Magazine Chess Book Reviews : May 2009
Botvinnik vs Smyslov: Three World Chess Championship Matches 1954, 1957, 1958 by Mikhail Botvinnik, New in Chess, 287 pages, £24.99. 
What a wave of nostalgia swept over the reviewer as he looked through this excellent work which reproduces two Russian books by Botvinnik and a potted version of the 1957 match for which MMB did not produce a book – he lost that match by 9½-12½. However, Botvinnik’s notebooks on his preparation for 1957 are reproduced, providing a fascinating insight into the Patriarch’s thinking. Botvinnik’s meticulous preparation is shown by his action plan to ensure keeping a clear head: skiing, showers, salt baths, ice skating, walking, sleeping with windows ajar, see dentist, exercises. As his nephew, Igor Botvinnik, keeper of the flame, comments in the foreword, headed ‘The Triple Crown’, this was the era when the Soviet public followed the match through extensive radio and newspaper coverage, all agog to chart the progress of their heroes. The notes are detailed and instructive while some minor corrections come from the translator Steve Giddins and from Ken Neat (produced in working on other Botvinnik material). As Igor Botvinnik comments: “... Mikhail Moiseevich himself, had he lived to see this day, would not have objected... since his greatest concern in chess was always the search for the truth.” Western readers will particularly welcome the 1958 coverage as Harry Golombek did not produce his usual book on the contest. Review by Bernard Cafferty.
Chess Opening Essentials Vol. 2 & 3 by Dimitri Komarov, Stefan Djuric and Claudio Pantaleoni, New in Chess, 288 & 336 pages, £24.95 each.  
The first volume of this series of primer-cum-reference books was reviewed in our July 2007 issue and covered all 1 e4 openings. Volume two covers 1 d4 d5, 1 d4 (except 1...Nf6) and Queen’s Gambits, while the third volume covers all Indian defences. JS.
Special Endings I and II by Jozsef Pinter, Caïssa KFT, 199 and 249 pages, £17.99 each.
 
The format of both books is six diagrams to a page, with examples of endgames from play and composed studies, with detailed, Informator-style solutions given in the second half of the book. Plenty of good material for testing the endgame skills of a players rated 1800 and above. JS.
The Closed Sicilian by Nigel Davies, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £24.95. 
The prolific English grandmaster has produced 4½ hours of video material on one of the club and tournament players’ favourite systems. Of course, it has also found favour amongst elite players such as Short and Adams. JS.
Big Bird PowerBase (3rd ed.) by Sid Pickard, ChessCentral CD-ROM, £24.95. 
This disk has a 76,000 game database on 1 f4, including nearly 2,000 annotated games.
|
