might make a quite effective bulwark against the Bb2.

Zuke 'Em: The Colle-Zukertort Revolutionised is a book with many virtues: it is lucid and rigorous and interactive and authoritative and engaging. Its lucidity is most apparent in the way the author organises his material; most chapters begin with a 'Familiarization' section - a gentle introduction to its main themes - after which the teddy bears are taken away and we get down to brass tacks. Rudel deals rigorously and methodically with almost every plan or option for Black, and almost every way of implementing that option. Each option is dealt with by explanation, on the whole - the emphasis throughout is on understanding - but is          
supported by games and analysis where appropriate. Rudel's explanations are 'interactive' in that he has a gift for provoking questions in the reader (this reader, anyway) and anticipating them in the text. He will often make a complicated statement or point and then 'unpack it', explaining it more fully. We respect this
author in part because of this Socratic style of exposition, and in part from the fact that he has played the Colle-Zukertort for 15 years or so: this book is the distillation of much thought and experience. Rudel also uses statistical data incisively and well, and will often tell the reader how frequently a line has been played and how successful it has been. Finally, the book is written in an engaging, conversational prose style with quirky touches of humour. In particular, Rudel’s remark that Richard Palliser's book on the Colle, given its downbeat tone, was 'the chess equivalent of Ecclesiastes' raised a smile. Well, at least it doesn't bear comparison with Job...

There are a few typos in the text, but the meaning can be gleaned in virtually every case except one: the note to Black's 13th move on page 155 makes no sense, as 15 … Bf6 is an illegal move. (My guess, for what it is worth, is that 15 … Bxf1 16.Qxd5 Ba6 17. Rxe7+ is intended instead.)

The bibliography is fairly comprehensive, but it omits to mention two works of value. Colle, London and Blackmar Diemer Systems by Tim Harding (1979) has a substantial section on the Colle-Zukertort and, though the book is now out of print, it is not perhaps out of date. Theory advances slowly in the queen’s pawn openings; and Harding was and still is an excellent writer and researcher. Valery Bronznik’s The Colle-Koltanowski System (2004) is of interest to Colle-Zukertort players for at least three reasons. First, for its useful discussion of various anti-Colle lines. Second, for its detailed analysis of the consequences of 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.0-0!? c4 6.Be2, should White wish to delay the decision of whether to play 5.b3 or 5.c3 for a move or so. (And why might White want to do this? Well, on studying Rudel’s book, White may wonder whether he can profitably avoid the underrated 5.b3 cxd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+!? by first playing 5.0-0.)
Third, paradoxical though it may seem given his book’s title, Bronznik does give the occasional Colle-Zukertort line. In particular, he provides a deep analysis of the game Yusupov-Anand, Linares 1991, an engrossing struggle between two world-class players. Anand was clearly lost in that game, though he managed to scrape a win in the end.

To pronounce a critical judgement on the book under review: Zuke 'Em: The Colle-         
Zukertort Revolutionised is an excellent, well-nigh essential introduction to a sound and straightforward opening system that provides the first player with promising attacking possibilities and good prospects of an advantage. David Rudel's book is clearly the fruit of much eunoia (thank you, Christian Bok) and it will undoubtedly be the cause of plenty of eunoia in other chess players' games: make sure you are one of them. And it has a brilliant cover.

To end, and as a small bonus, here are pointers to a couple of online resources:

David Rudel maintains a forum about the Colle-Zukertort at www.zuke-dukes.com/forum; as well as discussions of the opening, there is a database of games beginning 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3… where Black adopts a KID set-up.

A few of David Rudel's articles are on the web, and as a preface to his book I would recommend especially the introductory 'Four Keys to the Colle-Zukertort':

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/Openings/FourKeystotheColle-Zukertort.htm

Incidentally, this article is a good showcase of Rudel's prose style, with its felicitous mix of humour and rigour.
The Black Lion: The Chess Predator's Choice Against Both 1.e4 and 1.d4
By Jerry van Rekom and Leo Jansen
New in Chess, December 2008
ISBN-13: 978-9056912574

The Black Lion, so-called, is an opening that can be played against virtually any White first move (1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4…) and it has been named in part as a nod to Leo Jansen, the co-author who has been its champion for many years. Also, the name seems appropriate because as a quiet system which disguises an aggressive intent, it is rather like a lazy beast of prey.

Typically, the Black Lion (so-called) arises after the moves 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7, followed by 4…e5. Black can play 3…e5 immediately incidentally, to rule out 4.f4, and this option is covered in Chapter 5, which is here entitled ‘The Lion’s Yawn’.

There is plenty to admire about this book. The prose is engaging and it is clear that the authors have a real enthusiasm for the opening, and a deep understanding of it. Also, the analysis is substantial and thorough and often original. It is plain that there are sharp and interesting possibilities for each side, such as Shirov’s 4.Nf3 e5 5.g4!? or (for Black) the Palatnik Gambit, which arises after 4.f4 e5 5.Nf3 c6 6.Bc4 exd4 7.Qxd4 d5! However, lines where White plays 1.d4 and follows up with 2.c4 are not analysed at all; there is a solitary game where co-author Jerry van Rekom faces this move order (on pages 27-29), and it has quite a neat finish, but that is about it. So a reader would not be well-prepared, or feel especially confident, when playing the Black Lion (so-called) against 1.d4 after reading the book.

On a more fundamental level, you may end the book feeling rather as the children in        
Whistle Down the Wind felt, when they realised that it was not Jesus in their barn but just a fellow who looked like him. Let me explain.

The most commonly played moves (after 3…Nbd7) are 4.Nf3 e5 and they are examined in Chapters 3 and 4, entitled ‘The Lion’s Claw’ and ‘The Lion’s Roar’ respectively, as well as in part of Chapter 6, here called ‘The Lion’s Mouth’. Now despite the relentless reference to a certain feline creature, it might occur to you that this sequence of moves simply leads to the Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defence, and I would be inclined to agree. The authors would argue, though, that what distinguishes the Black Lion, so-called, from the Hanham Variation of the Philidor is a plan involving a regrouping of forces on the kingside and a possible attack there. After playing …Be7, …c6 and …Qc7, Black will follow up with … h6 and …g5 if allowed. The queen’s knight will then go to …f4 (via …f8 and …g6), the king’s rook to …g8, and so on.

The problem for the authors is that this kind of regrouping has been seen before, and in the Hanham Variation, so it is not actually distinctive or new. See, for example, the game Yates-Marco, The Hague 1921:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 c6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.O-O h6 7.Be3 Ngf6 8.Bb3 Qc7 9.Nd2 g5 10.a4 Nf8 11.a5 Ng6 12.Re1 Nf4 13.f3 Rg8 14.Nf1 Be6 15.Ng3 Qd7 16.d5 Bh3 17.gxh3 Qxh3 18.Qd2 N6h5 19.Qf2 g4 20.Kh1 gxf3 21.Rg1 Bh4 22.Bxf4 exf4 23.Nxh5 Bxf2 24.Rxg8+ Ke7 25.Nxf4 Qh4 26.Rg7 Kf8 27.Rxf7+ Kxf7 28.dxc6+ Kg7 29.Ne6+ Kh8 30.Nd5 bxc6 0-1

One has to conclude that this ‘new’ opening (The Black Lion, so-called) amounts to little more than a re-branding, a re-branding which is relentless (as in the chapter titles)    
and after a while somewhat tiresome. Indeed, one could go further and say that bringing together the Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defence and the Old Indian, and treating them collectively as a universal system versus 1.e4 and 1.d4, is an enterprise that is at once spurious and absurd. There are similarities, granted, but there are similarities too between the Pirc and the King’s Indian. Would it make sense to regard these two openings as one universal system because they both involve a king's fianchetto and an advance in the centre with ...e5 or ...c5? Clearly not.

The Black Lion is an interesting, thought-provoking opening book which will equip you with a little-known, under-regarded yet worthwhile defence against 1.e4. However, most of the time the Black Lion, so-called, looks like the Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defence.
The Easiest Sicilian
By Atanas Kolev and Trajko Nedev
Chess Stars, April 2008
ISBN-13: 978-9548782661

This is an excellent guide to the Sveshnikov Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5), an ultra-sharp system where Black’s active centralized pieces tend to generate an initiative strong enough to compensate for any structural weaknesses.

The authors aim to present a complete Black repertoire following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 and they examine just three anti-Sicilian lines: the Rossolimo (3.Bb5), against which they recommend 3…Nf6; 3.c3, which pretty much transposes straight into the Alapin; and finally the so-called anti-Sveshnikov: 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5, etc. Black gets good positions in each case and their recommendation against the Rossolimo is particularly interesting, accompanied as it is by much original analysis.

Barring early deviations (such as 6.Nf5 or 7.Nd5), White has two main options when faced with the Sveshnikov. There is the positional approach where (following 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5) White plays 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3, aiming to keep a        
hold on d5 following Nc2-e3. Then there is another, more direct approach: White plays 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3 Be6, which can lead to immense complications after (say) 12.Qh5 Rg8 or 12.c3 Bg7 13.Nxb5!? On the whole, the play is more complex and exciting – for both sides - in this latter line. Black is holding his own at the minute in both.

One attractive feature of the Sveshnikov is that Black often has the opportunity to attack on the kingside, which is unusual in other variations of the Sicilian. And, in general, king safety is a big concern for White. Black usually has open lines on the kingside (the g-file), the queenside (the c-file and more often than not the b-file) and a pawn majority in the centre (especially after …fxe4 and …f5, in the line following 11…Be6 above) and is generally able to create threats against the White king, wherever it is placed.

There is a nineteenth century feel to a lot of the lines in the Sveshnikov – and though not a gambit, it is certainly a gamble. Black lives or dies by his ability to keep his initiative going; little wonder, then, that creative players like Shirov and Topalov have been drawn to it.

 
Kolev and Nedev provide a thorough coverage of Black’s various possibilities and they adopt the same user-friendly format as in The Petrosian System Against the QID. To recap, ‘Quick Repertoire’ gives the gist of a particular line, while ‘Step by Step’ puts flesh on the bones, adding deep and significant analytical detail. Unlike the previously reviewed book, though, there are a good number of complete illustrative games here.
International Chess Congress, London 1922
 Edited by David Regis
 Hardinge Simpole, January 2007
 ISBN-13: 978-1843821755

London 1922 was the first tournament that Capablanca entered as world champion, and he came first with 13 points out of 15, one and a half points ahead of Alekhine, his future challenger.  They were the only two players to remain unbeaten: the difference between them being that Alekhine allowed seven draws to Capablanca’s four.  At this time, Alekhine was not quite the ruthless killer that he became; against Maroczy, for example, he lost control of a much better position and was lucky to escape with a draw.  In round 10, though, he did produce what was probably the best game of the tournament:
Alekhine-Yates
London, 1922
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Qc2 Re8 9. Bd3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd5 11. Ne4
Later, Alekhine took to playing this move in a similar position, after taking on e7.  In the position after 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7, he would play 11.Ne4, as for example in the game Alekhine-Treybal, Baden-Baden 1925.
11...f5?! The disruptive 11...Qa5+! is the best move here, while this move – weakening e5 and downgrading the ...Bc8 – is certainly among the worst.
12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Ned2 Perhaps envisioning Nc4-e5 at some point. 13...b5?! Another bad move: the scope of the ...Bc8 is reduced still further and the c5 square is made weak.  But even after 13...N5b6 14.Bb3 a5 15.a3 Kh8 (to prepare ...e5; also, Qxf5 was threatened) 16.O-O g6 (16...e5 17.Qxf5 Nc5 18.Qxe5 wins) 17.e4 White is in control of the game.
14. Bxd5 cxd5 15. O-O a5 16. Nb3 Once this knight is exchanged for Black’s knight on ...d7, White’s king’s knight will be able to occupy e5 with impunity.  Incidentally, I would suggest that Alekhine’s note to White’s fifteenth move is in error here; he surely meant to say ‘the e5 square’ rather than ‘the same square’ (meaning, I think, c5).
16...a4 17. Nc5 Nxc5 18. Qxc5 Qxc5 19. Rxc5 b4 20. Rfc1 Ba6 21. Ne5 Black cannot contest the c-file: 21...Rec8 22.Rxc8+ Rxc8 (22...Bxc8 23.Nc6) 23.Rxc8+ Bxc8 24.Nc6 wins    
material through the twin threats of 25.Nxb4 and 25.Ne7+.
21...Reb8 22. f3! So the king can be introduced into the attack. 22...b3 23. A3 Naturally, White keeps the queenside files closed.
23...h6 In order to give the king some freedom.  Black cannot contest the seventh rank: 23...Ra7? 24.Nc6 wins the exchange, while 23...Rb7? 24.Rc8+ checkmates.  And nor can Black challenge White’s control of the c-file: 23...Rc8 24.Rxc8+ Rxc8 (24...Bxc8 25.Rc7!) 25.Rxc8+ Bxc8 26.Nd3! and 27.Nc5 will win either the ...a4 or the ...e6 pawn.
24. Kf2 Kh7 25. h4! To secure the king’s position when it reaches f4; the advance ...g7-g5 is deterred. 25...Rf8 26. Kg3 Rfb8 Black can only wait and hope.  If 26...g5 (to prevent a later Kf4) 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Rh1+ Kg8 (28...Kg7 29.Rc7+ Kf6 30.Rh6 checkmate) 29.Ng6! wins, for example: a) 29...Rf6 30.Rh8+ or b) 29...Rfc8 30.Ne7+ or c) 29...Rfe8 30.Rc7! with 31.Rh8 checkmate to follow.
27. Rc7 Bb5 28. R1c5 Ba6 29. R5c6 Re8 30. Kf4 An interesting moment: White has four pieces (including the Kf4) poised to attack the Black king.  For defence, Black has just the lone rook on ...e8. 30...Kg8 31. h5 Bf1 32. g3 Ba6 33. Rf7 Now Black can play neither 33...Rac8? 34.Rxa6 nor 33...Rec8 34.Rxe6 (intending Rg6), while 33...Rf8 34.Rxf8+ Kxf8 35.Rxe6 drops a pawn.  So it is inevitable that White will play Rcc7, doubling rooks along the seventh rank, with a consequent increase in pressure.
33...Kh7 34. Rcc7 Rg8 35. Nd7! Threatening Nf6+. 35...Kh8 36. Nf6! Naturally, if the Knight is taken, checkmate follows with Rh7. 36...Rgf8
Now, after many preparatory manoeuvres, there follows a winning combination. 37. Rxg7! Rxf6 38. Ke5!
As with many of Alekhine’s combinations, there is a quiet yet deadly move to end.  Should Black move or defend the rook (38...Rff8 or 38...Raf8), checkmate follows with 39.Rh7+ Kg8 40.Rcg7.  Therefore the rook is lost.  Black resigned. 1-0 A near-perfect game on Alekhine’s part.
Now back to the book.  David Regis has compiled (his word, which is altogether too modest a description of his endeavour, in my view) much interesting material from a diverse range of sources, and he has thereby brought the London 1922 tournament to life.  All of the games from the Masters’ tournament are given, the vast majority annotated by Maroczy, but there are notes also by Capablanca, Alekhine, Tartakower and others.  Along with the          
famous games (Atkins versus Capablanca, Reti versus Znosko-Borovsky, etc.) there are many lesser-known gems, with one being Wahltuch-Euwe.  There are a goodly number of diagrams per game and the games are well-indexed by opening and players involved (game).  There are also a small selection of games from subsidiary events (such as the Major Open and the Women’s tournaments) and a full list of tournament tables.
Capablanca’s articles from The Times are a highlight and assembled here are his preview of the congress, his round-by round summaries of the play and a review or overview of the congress to end.  There is also an interview with Capablanca, carried out on the eve of the tournament.  As well as this, Vidmar’s account of how he came to resign against Capablanca remains quite touching.
There are eye-witness accounts of the play from chess enthusiasts and those less enamoured by the spectacle on show.  Included also are a few letters to The Times, including one from a writer who bemoans the fact that Capablanca and Alekhine’s play is not as blessed with genius as Zukertort’s when in his heyday, at the London tournament of 1883.  Clearly, Flaubert missed a trick by not including MODERN CHESS as an entry in his Dictionary of Received Ideas: Thunder against it!
Overall, International Chess Congress, London 1922 is an excellent, substantial record of an important tournament.
Botvinnik - Smyslov
 Three World Chess Championship Matches: 1954, 1957, 1958
 By Mikhail Botvinnik
 Translated by Steve Giddins
 New In Chess, July 2009
 ISBN: 978-9056912710
A book that does exactly what it says on the cover; it presents all the games from the three world championship matches that Botvinnik and Smyslov contested in the 1950s.  The first match, in 1954, ended all square at 12 points apiece, so Botvinnik retained the title.  Smyslov won by a margin of three points in 1957, but Botvinnik as ousted title-holder exercised his right (according to the rules in force at the time) to a return match.  This duly took place a year later and was won by Botvinnik, with Smyslov trailing two points behind.  So Botvinnik regained the world championship and saw off Smyslov’s challenge for good.
There are 69 games here, all told, and overall the score is 35-34 in Smyslov’s favour.  It seems therefore a little unfair that he reigned as world champion for just one year!
All of the games are genuine struggles, except for three: the 19th, 21st and 22nd games of the 1957 match (these were all       
drawn in 15 moves or less).  In the Foreword, Smyslov writes of his great rival that ‘whilst we had differing views on certain aspects of chess, we both looked on the game not merely as a sporting competition, but also as an art, and tried at the board to create finished works of art’.  And indeed many of the games are masterpieces.
Botvinnik annotates all the games of the 1954 and 1958 matches, and some games of the 1957 match.  His annotations are pretty much top-notch: self-critical, appreciative of his opponent, logical and perspicuous and instructive.  Other games from the 1957 match have annotations by Smyslov, Ragozin and others.  Steve Giddins’ translation is smooth and clear.  
Also included in the book is some opening analysis from Botvinnik’s notebooks of 1957 and 1958, and a ‘plan of preparation’ for the 1957 match.  These notebook excerpts are laced with judgements of others’ games and ideas, as well as self-critical comments, and included here (on page 177) is the faulty analysis that eventually emerged in Botvinnik-Fischer, Varna 1962 (where Botvinnik’s play was refuted by Fischer’s 17…Qxf4!).
World-class games, annotated on the whole by one of the chess greats, important            
background documents … it is difficult to see how this book could be improved.  As far as chess literature is concerned, it must be called a classic.
Chess Secrets: The Giants of Power Play
 By Neil McDonald
 Everyman Chess, September 2009
 ISBN: 9781857445978

This is another impressive work by Neil McDonald, brimming with all of his love and enthusiasm for the game.  In a way, the Chess Secrets series from Everyman Chess is midway between a textbook, albeit a somewhat free-ranging one, and a player’s (or rather players’) games collection.  Here, we have a slue of ‘power play’ stars on the same bill: 88 games from the likes of Morphy, Alekhine, Bronstein, Geller and, the baby of the bunch and the current world number two, Topalov.  A festival line-up to vie with the best, you’ll surely agree.
McDonald adds value to this line-up by noting affinities between these five great players, drawing out common themes that arise in their games (e.g. the use of the queen in attack) and noting points of influence (for example, ‘In the footsteps of Morphy‘ is the title given to Bronstein’s famous game versus Rojahn at the Moscow Olympiad, 1956).
The chief characteristic of the ‘power play’ style is dynamism, coupled with a wily use of psychology and a willingness to take risks.  It leads to games where tactics and creativity often predominate; as McDonald puts it, this style ‘is full of profound, unexpected ideas and stresses the human side of the game’.  That there’s a fuzzy demarcation point between a ‘power play’ style and an attacking style of play should be self-evident; and the three players who feature in the Great Attackers title in this       
series (written by Colin Crouch) could probably appear here too.
Along with many classic games, and quite a number of lesser-known gems, there’s the surprising, ‘you have no right to expect this’ content that McDonald always seems to deliver.

With this in mind, let me draw your attention, in particular, to the essay on the Morphy-Harrwitz match of 1858, in the chapter dealing with the psychological aspects of preparation; it takes up all of pages 191-199.  Morphy lost the opening two games of that match, but he had the nous to tailor his play in later games so as to accentuate his own strengths, whilst also exposing his opponent’s shortcomings.  Or, at any rate, making Harrwitz feel very uncomfortable indeed.  McDonald annotates the first four games of the match and he shows how Morphy turned around 0-2 to 2-2, and eventually got to 5-2 with one draw, which is how the match ended when Harrwitz threw in the towel.  Perhaps Fischer, in part, had this debacle against Harrwitz in mind when he wrote that ‘in a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today’.
In the same chapter, McDonald gives a fascinating account of how Alekhine beat Capablanca in the 1927 World Championship match, at a time when the latter was considered to be invincible.  Incidentally, Fischer was less enamoured of the fourth World Chess Champion, the only other player here who made his top ten.  Fischer’s appraisal of Alekhine is amusing, overall, and I’ve always relished the remark that ‘it is hard to find mistakes in his game, but in a      
sense his whole method of play was a mistake.’  Fischer displays a visceral repulsion here, almost, to Alekhine’s approach to chess.

Chess Secrets: The Giants of Power Play ably merits an enthusiastic thumbs-up.  You only have to look at the quintet of players on show to know that you are going to be royally entertained, and Neil McDonald’s writing is engaging and accessible yet has real substance too.  One neat, snazzy characteristic he has, as Master of Ceremonies: all the points he makes in the text are validated and complemented by the selected games.
The Ruy Lopez Revisited
 Offbeat Weapons & Unexplored Resources
 By Ivan Sokolov
 New In Chess, 2009
 ISBN: 978-9056912970
In this book, Sokolov examines six defences to the Ruy Lopez, all except one involving a third move that isn’t 3…a6.  So there is a deviation from the main lines at the earliest possible opportunity; you don’t even have to know the Exchange Variation (3…a6 4.Bxc6) to play most of these beauties.
The defences examined are the Jaenisch Gambit (3…f5), the Cozio Variation (3…Nge7), the Smyslov Variation (3…g6), Bird’s Defence (3…Nd4) and the Classical Variation (3…Bc5).  There is also the exception noted above, namely the Delayed Jaenisch Gambit (3…a6 4.Ba4 f5), and Sokolov begins his analysis of this line from the position following these moves, which is another way of saying that he doesn’t himself recommend a line versus 4.Bxc6; you’ll have to look elsewhere for that.
Note that Sokolov doesn’t consider 3…Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4: the ‘Berlin Wall’ has ceased to be a sideline.  He does, however, look at the move order 3…Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 in his treatment of the Classical Variation.
Throughout, Sokolov’s analysis is thorough, rigorous and frequently original; he suggests many improvements on previous play.  His evaluations strike one as reliable and trustworthy and objective.  Here is a quick and dirty survey of his conclusions:
The Delayed Jaenisch Gambit is a basket case.  If you want to write a suicide note to your opponent, play it.  Otherwise, avoid like the plague.
The Cozio Variation doesn’t equalise; Black winds up in a passive position and White gets a small but enduring advantage.  Yet Larsen has played it often in the past, and it’s always tempting to follow in the footsteps of a great player…
The Classical Variation should give White a slight edge, but several double-edged possibilities exist for Black.  It is a good practical try.
The Smyslov Variation is solid and sound, and is a good way of reaching the Steinitz Deferred (4.c3 a6 5.Ba4 d6 6.d4 Bd7, etc.).  Sokolov highlights 4.d4 exd4 5.c3!? as a gambit worthy of attention (5.Bg5 is usual).
The Jaenisch Gambit is aggressive and stands up to scrutiny.  It hits.
The Bird’s Defence is another thumbs-up; it too is aggressive, leads to complicated positions and is well worth trying.

 One admirable thing about Sokolov as an analyst is that he doesn’t pretend all is rosy when it’s not; he gives a warts-and-all assessment of each defence, and then leaves it up to you to decide whether to adopt a particular, maybe risky line.  Bearing in mind that if you are well-prepared, it will stand you in good stead; and see in this regard Lautier’s quote on page 5 and Sokolov’s comment on ‘another logic’ on page 79.  But only gamble with the Delayed Jaenisch Gambit if you like to play Russian roulette!
A further thing that Sokolov has going for him is that he has played all of these, except for the Delayed Jaenisch Gambit, and so has experience of handling them in practical play.  On my understanding, though, he currently plays only the Jaenisch (e.g. he used it against Adams and Jones in the Staunton      
Memorial, 2009) and the Bird’s (there’s a 2009 game of his versus Efimenko here as well) which tells you something.  These are the ones to go for if you’re looking to win with Black.
The Ruy Lopez Revisited is a high-class opening book which cannot really be faulted.  Primarily, of course, it is intended for Black players who meet the Ruy Lopez.  If you fit into this category, it will give you about four defences, all somewhat different in character, which should yield winning chances against a less well prepared opponent.  If you play the Ruy Lopez yourself you will, naturally, find much of value in the book too.  To get an edge against these defences, White must know what he or she is doing.
The New Sicilian Dragon
By Simon Williams
Everyman Chess, June 2009
ISBN 9781857446159
In this book Simon Williams presents a defence to 1.e4 based on what he calls the 'Dragadorf', a Dragon/Najdorf hybrid that was used by Botvinnik and Reshevsky in the past. Among its current adherents are various British GMs (Chris Ward, Gawain Jones, Williams himself), as well as such free spirits as the American GM Sergey Kudrin. Black will fianchetto his king's bishop as in the normal Dragon (and to be clear it should be said that Williams begins his book from the position arising after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6) but he will follow up with a speedy queenside expansion by ...a6 and ...b5.
One promising plan for White is to play a speedy Bh6 in response, for example: 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Bc4! Nbd7 9.Qd2 b5 10.Bb3 Bb7 11.Bh6! as in Stein-Veresov, 1963. This is game 2 in the book and White won in 42 moves; the punctuation is Williams' own, by the way. Or White can go 8.Qd2 (instead of 8.Bc4 as played by Stein) Nbd7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Bh6, a line covered in the whole of chapter 3.
The refinement of delaying the move …Bf8-g7, thereby saving a tempo should White play Bh6 or making this move innocuous, naturally suggests itself. And Williams covers this possibility, which he christens the Accelerated Dragadorf, in chapter 5. One player who




treats the line this way, incidentally, is Kudrin; there are a couple of his games in this chapter, and 3 in the book overall.
Most of the book concerns itself with the Dragadorf versus the Yugoslav plan of 6.Be3 followed by f3 and Qd2, etc. (chapters 1-4), but later chapters (6 and 7) cover the Classical (6.Be2), the Levenfish (6.f4), the Fianchetto (6.g3) and various odds and ends. Against almost all of these latter systems, Williams is able to make the Dragadorf policy of a swift …a6 and …b5 work. A mosaic of 62 annotated games (4 of them the author’s own) forms the picture; it is all quite comprehensive. All in all, the Dragadorf pretty much holds its own, though it is sorely tested at certain points.
As a writer, Williams’ prose is engaging and conversational, but he can be rigorous and methodical when needed. He begins each chapter by outlining the plans available to Black and then summarises the key findings at the end. And naturally there are pointers to correct play in the notes to the games too; all very helpful and useful.
Indeed, I for one cannot really find fault with Williams' pioneering work. If you are looking for a Sicilian line that is dynamic and fluid yet still offers plenty of scope for independent research and innovation, The New Sicilian Dragon is prescribed.
The Scotch Game for White
By Vladimir Barsky
Chess Stars, December 2009
ISBN-13: 978-9548782739
Those who don’t have the time or the energy to learn all there is to know about the Ruy Lopez (and who does?) might wish to turn their attention toward the Scotch Game.
The Scotch Game (arising after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4) offers White many advantages: a natural development of his forces, an early spatial superiority and greater central control. Before Kasparov employed the opening, most authorities (such as, for example, Paul Keres) held that 3.d4 opened up the position too early, needlessly dissipating the tension; 3.Bb5 was much the preferred move. But take a look at some of the players who have adopted the Scotch in recent years: Ivanchuk, Radjabov, Morozevich and – the latest recruit, under Kasparov’s tutelage –     
Carlsen. Not the kind of customers who’d readily seek out a simple position, gladly settle for a draw or play an innocuous opening. It is only because the Scotch, while solid, has a real drop of poison that such super-GMs choose to play it.
Just study Vladimir Barsky’s excellent book and you will be sure to agree with this assessment. There is full, comprehensive coverage of Black’s options and against the main one (4 … Nf6) the author gives three lines:
· Mieses’ 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5, very much favoured by Kasparov
· 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 d5 7.e5, a sharp line involving a pawn sacrifice
· And finally 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 d5 7.0-0, with a slightly better endgame for White in prospect
Don’t be surprised, incidentally, if Soloviov’s 12.Nxg7! (on page 68) leads to the permanent abandonment of Steinitz’s 4 … Qh4. Gutman’s magisterial 4 … Qh4 in the      
Scotch (2001) makes no mention of this move (see page 239 of that book), and it seems a genuinely significant discovery.
The Scotch Game for White is a good, solid survey of an opening that has been played at the highest level but is still underestimated.
Find the Right Plan with Anatoly Karpov
By Anatoly Karpov and Anatoly Matsukevich
Translated by Sarah Hurst
Batsford, March 2010
ISBN: 9-781-9063-8868-3
In this book, the authors address two related questions: ‘How should you evaluate a position?’ and ‘How should you form and implement a plan?’

The first chapter surveys the development of thinking on chess strategy and planning up until the contribution of Steinitz, yet no further. Although Steinitz’s games and writings were clearly the key event, they were hardly the terminus. There are plenty of modern as well as classic games throughout the book, including a few from Nimzowitsch (e.g. on pages 226-229). Who was he?

Chapter two then gives seven ‘reference points’ or touchstones crucial to evaluating    
any chess position, factors such as pawn structure, the presence of open lines, the centre and space, etc. The authors then apply these factors to about 10 positions, the two most recent taken from the Kramnik-Leko world championship match in 2004. This makes for some instructive examples of strategic thinking in action.

Later chapters examine each ‘reference point’ in turn and in more detail, with the seventh and last chapter, ‘The most important law of chess’, being the most substantial (111 pages!) and the best. The law in question is an imperative: Restrict the mobility of your opponent’s pieces. There are 72 studies for solving in this chapter, all based around the notions of domination and restriction: a tough and demanding but rewarding course.

Though lacking the depth of Dvoretsky’s various works and indeed John Watson’s Secrets of Chess Strategy (2004), this book     
does achieve pretty much what it says on the cover: it will show you how to evaluate a position correctly and help you to decide on the right plan to follow. It is also an enjoyable and instructive read, if sometimes a little superficial.
Chicago 1926 and Lake Hopatcong 1926 Chess Tournaments
By Robert Sherwood
Edited by Dale Brandreth
Caissa Editions, 2009
ISBN: 0939433680

This terrific book tells the tale of two tournaments.
Lake Hopatcong took place in July and it was won by Capablanca in comfortable fashion. He was in the lead after the second round and never faltered. As the then world champion exited stage right, the remaining competitors – Kupchik, Maroczy, Marshall and Edward Lasker – trooped (or perhaps better, ‘trouped’) towards the windy city. There is no evidence that they performed The Comedy of Errors en route mind.
In the absence of a dominating figure, Chicago was a quite different tournament. It sported a larger field (thirteen players in total) and was a much more closely contested affair. Maroczy led for most of it, but he was overtaken by Torre towards the end; and then Marshall, always in the reckoning, pipped them both to the post. The final standings were Marshall 8.5, Maroczy and Torre 8, etc.
About fifteen (by my reckoning) games from the Chicago tournament have incomplete scores, but only four are severely effected.    
By ‘severely effected’ I mean that we are given the opening moves only, so that whatever character the game later assumed has been lost.
Capablanca was in good form at Lake Hopatcong and played some fine, even classic games but it is the minor skirmishes (such as the astounding, not to say crazy combination inaugurated by 26.Rxh7 in Fink-Kupchik: who was this guy by name of Fink? ) and the marginal stories that the book really comes alive.
Maroczy got the better of Marshall at Lake Hopatcong (1.5 out of 2, each competitor playing the other twice there) but at Chicago Marshall got his revenge in a very fine game indeed. The contrast between Marshall’s pugnacious approach and Maroczy’s classy technique (seen to best advantage in the wins versus Banks, Kashdan and Factor at Chicago) made for some interesting clashes of style.
Another fascinating contrast is seen when we consider Torre and Kashdan, who were by a sizable margin the youngest players competing at Chicago. Both men were twenty years of age, and in fact were born within four days of each other. Torre’s career came to a virtual end with this tournament, despite his immense talent. Whereas Kashdan went on to enjoy a distinguished career, performing well in international           
tournaments and helping the USA to several Olympiad wins. Before Reshevsky and Fine got good, he was the leading American player. Fate can be both cruel and kind.
Sherwood’s annotations are excellent: perspicacious and fully detailed and not fooled or cowed by reputation. His notes to the round twelve encounter between Capablanca and Edward Lasker is a case in point in this regard: he tells it like it is. Above all, his notes possess or approach objectivity, which is what one wants most of all. There is an immensely rich amount of material for study here, both in the games and in Sherwood’s notes.
For the rest, this is a hardback of sturdy red cloth, attractively produced, with plenty of diagrams throughout, often three or four to a page. It is a magic carpet of a book.
Developing Chess Talent
By Karel van Delft and Merijn van Delft
Foreword by Artur Yusupov
KVDC, 2010
ISBN: 9789079760022

There are three main strands to this rich and rewarding book.
First of all, ‘Coaching’, a section concerned with such issues as goal-setting (here the SMART acronym was present in substance, if not in letter), the creation of a meaningful training programme and the development of cognitive skills and aptitudes such as concentration, creativity and thinking in general. Naturally, there is also a metacognitive aspect to all of this, concerned with how you manage your thinking during a game or, indeed, your own study and training. And this too was addressed.
The second section, ‘Training’, was very much focused on the nuts and bolts of any particular training plan. It covered the content of what was to be taught (strategy, the endgame, etc.), the method through which it was to be delivered (e.g. a game quiz along the lines of ‘How Good is Your Chess?’), the tools and resources to be used and much else. Fundamental questions such as how long a training session should last, and how frequently such sessions should occur, were also explored. This was another very thorough presentation.
The final substantive section of the book was ‘Organization and Communication’, and at first sight it seems rather set apart from the other






two. But there is undoubtedly a connection: if you develop the talents of young chess players, you need also to create arenas in which they can compete and shine. Without a vibrant chess culture, it all becomes a rather marginal enterprise. The authors, together with Cees Visser, established the SBSA (in English, the 'Foundation for the Promotion of Chess in Apeldoorn') in 1998; and it is a very successful chess organisation. Some of the questions addressed in this section were: What should you do to attract sponsors? How do you organise events such as tournaments and chess festivals? What is the best way to communicate with the media and with your core audience, i.e. chessplayers?
Following these three main strands, which together make up the bulk of the book, there are five interviews, the interviewees including Bronstein and Timman, and a set of appendices. Some of these appendices, such as the ‘list of psychological tips’ (in a question and answer format), were quite as interesting as the main body of the book. There is an ‘analysis questionnaire’ here, consisting of some 56 (!) self-evaluative questions to ask yourself after every game.
The King's Indian: A Complete Black Repertoire
By Victor Bologan
Chess Stars, June 2009
ISBN-13: 978-9548782715

In his introduction Bologan describes the King's Indian Defence as ‘probably the most romantic response to 1.d4’ and when one considers the legacy of great games played with the opening, and the roll call of great players who have championed it (Fischer, Kasparov, Bronstein, Geller, Stein…), this characterisation can hardly be challenged. Bologan looks at the opening from Black’s viewpoint and his survey is focused yet thorough.

The main emphasis is on White’s principal systems:
· Averbakh’s Variation: against which Bologan recommends 6…h6 7.Be3 c5 and 6…Na6, Glek’s relatively recent invention.
· The Samisch Attack: where the pawn sacrifice 5…0-0 6.Be3 c5 gets the nod from Bologan, and naturally the alternatives 6.Bg5 and 6.Nge2 are covered too.
· The Fianchetto System: here Bologan plumbs for Panno’s 6…Nc6.
· The Four Pawns Attack & The Classical Variation: against both of which Bologan pretty much follows the mainlines.

And other more minor lines (e.g. Smyslov’s system with an early Bg5, 5.Bd3 and Makagonov’s 5.h3) are adequately covered too.
According to Bologan’s vision, the King's Indian is a dynamic, counter-attacking opening that is yet fundamentally sound. In this, he has been heavily influenced by Zigurds Lanka, his long-time coach; and the book is, appropriately enough, dedicated to Lanka. Bologan concedes that certain lines remain problematical and that his book ‘does not contain all the answers to every question.’ Even so, he trusts in the resources at Black’s disposal.
Bologan’s discussions of the various lines give valuable insights into the nature of the King's Indian and his assessments are authoritative. This fine book gives comprehensive coverage of an opening that approaches the status of a creation myth.
A supplement to the book, covering the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0–0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.exd5, can be downloaded from this webpage:
http://www.chess-stars.com.

New In Chess: The First 25 Years
Edited by Steve Giddins
New In Chess, 2009
ISBN: 9789056912963

An impressive sample of writings from New in Chess, without question the world’s best chess magazine.
The selection covers the magazine’s first quarter century (1984-2009) and it includes interviews with many of the most prominent players of the period: Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, Anand, Toplalov and Morozevich among them. There are interviews too with some of the greats of the game: Bronstein and Botvinnik, Spassky and Fischer (on the occasion of his comeback match in 1992). The interviews are invariably conducted by the perceptive Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam. Of the other articles, two of my favourites were Sosonko’s memoir of Mikhail Tal, ‘My Misha’, (collected also in his Russian Silhouettes) and Timman’s memoir of Tony Miles. Sosonko’s obituary of Miles is not           
included here, but it can be found in his The Reliable Past.
Perhaps there might have been more annotated games, since these have always been a staple of the magazine, but what there is here is of the highest quality: Nunn’s annotations to his best game, the win versus Beliavsky at Wijk aan Zee 1985; Kasparov-Topalov Wijk aan Zee 1999, maybe the best game of chess ever played, annotated by Dokhoian, Kasparov’s second; and the Ivanchuk-Shirov game where the astounding move 21.Qg7!! was played, the queen moving to a vacant square to sacrifice herself. A highly unusual kind of move.
Timman's article on Magnus Carlsen's endgame technique is the best 'purely chess' article, among the tournament reports (one by Miles) and the historical articles about chess personalities. As one would expect from Timman, his article is insightful, incisive and instructive.
All in all, this is an excellent showcase of New in Chess magazine and an entertaining volume in its own right.
Studying Chess Made Easy
By Andrew Soltis
Batsford, April 2010
ISBN: 9-781-9063-8867-6

For ambitious club players especially, this is an invaluable book.

Soltis sets out to answer the question, 'How can you best and most effectively study chess?' He devotes some chapters to specific topics such as how to approach the opening and the endgame; how to learn from master games; how best to go about improving your calculation of variations and, of course, acquiring the concomitant skill of accurately evaluating the various visualised position(s). Also, he addresses issues around just choosing a move, which one would have thought would be quite simple… though it rarely is.

It is the more general chapters that are the most interesting though, as these reveal the author’s pedagogical approach. He believes that learning is best when it is hands-on (practical and involving     
play and competition in some form); and that to be effective it must be involving: fun and fascinating for the learner. It is in the nature of chess, according to Soltis, that most learning must take place independently and that information is often absorbed subliminally. On reflection, this is hardly surprising, since any one aspect of chess will necessarily touch on others.

There are many practical suggestions throughout the book, ideas for things to do (methods and procedures) that will certainly make you a better player. Some are quite obvious and you may have done them or something similar already, while others you’ll have wished you had thought of before.

Studying Chess Made Easy is a very interesting book, written in Soltis’s characteristically engaging and accessible prose. If you are at all serious about improving your game, you're sure to find it useful.
Mastering Positional Chess
By Daniel Naroditsky
New In Chess, 2010
ISBN: 9789056913106

It seems that chess authors, like police officers and prime ministers, are becoming younger: Daniel Naroditsky is just 14. He has already achieved much in the game, though, winning the world junior championship in 2007. With this book, Naroditsky shows himself to be an accomplished author: his prose is engaging and insightful and enjoyable to read too.

The best way to describe the book, perhaps, is to say that it is as though Daniel were explaining to a friend (you, the reader) what he has learned most about positional play, the lessons that he has truly taken to heart. That is the predominant feeling: a generous and unpatronising sharing of knowledge.

 
There are six chapters and the topics covered are prophylaxis (our old friend), defending inferior positions, building and dismantling fortresses, the positional sacrifice, manoeuvring and ‘paralysis in the middlegame’. By this last topic Naroditsky apparently means zugzwang, but also bind play: the restraint and suffocation of opportunity. Prophylaxis with teeth, you might say.

Each chapter ends with a summary of its key points, including plenty of practical advice, and there are also a few exercises following to keep your grey matter ticking over. We are given a good number of mainly modern games and positions, rather than the usual tired examples (or classics as they are sometimes called), with a fair number of them Daniel’s own. As you might imagine, Naroditsky’s annotations are especially candid and lucid when he comes to commentate on his own games.
 
All told, this is an instructional work of astonishing maturity and insight and it is certain to increase your understanding of positional play.
Isaac Kashdan, American Chess Grandmaster
A Career Summary with 757 Games
By Peter P. Lahde
McFarland, 2009
ISBN: 9780786432967

This brobdingnagian book, measuring about 18cm by 26cm and bound in sturdy green cloth, is a fitting monument to Isaac Kashdan (1905-1985), one of the greats of American chess.

The first part of the book gives a detailed outline of Kashdan’s career, and it is clear that he was at his very peak during the 1930s. Between 1931 and 1933 he met Alekhine seven times in serious competition, this at a time when the then world champion was virtually irresistible. Kashdan, for the most part, resisted; he lost only once, at Pasadena 1932, the rest of the games being drawn. That the United States came first at the Olympiads held at Prague 1931, Folkestone 1933 and Stockholm 1937 is due in no small measure to Kashdan. His percentage scores for these three events look mightily impressive even now; respectively he scored 70.6 %, 71.4% and 87.5% (!).

After retiring from active play, Kashdan continued to be involved in chess. He directed the Piatigorsky Cup tournaments held in 1963 and 1966, and he edited the two very fine books dedicated to these          
events. Later, he ran the Lone Pine tournaments from 1971 to 1981, and he found time in between all this to write a regular chess column, as well as reporting on the Spassky-Fischer match in 1972.

As for the games, they reveal Kashdan to be a player with an attractive positional style, excellent endgame technique and an eye for a combination as and when needs be (as his beautiful win versus Stahlberg at Hamburg 1930 makes plain). A fair number of the games are annotated by Kashdan, and one can learn much from his pragmatic and methodical approach to the game.

There are, to my mind, errors in the scores of two of the games:

· Flohr’s queen is en prise in the final position of game 219, because he actually played 32…Qd7, rather than 32…Nf5 as given.

· Game 246 is a Kashdan-Marshall game that I wasn’t able to locate in any online database. However, it asks you to believe that Marshall would place a rook en prise (29…Ra8) and that Kashdan would decline to take it. My suggestion is that 29.Rac5 was played, instead of 29.Rcc5 as given.

Finally, a significant error in annotation: in game 200, the note to Black’s 68th move should actually follow Black’s 70th move. It makes no sense otherwise! Quite a significant game, this one (versus Alekhine at
Bled 1931); and Kashdan should definitely have won it.

But do not let these three nitpicking excursions lead you to doubt the stature of the author’s achievement. In such a vast undertaking, some few errors will naturally creep in. My main impulse is simply to admire. What a wonderful book! Thank you, Mr. Lahde.

How to Win at Chess - Quickly!
By Simon Williams
Everyman Chess, May 2010
ISBN: 9781857446319

There is a double (or a triple) virtue to be found in Simon Williams’ latest offering.
In the palm of the first hand, we are given lots of advice about how to bring about jildy victories in our own games and, equally importantly, how not to fall victim to a blitzkrieg ourselves. Some of the sins covered by Williams are neglect of development, rash pawn-grabbing and failure to take account of the opponent’s plans. While he advises that you are more likely to deliver an early KO if you play actively, sharply and with purpose, and make use of the odd gambit (chapter 4 is, in fact, entitled ‘Gambit Play’). And the morals at the end of each game, pithy homilies to take to heart, are an attractive feature of the book.
Now to address virtue number two: in the palm of the other hand, we have the games themselves. Of the 50 miniature games given        
here, virtually all were modern examples and very few were known to me. Their number included 11 of Williams’ own games, incidentally, and he wasn’t always on the winning side. The best thing about miniature games is that, almost by their very nature, they involve tactics and combinations in some form. Opponents don’t generally resign on move 24 because they’re a pawn down. In this regard, all the games were enjoyable and entertaining to play through, and there were some real beauties, with game 16, Adorjan-Kudrin New York 1987, being the best of the bunch for me. Though we are given only half the number as in P.H. Clarke’s classic collection (100 Soviet Chess Miniatures), the games and annotations are of a commensurate quality.
How to Win at Chess - Quickly! is a book that manages to instruct and delight in equal measure and, if you must have a third reason to seek out and read the book, let me give it to you. It is that, as a writer, Williams has a prose style that is bright and engaging, conversational and sonsy, and duly appreciative too of the chess riches that he places before his readers.
 
Frank Marshall, United States Chess Champion
A Biography with 220 Games
By Andy Soltis
McFarland, 1993
ISBN 978-0-89950-887-0

This is one of Soltis’s finest books – and that is saying quite something.
The biographical component of the book is almost wholly taken up with Marshall’s chess career, which spanned close to half a century, from the late nineteenth century to the early 1940s. On reflection, this emphasis seems quite apt; for chess was so much a part of the man’s life.
During Marshall’s career, he competed with success in international tournaments, almost always appearing amongst the prize-winners. His fifth place at St. Petersburg 1914 led to him (along with the other four finalists) being described as a ‘grandmaster’, the first time the title was used. So he was a founding member of the club as far as chess’s greatest honour is concerned.
n matches, he certainly won way more than he lost, but it has to be said that when he came up against significant opposition he was often convincingly defeated. Tarrasch slaughtered him in 1905, Lasker smashed his head in in the 1907 World Championship match and Capablanca took no prisoners in their 1909 debacle.
As against this, one should note that when the USA team ran rampant at the Olympiads in the 1930s (picking up gold medals at Prague 1931, Folkestone 1933, Warsaw 1933 and Stockholm 1937) it was Marshall who held the position of captain; it was he who steered the ship of state home toward victory.
 
There are some terrific games here and Soltis’s annotations are never less than entertaining and insightful. We are shown a supremely practical player who was always combative and who could find resources in positions that most others would have given up as lost (hence his reputation as a swindler). While tactics were evidently Marshall’s forte, he was also a fine endgame player as (e.g.) his game against Teichmann at San Sebastian 1911 (game 109) makes plain.
Although often found to be wanting against the very best - as the three match defeats highlighted above indicate - Marshall set off a lot of fireworks on the chessboard. His faults - he speculated too much, many of his attacks were not quite completely sound – were noble ones. And on his day he could be devastating, no matter the strength of the opposition, and the victory over Tarrasch at St. Petersburg 1914 (game 132) is very lovely indeed.
Marshall lost to Capablanca in 1918, in the game where he essayed his famous gambit against the Ruy Lopez, but many of us will be grateful that he took the risk. He put a scare into the Cuban, that’s for sure, and the gambit (Marshall’s greatest achievement in the openings) is doing good business even today.

The book could have done with an index of games or players, or a fuller index (the name ‘Levitsky’ is absent, which is unforgivable: that famous game, played at Breslau 1912, is number 121) but other than that it is beyond criticism.
I Play Against Pieces
By Svetozar Gligoric
Translated by Biljana and Zoran Ilic
Batsford, 2002
ISBN: 9-780-7134-8770-1

Not just another games collection, by any means, since Gligoric was such a classy and forceful positional player in his prime, and his star continued to shine bright thereafter.

This book collects together some 130 of his best games, arranged by opening, and it wouldn’t be surprising to find another 130 of his games of a commensurate quality. For Gligoric has been a prolific player and a very successful one; and certainly he is the best Yugoslavian (and Serbian) player of all time.

Most of the games are long positional affairs, culminating in an ending rather than a direct attack on the king. Typically, the material balance will be equal (or as near as damn it)  
all the way through, and the opponent will have made no gross errors, yet Gligoric’s powerful positional play will carry the day. Such games (one unassuming example is game 41, versus Filip at Zagreb 1965) are as impressive in their way as games full of spectacular combinations and sacrifices. They are extremely instructive as well.

The import of the title, incidentally, is that Gligoric was primarily interested in the logic of the game of chess rather than the psychology of the opponent. He played the board, and the pieces, rather than the man. Undoubtedly, he was a sportsman as well as one of the leading grandmasters of his era.

With this fine book, which includes as well a ‘chess autobiography’ (sketchy but intriguing, it reads sometimes like a CV) and an account of some of Gligoric’s contributions to opening theory (and, in particular, to the theory of his beloved King’s Indian Defence)  
we have a fitting monument to his considerable achievements.
Carlsbad International Chess Tournament 1929
By Aron Nimzovich
Translated by Jim Marfia
Dover Publications, 2004
ISBN-13: 978-0486439426

Nimzowitsch (I prefer this spelling) took first place at Carlsbad 1929, ahead of a strong field that included Capablanca and Rubinstein, but it did not earn him a shot at the World Championship. Instead, Alekhine’s challenger later that year was Bogoljubow, who came eighth at Carlsbad, some 3.5 points behind the winner. This clearly rankled with Nimzowitsch, and it undoubtedly provided one of the motives for writing the book under review, which was originally published in Russia in 1931; in it, he makes quite a forceful pitch for being the most deserving challenger to Alekhine’s crown.

It should be noted also that Nimzowitsch beat Bogoljubow at Carlsbad, their encounter yielding a fine strategic victory that shared the prize for the best played game (Euwe’s flawed win against Thomas was the other game, incidentally: see below). If anything, this must have added petrol to the fire, rubbed salt into the wounds… choose your metaphor. He was not a happy bunny.

Of the 231 games played at Carlsbad , Nimzowitsch has selected 30 and arranged them by player. One would have liked to see more, but the games as given are top-notch. Nimzowitsch, as the winner, has 7 games; Capablanca and Spielmann, equal second, have 5 games apiece; Rubinstein, who finished in fourth place, has been given 3       
games; the other prizewinners have 6 games between them; and, to end, there are 4 games to represent the non-prizewinners (those placed ninth to twenty-second). Among this last quartet of games is a win by Samisch (against Grunfeld) which picked up the First Brilliancy Prize.

Nimzowitsch’s annotations are lively and entertaining, appreciative and instructive; yet also abrasive at times. And it seems appropriate at this point to praise Jim Marfia’s terrific translation, which manages to bring the author’s personality fully to life.

In his notes to the aforementioned Thomas–Euwe game, Nimzowitsch overlooks that after 22.Qxa2 axb3 White has the resource 23.Rxc5! turning the tables (see page 123). But this looks to be his only error in analysis. The move is mentioned by Euwe himself, incidentally, in From My Games 1920-1937 and so is not a ‘find’. Few would consider Euwe’s effort one of the two best played games in the tournament, anyway: Capablanca-Treybal, for one, was a much better game, pretty much a masterpiece.

One especially fascinating feature of the book lies in Nimzowitsch’s impressions of his contemporaries. His introductory remarks in the chapter on Rubinstein are heartfelt and genuinely moving, and bear comparison with Reti’s portrait of the same player in Modern Ideas in Chess. While his description of Vidmar’s style, a player for whom he apparently had a high regard, is insightful and eye-opening (see pages 108 and 111-112). He describes Vidmar’s chess as a blend of method and naiveté. Spielmann had publicly expressed his admiration for My         
System and Nimzowitsch writes of this established master and colleague almost as though he were his student. That is to say, he is just a little bit patronising. There is a sense, also, in which Nimzowitsch
seems to feel almost as though he can appropriate some of Spielmann’s victories as his own, because they were achieved using his ideas (prophylaxis, blockade, centralization). Granted, the man wanted to promote his strategic vision of chess, but this was maybe the wrong way to go about it. Anyway, it is easy to see how Nimzowitsch could rub people the wrong way!

Anything by Nimzowitsch is worth reading and, as I hope I’ve made plain, this is a fascinating book for all sorts of reasons.

Learn Chess Quick
By Brian Byfield and Alan Orpin
Illustrated by Gray Jolliffe
Batsford, March 2010
ISBN: 9781906388669

This is a clear and straightforward and often times witty introduction to the game of chess.

It is written for adults, though the cover and general appearance of the book might suggest otherwise. Certain allusions in the simplified and highly readable text (which might also be seen as misleading, with regard to the book’s intended readership) and certain of Gray Jolliffe’s illustrations make this clear.

In one cartoon a suitor appeals to a maiden: ‘I may not be a pawn forever – I could become a knight.’ The maiden, evidently unimpressed, replies: ‘Or a queen.’ A child may not quite get this joke. Again, there is a  
cartoon in the chapter on checkmate where a naked king is chained in a dungeon and at the mercy of a dominatrix with a whip (his speech bubble: ‘I like this game. It’s dangerous.’). And this cartoon, too, may not be easily appreciated by a child.

We are told how the pieces move and capture, what check and checkmate and stalemate are, how to write out the moves in algebraic notation (but not in descriptive, that’s apparently gone by the wayside); pretty much all the basics. There is a clear and careful explanation of the en passant rule. Some simple tactics (the fork, discovered check, double attack, etc.) are covered too, together with a few simple openings and tactical puzzles. Nothing too complicated, mind.

For someone who simply wants to learn the rules of chess and get a grasp of what the game is all about, this is a fun and relatively painless first port of call. When someone        
(but a grown-up!) asks you for an easy and simple guide to chess, this is one book to recommend.


This is not a chess textbook as such, though it would undoubtedly be useful to an individual wanting to seriously and systematically improve his or her game. I would recommend Developing Chess Talent especially to chess coaches and teachers and to all involved in junior chess; and to anyone involved in an organisation that promotes chess. Though much of the material is specific to the SBSA, it could easily be adapted I feel. Indeed, the Manchester Chess Federation itself could well find the book useful.

More details about Developing Chess Talent, including a chapter excerpt, can be found at the following website:

http://www.chesstalent.com

 

#Book page 2 Page 2