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BCM Chess Book Reviews : May 2004Return to the BCM Review Index
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Two other writers are credited on the cover: John Watson who provides
an opening survey and Susan Polgar who contributes the foreword. Silman,
who has an enviable reputation as a writer, explains the background to
the creation of this volume: he wanted to create a chess biography of
a man that Silman “admired, who was part of chess history, who played
many beautiful games, and who lived a colourful life that transcended
mere chess concerns – life and death struggles, sexuality, financial
stability etc.” All this and more can be found here. Benko overcame
many difficulties when young, including political imprisonment, but always
remained resilient, hardworking and resourceful. How many grandmasters
can look back on a successful playing career, financial security and a
happy marriage? This autobiography, including 138 annotated games and
a chapter on “creating the Benko Gambit” totals no less than
409 pages. The social side is covered by Silman’s revealing interviews
with Benko, Evans and Gross.
Benko was a formidable player and would have done even
better without his addiction to time trouble. He was also an original
and creative theorist particularly in the openings. A section of 125 pages,
a book in itself, titled “Pal Benko’s Creativity, an Openings
Survey” has been written by John Watson. This is authoritative and
as interesting, as you would expect from this eminent writer.
As he played less, Benko’s attention turned to
problems and end game studies where he has established a worldwide reputation
as a composer. The last section (91 pages) includes a comprehensive collection
of his compositions of all types.
The book is beautifully printed, contains many excellent
photographs and vignettes of chess players and personalities. All in all,
a quite remarkable volume, weighing in at 2lb 10oz (1.19 kgs), one of
the heaviest chess books this reviewer has seen. It is also one of the
best. Review by Ray Edwards
| OUT OF PRINT |
The latest issue includes the usual features including Sosonko’s
Corner, book reviews (Flear comparing different books about the French
Defence by Watson and Psakhis), and 33 opening surveys, with contributions
by Almasi, Glek and many others. JS
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This edition has been updated and has an additional 56 pages of new material
covering 1 d4 d5, 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 followed by 3...d5, Queen’s Gambit
(Slav, QG Accepted, Orthodox, etc.), etc. Up to date to Informator
88, this remains a good and useful reference tome, and is less expensive
and troublesome to replace than a stolen laptop when taken to tournaments.
JS
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The author of this collection of games by the world’s greatest female
player benefits from a close early connection with the Polgar family.
Consequently it is filled with very interesting snippets about Judit Polgar’s
early years. As regards the later part of her career, Karolyi seems to
have lost his personal contact with the Polgar family and lot of what
he has to say appears to be speculation rather than hard fact. That said,
it contains a lot of interesting information that has not been published
before about Judit Polgar. The main body of the book is devoted to the
89 annotated games and a discussion of the Polgar style. JS
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This book purports to be a complete survey of the most popular opening
in chess. Two sample games are given for every major variation, showing
the strategies for White and for Black. This first volume of two covers
the Sicilian Gambit, the Morra, the Richter-Rauzer, 2 c3, and the Rubinstein,
Sveshnikov, Paulsen, Sozin, Benko, and Boleslavsky variations. JS
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Another cheap and cheerful title from Russia, laid out in almost identical
style to Informator. There is no textual content as such, so the
‘teach yourself’ aspect of the title is not too relevant, but
it is a reasonable collection of 300+ games with 1...Nc6!? against both
1 e4 and 1 d4, topped off with 50 typical positions where you have to
select the most appropriate move. JS
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The Giuoco Piano is everyone’s first chess opening but it still
counts on a fair number of adherents at more sophisticated levels of the
game. The author has assembled a database of more than 44,000 games, plus
texts and 160 training games. The book covers everything starting 1 e4
e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4, except for 3...Nf6. A well-organised disk from one
of ChessBase’s most efficient author/collators. JS
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A collection of 6,800 games from the 50 top tournaments held from London
1851 to Bugojno 1986, plus an illustrated tournament report of each. As
well as some archive photos, the reports include a crosstable and links
to annotated games on the database. Tournament reports are in reasonable
English and mainly culled from continental magazines. Game annotations
are more varied, some Informator-style, others in English, and some only
in German. Text, crosstables and photos look a bit too big on a computer
screen of 800x600 pixels. JS
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This CD-ROM contains all the games from three volumes of Informator (nos.
86 to 88) in PGN format, so that you can read it using the software of
your choice; or alternatively use the stand-alone chess database reader
to play through the games and analysis. 1,518 annotated games and 1,303
game fragments played between October 2002 and September 2003. JS
