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BCM Chess Book Reviews : July 2000

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Kramnik: My Life and Games by Vladimir Kramnik and Iakov Damsky, Everyman, 272 pages, £17.99.Kramnik: My Life and Games

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The obvious books to compare this one with are Bobby Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games and Garry Kasparov’s The Test of Time. Each of these books is a work by an absolutely outstanding player, covering his career to his early or mid twenties. Indeed, it can come as something as a shock that Kramnik, born in June 1975, is still so young, since he has been around at élite level for so long. In 1992 he was catapulted into the Russian olympiad team at the age of sixteen, and scored an astonishing 8½/9. Even so, many were inclined to take it as disrespectful to such talented players as Anand, Shirov, Ivanchuk and Kamsky that Kasparov announced Kramnik as his probable successor to the world’s top spot, but a few years on, it looks as though Kasparov has judged correctly. It is of course a scandal that Kasparov never kept to his promise of a match against Shirov (Kramnik’s book gives the basic background), but nevertheless it is only Kramnik who could go into a match against Kasparov without being a clear underdog. Whatever one’s thoughts about the official status of the match in London later this year, it should be a cracker.

In his book, Kramnik spreads his efforts rather too thinly in giving as many as 178 games and game fragments; I would prefer the more detailed type of coverage and analysis that Fischer and Kasparov gave. A brief sampling suggests that Kramnik’s notes are not beyond criticism, with doubts possible over the notes to White’s 27th in Kramnik-Adams, Cologne 1998 and to Black’s 22nd in Kasparov-Kramnik, Dos Hermanas 1996. Both cases show Kramnik possibly being over-critical of his own play; there is little of the sense that one sometimes gets in Kasparov’s notes that “the winner is always right”. Indeed, the general impression one gets from Kramnik’s commentaries is that of laid-back objectivity, rather than say Fischer’s inward-looking intensity or the young Kasparov’s energetic enthusiasm.

What can we tell from the games collection about Kramnik’s playing style? As with any current top-level supergrandmaster, he is thoroughly at home in the most extraordinary complications; his win just cited against Kasparov is a good illustration. Perhaps to a greater extent than his main (non-Kasparov) rivals, he grafts this onto a very solid positional sense, and does not readily lose his sense of balance. His wins as White against Kasparov’s Kings Indians do not come about through the classic recipe of White storming on the queenside and Black storming on the kingside, but rather through systems of play in which White tries to hold the balance of play, and if possible take control of the play, across all the main sectors of the board. Kramnik did much to put the 9 b4 system on the theoretical map, and other games are given. There are many quibbles to be made about presentation, with the absence of a detailed listing of games (opponent, venue, year) making it at times difficult to navigate through a book which is not structured chronologically. It also seems strange to give a cross-table of the life results between Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, Topalov, Anand and lvanchuk for the period up to Las Palmas 1996 (page 63) and not to repeat the exercise up to 1999. All in all, though, I think that this is a book that will grow on the reader, and is certainly worth having. (Review by IM Colin Crouch)


 

Easy Guide to the Sveshnikov Sicilian by Jacob Aagaard, Everyman, 144 pages, £13.99.Easy Guide to the Sveshnikov Sicilian - Aagaard

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One of the key aspects of the Sveshnikov Sicilian is the highly imbalanced pawn structure adopted by Black. It is gratifying to find that the author addresses this immediately in the first chapter, explaining how each side tries to alter the basic configuration to his own advantage, and other important factors such as the battle for d5. Piece placement is also covered in detail, plus practical examples – including some by one of the Sveshnikov’s great exponents, Vladimir Kramnik – before plunging into the theoretical analysis. In fact this book is almost as good a way to study Kramnik’s games as his biography reviewed above, given the Russian leviathan’s record with the Sveshnikov. Everyman ‘chief advisor’ Garry Kasparov will find this book essential reading. Aagaard is not slow to give his own opinion of the quality of lines presented; he is also possessed of a pleasantly dry sense of humour which makes this opening book rather more readable than most of its kind.





   

The Most Amazing Chess Moves of All Time by John Emms, Gambit, 192 pages, £13.99.The Most Amazing Chess Moves of All Time - Emms

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The author was inspired to write this book by an article and competition which appeared in BCM in 1998 with the same title. On that occasion a panel of experts voted Shirov’s 47...Bh3!! against Topalov, Linares 1998, as the most amazing move of all time. But John Emms noticed that the moves voted on by the experts were actually very diverse. Here he has presented 200 of the most amazing moves ever played, including his nominations for the ‘top twenty’, judged on their surprise value, soundness, ‘only move’ factor, importance and aesthetic value. Before seeing the goodies, the reader is invited to find the amazing move for themselves, with the answer (and full game score) found at the end of the chapter. There are a few old favourites in here – and Emms votes for Shirov’s ...Bh3 as his number one – but the overwhelming majority are fresh and fascinating. The author is also to be commended for his remarkable modesty; of the examples taken from his own play, he was the ‘amazee’, rather than the ‘amazer’, in all three cases. Hugely enjoyable.





   

Easy Guide to the Nge2 King’s Indian by Gyözö Forintos and Ervin Haag, Everyman, 128 pages, £12.99. Easy Guide to the Nge2 King's Indian - Forintos/Haag

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Sub-titled “Winning with the Hungarian Attack”, this is a study of an underestimated side-line in the King’s Indian where, after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6, White continues with 5 Nge2 and play often continues 5...0-0 6 Ng3 e5 7 d5 before play diverges into a number of different lines. Unlike most ways of ducking mainstream theory, this one is more potent than most, particularly against an unwary player who proceeds mechanically with a traditional f7-f5 based King’s Indian plan. Much of the book is taken up with a consideration of such lines following 6...e5. However there is little new material on more circumspect and flexible black plans such as 5...c6 followed by ...a6 and ...b5, as also examined in Joe Gallagher’s 1996 book, Beating the Anti-King’s Indians. These systems are frequently played at master level and White has scored rather badly in practice. However it is valuable to have on record the analysis of the more static lines following 6...e5 because Forintos is undoubtedly the world expert on this system. The Hungarian Attack has all the hallmarks of a dangerous system at club level.





   

Easy Guide to the Classical Sicilian by Jouni Yrjöla, Everyman, 128 pages, £12.99.Easy Guide to the Classical Sicilian - Yrjola

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This is a repertoire book for Black which aims to supply a system for each White try against the Classical Sicilian (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6). First the author considers Boleslavsky-type positions which occur after 6 Be2, 6 Be3, 6 f3 and 6 f4, then Dragon-type positions after 6 g3 g6, before going on to consider the Sozin and Velimirovic variations after 6 Bc4, and the Rauzer after 6 Bg5. This is a lot of ground to cover in 128 pages; but the author provides an authoritative overview which will be valuable to someone planning to take up this challenging variation. For those unfamiliar with the author’s name, Finnish Grandmaster Jouni Yrjöla has been a leading exponent of the Classical Sicilian throughout his career.







   

Learn Chess by John Nunn, Gambit, 192 pages, £7.99.Learn Chess - John Nunn

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A beginner’s chess book marks a new departure for Dr John Nunn, who usually writes books for advanced chess-players. Not many readers of BCM will want this book for themselves; but most chess players are occasionally obliged to explain the rudiments of the game to a close friend or relative, or recommend a suitable book to a learner. There is the added stimulus of seeing how a celebrated player, writer and former Oxford academic goes about the task of explaining the knight move or the en passant rule. In fact he takes a no-nonsense approach and is at great pains to clarify the great quantity of bewildering jargon facing newcomers to the game via logical explanation and thorough testing. Slightly smaller than a normal Gambit book, and suitable for the pocket in more ways than one.





 

Smith-Morra Gambit: Finegold Defence by Bob Ciaffone and Ben Finegold, Self-Published, 140 pages, £8.00.Smith-Morra Gambit - Finegold Defense

OUT OF PRINT

The Morra Gambit scarcely exists in master chess, but it has always been a dangerous weapon at club level, not least because many amateur Sicilian Defence players are unprepared for it. The Finegold Defence purports to offer Black a way to throw the Morra Gambiteer off balance. Its keynote move is actually a keynote non-move: it is based on not playing an early Ìc6 against the Morra. The book is unindexed and is largely unstructured. Nevertheless there are some interesting ideas that might suit a club player who is looking for a cohesive system to counter the Morra horror.







 

The Chess Monthly Volume 2, September 1880 - August 1881, Moravian Chess, 382 pages, £23.50.Chess Monthly Vol.2

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A facsimile reprint of the second volume of Hoffer and Zukertort’s new periodical, which was soon to run into stiff opposition in the shape of the British Chess Magazine, whose launch was generously announced on page 167. BCM was referred to as “an enlarged continuation of the Chess Department of the late Huddersfield College Magazine.” But Hoffer could not resist a dig: “We will, therefore, refrain from expressing our opinion. The only question we may ask at present is, why such a deal of space is wasted with enormous diagrams on small pages illustrating an indifferent position...”.







 

The Chess Monthly Volume 3, September 1881 - August 1882, Moravian Chess, 382 pages, £23.50. Chess Monthly Vol. 3

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The third volume kicks off with some wonderful bickering. Editor Leopold Hoffer lambasts the chess editor of the Illustrated London News (who, though unnamed here, was PT Duffy). Answering a reader’s query about English chess periodicals, Duffy responded: “There is only one English chess monthly we know of – the British Chess Magazine.” The ILN is then reported as compounding the felony by claiming to “know nothing of Mr Hoffer”, going on to be very rude about The Chess Monthly. Though named in dispatches, the BCM seems to emerge unscathed from the cross-fire. Thereafter Hoffer and Zukertort were embroiled in a much more protracted antagonism with the editor of The Field, Wilhelm Steinitz, who took exception to criticism of his annotations of a match between Zukertort and Blackburne.

The backbiting and provocation, always expressed in the most grandiloquent tones, continue in every issue to the end of the year. Wonderful stuff – but thank heavens modern-day chess editors aren’t obliged to behave like this.



 

American Chess Bulletin, Volume 31 (1934), Moravian Chess, 172 pages, £19.50.

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First, readers should note that the reprint of Volume 31 has been issued in advance of Volume 30 which has been temporarily held up. This volume includes coverage of the 1934 Alekhine-Bogolyubow match, and has an obituary of Tarrasch. Former BCM owner and editor Isaac M Brown also received a fulsome obituary, though another correspondent of the BCM touched a nerve when making reference to players ‘skittling’ games at the New York State Congress. Publisher Hermann Helms felt obliged to speak up for the good organisation of the event, but his contradiction of the BCM story is delivered in typically mild and courteous language.



 

Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, Volume 3, October 1884 - September 1885, Moravian Chess, 190 pages, £19.99. Brooklyn Chess Chronicle Vol. 3

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The magazine edited by JB and EM Muñoz was now into its third year and apparently thriving. The number relating to November 15, 1884 contained a most unusual score – not of a chess game but of a piece of piano music dedicated to Paul Morphy, composed by Sig. Giuseppi Liberali, of Patras, Greece, who elsewhere composes problems for the magazine. There is much excellent reporting of world events, including full crosstables of English and Scottish tournaments.








 

French with 3 Nc3 by Knut Neven, Chessbase CD-ROM, £18.50.

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This CD-ROM, with material written and edited by the editor of Canada’s national magazine, En Passant, covers the French Defence opening that fall within the C10-C19 classification on ECO. There is a database of 44,000+ games, of which 3,600 are annotated, plus 23 training positions. An enjoyable instructional CD-ROM and the training positions are as ever highly addictive.



 

 

All Reviews by John Saunders except where otherwise indicated
 
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