Magazine Chess Book Reviews : September 2007
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My Best Games
by Anatoly Karpov, Olms, 295 pages, £19.99.
After the brief introductions (by Igor Zaitsev and Karpov himself), the book appears to have been retitled as My 100 Best Games 1968-2003, which gives a more accurate description of what appears in it. In his intro, Karpov thanks Evgeny Gik for his “indispensable help”. It becomes clear that Gik is effectively a co-author, presumably for the scene-setting between-games comments with which the book is peppered. But the game annotations are couched in the first person. There is little of political controversy here, no settling of old scores with Korchnoi and Kasparov, as Karpov sticks mainly to the chess. The book is the better for it as the chess world has seen too much talk and not enough chess in the past decade or so. The game annotations could hardly fail to be excellent, being penned by one of three strongest players the world has ever seen. The only minor criticism is that, after such a long and successful career, 1,000 games would have been more fitting than a mere century. But then Karpov was always more reticent than his old rival Kasparov, and he produces one volume where Kasparov would write about five. But who’s complaining – this is stellar stuff. JS.
How to Play the English Opening
by Anatoly Karpov, Batsford, 191 pages, £14.99.
What was I saying about ‘five books? Perhaps I spoke too soon and maybe Karpov book production is only just getting into its stride. In this volume, Evgeny Gik is acknowledged as his “co-author in many books”. In fact it is not so much an opening primer as a collection of 30 annotated English opening games, most (but not all) involving Karpov himself (playing both colours). The two new books overlap slightly as some of the same games appear in both (the annotations are the same though the translations are different). In some ways that makes the annotations of games in which Karpov did not take part the more interesting in this present volume. Like the Olms book, it is a well-produced work and the annotations are exceedingly interesting. As at the board, anything Kasparov can do, Karpov can do as well (well, very nearly). JS.
True Lies in Chess
by Lluis Comas Fabregó, Quality Chess, 160 pages, £14.99.
A thought-provoking book, which first argues that most of the chess books we learn from are “full of lies and mistakes”, and then sets out to substitute the truth. A more detailed review will follow in next month’s Magazine, but first impressions are of a highly interesting and non-standard effort. SG.
Castles with Knights and Bishops
by Alex Angos, Impala, 391 pages, £19.99.
A strange title: even a beginner knows that you castle with rook and king. But it is weirder than that as it soon becomes evident that this substantial book is about endgames involving rooks alongside knights and bishops in various permutations. The reviewer does not recall another instance of the word ‘castle’ being used for ‘rook’ by a serious chess writer (or player for that matter) and hopes that he never sees one again. However, the book goes someway to redeeming itself with the contents, which are interesting and instructive. The author is a former Greek champion and this work is clearly a labour of love. The cover page tells us that “all film and broadcast rights c/o Impala Film Division” so it might be an option not to buy the book but await the Hollywood blockbuster. A pleasant book to dip into for those of us who appreciate endgame play (not enough of us do, I fear). JS.
French Defence Advance Variation, Vol. 1
by Evgeny Sveshnikov, Olms, 176 pages, £14.99.
French Defence Advance Variation, Vol. 2
by Evgeny Sveshnikov, Olms, 152 pages, £14.99. 
Karpov flourishes his quill yet again, this time to pen a foreword to his contemporary and one-time trainer, Evgeny (or, as ‘Tolya’ calls him, ‘Zhenya’) Sveshnikov. It is clearly rather more than the usual perfunctory introduction, with some genuine warmth from the former world champion towards his old comrade. Karpov tells a humorous story against himself: 30 years ago in the USSR Championship he recalls saying to Sveshnikov: “Zhenya, why do keep torturing yourself by playing that Sicilian with e7-e5?”. As he now admits, Sveshnikov was right not to listen to him as the Sveshnikov variation has become one of the most respected of all opening Sicilian lines.
In some ways, Sveshnikov is to opening theory as Ivanchuk is to the playing of the game: he is regarded as eccentric in some ways but his pronouncements carry the same, almost awe-struck, respect that the Ukrainian super-grandmaster’s moves do. So the publication of this two volume work is something of an event. Sveshnikov has been playing 3 e5 against the French as long as e7-e5 against the Sicilian and, despite the fact that the French Advance is not as fashionable as Sveshnikov’s eponymous Sicilian variation, opening theorists will be eager to find out what he has to say. He starts right at the beginning, with a potted history of the variation to bring out its main ideas, and also provides some study ideas for advanced players. He advises readers to study the games of Kupreychik and Zaitsev, and also singles out Grischuk as a notable player of 3 e5. He considers the basic motifs of the variation, including its value in attacking the black king, and in more strategic contexts. There is a chapter on Nimzowitsch, a consideration of his role in developing the variation and his relevance in its modern development. The first volume closes with 70 quiz positions to test the reader’s comprehension of what has gone before.
The second volume sets out to be a more advanced course on the variation, providing what it calls “theoretically important games for independent analysis”; lightly annotated but well chosen, with a view to the student doing more of the work himself. It is a more varied, bitty work that the first volume, giving the impression that the publishers were sweeping together some left-over items into a further volume, but still contains much of value. The games are followed by tabular reference data set out in ECO style; then some more games for study; and finally some additional games from 2005 and 2006 which were presumably played too late to find a place in the main body of the book. The overall impression is of a slightly quirky, unorthodox approach but the author’s opinions carry great authority. Production values are very good, with names, games and themes all well indexed. It is a magisterial work. JS.
Secrets of Opening Surprises, Vol. 7
Ed. Jeroen Bosch, New in Chess, 144 pages, £12.95.
More weird and wonderful opening play from Jeroen Bosch and his distinguished group of contributors. Mikhalchishin writes about Gurgenidze’s Caro Kann (1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 5 Nc3 b5!?). Hikaru Nakamura reassures us that, when he opened 1 e4 e5 2 Qh5 against Sasikiran in a tournament game 2005, he was “not going for Scholar’s Mate”. Not everything is spanking new and/or outlandish here. Glek and Leconte cover the Gledhill Attack (1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Qg4) which the English player Walter Gledhill wrote up in Magazine in 1901, with some commentary by Emanuel Lasker. However, Leconte’s idea is to follow 5...c5 with 6 dxc5! An enjoyable diversion from the main highways of opening theory. JS.
Play 1...Nc6!
by Christoph Wisnewski, Everyman, 268 pages, £14.99.
The German IM presents a provocative repertoire for Black based on the Chigorin and Nimzowitsch defences, and 1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 g3 Bc5!?. The Chigorin coverage looks good, though the author was unlucky that Morozevich’s book on the Chigorin appeared too recently to make the bibliography. Wisnewski’s approach to 1 e4 Nc6 is original, including a persuasive recommendation of 2 d4 d5 3 e5 f6!?. After the critical 3 Nc3 he wisely transposes to a French with 3...e6, the main line going 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 e5 Ne4 6 Bd3 f5!? (rather than the 6...Bb4 preferred in John Watson’s recent French: Dangerous Weapons) 7 exf6 Nxf6 8 0-0 Bd6, when it remains to be seen whether White has anything special. Riskier is Narciso Dublán’s invention, “El Columpio” (“The Swing”): 2 Nf3 Nf6!? 3 e5 Ng4 4 d4 d6 5 h3 Nh6. After 6 Nc3!? dxe5 (6...a6!? is also given) 7 d5 Nd4 8 Nxe5 Nhf5, White probably keeps an edge with 9 Be3 c5 10 dxc6 bxc6 11 Bc4. However, an optimistic willingness to play such positions is a pre-requisite for 1...Nc6 devotees, and Wisnewski’s own games provide many encouraging examples of this. Review by James Vigus. [Also reviewed in the August issue]
(1) The Maroczy System
by Sergei Tiviakov, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £18.99.
(2)
The ABC of Alekhine
by Andrew Martin, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £18.99.
(3)
Queen’s Pawn Openings
by Andrew Martin, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £18.99.
(4)
Decision Making in Chess
by Adrian Mikhalchishin, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £18.99.    
Four further DVDs from ChessBase, with Sergey Tiviakov covering the Maroczy Bind, Andrew Martin’s two disks covering Alekhine’s Defence and QP openings (Trompowsky, London System, Colle, Torre Attack and others), while Adrian Mikhalchishin investigates what he refers to as the five or six “forks” (or critical turning points) in a typical chess game. Lengths of material vary somewhat: Mikhalchishin’s disk adds up to about 3½ hours, while Martin’s work on the QP openings is more than six hours in length. Tiviakov is a fluent English speaker but gives the impression of being nervous, which does affect his delivery. His disk is well indexed but Andrew Martin’s work on Alekhine’s Defence is less easy to navigate, with titles which do not describe precisely which line each individual lecture covers. His performance is typically brisk and business-like.
The value of chess video material as compared with books became a lively topic of conversation as we (that is, Bernard Cafferty, Steve Giddins and John Saunders) finalised this edition of the magazine. Bernard is less impressed by the format, pointing to difficulties in navigating video material in order to find the line or position in which the viewer is interested. It is unquestionably true that videos cannot provide a reference source (and aren’t much use when you need a quick look at a variation before dashing out to play a league match). But they do provide (dare one say “lazy”?) players with a relatively painless way of getting into new openings or a more relaxed way of studying the game. JS.
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