BCM Chess Book Reviews : September 2002
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Play The 2 c3 Sicilian by Eduardas Rozentalis and Andrew Harley, Gambit,
192 pages, £14.99.
 The 2 c3 Sicilian,
also known as the Alapin or Alapin-Sveshnikov variation, was once regarded
as a second-rate line to play in comparison with more red-blooded 2 Nf3
lines. Michael Stean once suggested that it be banned, and the reviewer
recalls playing 2 c3 on one occasion, only to hear a deep sigh from the
other side of the board and the soulful lament “Won’t anybody
let me play the Najdorf any more?” Club players in particular enjoy
playing the white side as it is light on theory and soon gets you up and
running with a reasonable position. It has long since been commandeered
by theoreticians, but the opening still remains a comfortable option for
the lazy dabbler.
The two authors are both keen 2 c3 practitioners, and they have produced
an excellent work which is bang up-to-date. Things have moved on apace
in this opening, with the move order being subject to changes of fashion.
For example, White players in the line 1 e4 c5 2 c3 Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 these
days often delay d4 as long as possible and continue 4 Nf3. Where 4 d4
is played, followed by 4...cxd4 5 Nf3, it was interesting to read that
the authors don’t consider 5...e6 to be the best plan; it has been
one of the most popular lines in recent years. Nevertheless they devote
plenty of space to a full consideration of this line. The line they consider
to be a better bet for Black is 1 e4 c5 2 c3 Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 d4 cxd4 5
Nf3 Nc6 6 Bc4 Nb6, but it is of course a matter of individual taste. In
summary, this is a model opening book, well-indexed and with a good proportion
of explanatory text.
Grandmaster Secrets: Openings by Andrew Soltis, Thinker’s Press,
233 pages, £16.99.
 As with the
first book of the series (about endings), the shape of the book is unusual:
it is much broader than it is long, reminiscent of the Know The Game
series of handbooks. It is well laid out, with caricatures of famous players,
together with their sayings and maxims, but valuable space in the body
of the book is also taken up by a few gratuitous full-page plugs for other
Thinker’s Press titles. Basically the author goes through the opening
phases of games using a chatty textual dialogue between an imaginary grandmaster
and beginner (‘Noah Tall’ and ‘Pat Sayre’ – geddit?),
a formula also used by Silman in his books and dating back to Reinfeld.
It’s more concerned with opening principles but gives a flavour of
some specific opening systems (not in any systematized way), with sensible
advice to suit elementary/intermediate level players.
Starting Out: The Nimzo-Indian by Chris Ward, Everyman, 176 pages, £12.99.
 Former British Champion Chris Ward is probably
the ideal person to write this book as he plays the opening with both
colours and is an accomplished teacher of the young. It is pitched at
near-beginners or perhaps club players who are thinking of switching systems.
Ward presents his material in his usual chatty, light-hearted style and
as always his enthusiasm shines through. His selection of games is good,
showing a preference for punchy, entertaining encounters. As with previous
titles in this series, the book lacks an index, but this is only a small
cavil; the book certainly delivers when it comes to explaining the ideas
behind the Nimzo-Indian for its target audience.
64 Great Chess Games by Tim Harding, Chess Mail, 304 pages, £15.99.
 This book is sub-titled
Masterpieces of Postal and Email Chess, and contains games by many
of the greats of the correspondence chess world. Of course there are games
by Berliner, Sanakoev, Purdy, Zagorovsky, Rittner, etc, plus postal games
by others more famous for their OTB achievements, such as Keres, Penrose
and Andersson. The author is right to cast his net wide to include examples
of email chess as that is the direction in which correspondence chess
seems to be headed, but we could probably have done without another reprise
of Kasparov’s game against ‘The World’ which must already
rate as the most overanalyzed game in history.
Harding writes lucidly, reads easily, and gets the balance of text and
analysis just right. He is particularly good at setting the games into
context, and giving pen-pictures of the players involved. Harding acknowledges
some assiduous work by his book editor, Jonathan Tait, and between them
they have produced a splendid work which will interest OTB players as
well as CC aficionados.
American Chess Bulletin Vol. 43 (1946), Moravian Chess, 142 pages hardcover,
£19.50.
Thankfully the war was over and chess was suddenly in full bloom around
the world. In many cases players found themselves playing under new colours.
The former Polish master, then still known as Mendel Najdorf, was impressing
with his great simuls in South America, as was George Koltanowski in the
USA, while Dutchman Hans Kmoch made his debut as an American. Lots of
photographs, not all well reproduced, including the famous film comedian
Harold Lloyd playing chess.
The Chess Monthly Vol. 15 (Sept 1893 – August 1894), Ed. Hoffer,
Moravian Chess, 380 pages hardcover, £24.99.
 Another packed issue of Hoffer’s famous periodical,
including games, problems, letters, articles, and some very good photographs
of the Oxford and Cambridge University teams for that year, amongst others.
The Chess Monthly Vol. 16 (Sept 1894 – August 1895), Ed. Hoffer,
Moravian Chess, 380 pages hardcover, £24.99.
More of Hoffer’s excellent periodical. Particularly
enjoyable was a tongue-in-cheek article by William Black that is reminiscent
of Hartston’s How to Cheat at Chess, e.g. “if a novice
asks you to favour him with a few... practice games ... take a childish
and puerile delight in ‘smashing him up’.” That sounds
like a late 20th century slang expression, but apparently not so.
The Chess Player’s Quarterly Chronicle Vol. 3 (Feb 1872 –
Dec 1873), Moravian Chess, 384 pages hardcover, £24.99.
 Despite
the ‘quarterly’ of the title, the February 1872 issue explains
that, as it had long ceased to come out on a quarterly basis, it would
henceforth be known as The Chess Player’s Chronicle. In fact,
the periodical was published every two months. It is full of games and
problems, but rather more stuffy in its style than Hoffer’s later
Chess Monthly.
The Chess Player’s Quarterly Chronicle Vol. 4 (Feb 1874 –
Dec 1875), Moravian Chess, 384 pages hardcover, £24.99.
An
excellent periodical edited by then-Belgian master George Koltanowski,
mainly in algebraic notation, covering all aspects of chess. There is
comprehensive coverage of the Folkestone Olympiad of June 1933, with the
‘British Empire’ team headed by Sultan Khan.
Essays in American Chess History by John Hilbert, Caissa Editions, 359
pages hardcover, £29.99.
 This
book is clearly a labour of love by chess historian John Hilbert, and
is a testament to his extensive researches into American chess history.
It features 29 packed chapters on notable US events and personalities
from the mid-1800s to the 1950s, with the 30th and final chapter an interesting
interview with the author himself by noted Swiss writer Richard Forster.
Fascinating stuff: Hilbert is excellent at putting chess history into
context.
Note: The cover displayed here is a mock-up as the plain
book cover does not reproduce well.
Deep Fritz 7, ChessBase, £74.99 (upgrade from Deep Fritz - £46.95
- return original disk).
 This
is the latest multiprocessor version of Fritz and runs on computers with
between one and eight processors. On a dual system the increase in speed
is around 85% compared to a single processor of equivalent speed. But
even if you have a single processor system, ChessBase claim that the playing
strength is greater than that of the regular Fritz 7.
Postage is £1.50 (UK), £3.50 (Abroad).
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