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July 2009: Alexei Shirov wins the MTel Masters
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Magazine Chess Book Reviews : July 2009

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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Revised and Expanded Edition) by David Bronstein and Tom Fürstenberg, New in Chess, 384 pages, £25.95. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Revised and Expanded Edition) by David Bronstein and Tom Fürstenberg, New in Chess, 384 pages, £25.95.

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The late David Bronstein occupies a special place in the chess firmament. A specialist in unorthodox thought, and an extraordinarily nice human being, who respected the ordinary chess amateur, it is no wonder that he won friends everywhere. He became well-known again in the West in the post-1989 period when the loosening of Soviet restrictions meant he could no longer be kept at home. The closest of these friends, Tom Fürstenberg, who was acquainted with him from as early as 1954, has expanded the earlier editions with more games and a much larger selection of photos. Pure nostalgia, but also instructive chess material! Review by Bernard Cafferty.




Fighting the Ruy Lopez by Milos Pavlovic, Everyman, 190 pages, £14.99. Fighting the Ruy Lopez by Milos Pavlovic, Everyman, 190 pages, £14.99.

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The Serbian grandmaster, a former Yugoslav champion who has played many tournaments in the UK and coached top British woman player Jovanka Houska, has produced a very interesting repertoire book based on playing the Marshall Attack for Black against the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0–0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0–0 8 c3 d5). He also deals with Anti-Marshall lines (e.g. 8 a4), all the way back to the Exchange Variation (4 Bxc6) so it is a comprehensive repertoire from 3...a6 onwards, though these lines are given less space. It is thoughtfully presented and would suit a player with a rating of 1400 and above. JS.








 


Win with the Stonewall Dutch by Sverre Johnsen, Ivar Bern and Simen Agdestein, Gambit, 208 pages, £14.99. Win with the Stonewall Dutch by Sverre Johnsen, Ivar Bern and Simen Agdestein, Gambit, 208 pages, £14.99.

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The Dutch has been given something of a make-over in recent years, with dangerous young hombres like Simon Williams showing how it can be used to gun down strong grandmasters. But, of course, the Stonewall Dutch (typically 1 d4 f5 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 e6 4 Nf3 d5 5 c4 c6 6 0–0 Bd6 7 b3 Qe7 8 Ne5 0–0 9 Bb2, with various offshoots) is a significantly different from other ‘Dutch cousins’. It has a feel that is all its own. The name is quite unsuitable as it hints at a static, cautious line for stodgy players, which is not what the opening is about at all – it is rather more dynamic, modern and aggressive. This is a lively read, with a stimulating foreword from Simen Agdestein to get you warmed up for his fellow Norwegian authors who present the work in a series of lessons and exercises. A very interesting read. JS.








 

 


Grandmaster Secrets: Counterattack! by Zenon Franco, Gambit, 240 pages, £14.99. Grandmaster Secrets: Counterattack! by Zenon Franco, Gambit, 240 pages, £14.99.

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The sub-title is “a step-by-step guide to turning defence into victory.” This is a follow-up by the Paraguayan grandmaster author to his previous work for Gambit The Art of Attacking Chess. The book consists of 30 deeply-analysed games with some 50 exercises to test the reader’s understanding, on several subjects such as ‘Lasker, the Master of Defence and Counter-Attack’; Refuting Premature Attacks’; ‘Fighting Blow by Blow’; ‘Regrouping’; ‘Prophylactic Thinking’; and ‘Simplification’. It is a typically well-presented Gambit Publications product and an interesting read. JS.






   


Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian by Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello, Everyman, 192 pages, £14.99. Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian by Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello, Everyman, 192 pages, £14.99.

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Quoting from the introduction, this is a “collection of well-analysed games featuring thematic, active piece sacrifices in the Open Sicilian.” The sacrifices they cover in six separate chapters are Nd5, Nxe6, Bxe6, Nf5, N(x)b5 and B(x)b5 and, in the seventh chapter Bd5, Rxf7 and some queen sacrifices. Altogether there are 109 games analysed in considerable depth. It is not all one-way traffic and a few white disasters are included. Reading this book gives you a very good feel for the rich sacrificial opportunities in the Sicilian. JS.







Chess Tactics For Advanced Players by Yuri Averbakh, Labate Chess, 326 pages, £17.99. Chess Tactics For Advanced Players by Yuri Averbakh, Labate Chess, 326 pages, £17.99.

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Strangely described as the “Bobby Fischer Memorial Ed”, this book, best known in its East German edition of the 1980s, is simply excellent; a well-structured work replete with diagrams, classified into instructive sections which exemplify the thinking patterns of the experienced master. Review by Bernard Cafferty.








   


Chicago 1926 / Lake Hopatcong 1926 by Robert Sherwood, Caïssa Editions, 197 pages hardcover, £39.95. Chicago 1926 / Lake Hopatcong 1926 by Robert Sherwood, Caïssa Editions, 197 pages hardcover, £39.95.

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This is an interesting and valuable historical work in which the author has gone back to the sources in order to reconstruct the 1926 Chicago tournament, a 13-player all-play-all which Marshall won ahead of Maroczy and Torre. Of the 78 games, only 27 appear on the latest edition of ChessBase’s Mega/Big Database but the author has compiled the vast majority of the scores here. Not quite all, because some of them (or parts of them) proved to be undecipherable when working from photocopies of original scores. The last 40 pages of the book supplies the 20 games of the Lake Hopatcong tournament won by Capablanca. These games are relatively well-known and appear on most commercial databases. The author has supplied his own annotations to the games and there are photos of many of the players in what is a well-produced work. JS.






   


New In Chess Yearbook 91, New in Chess, 247 pages, £23.45. New In Chess Yearbook 91, New in Chess, 247 pages, £23.45.

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Another chunky handful of chess theory in more lines than we could possibly list – here is just a small selection – covered in the forum section: Symmetrical English, Sicilian Najdorf with 7...Qb6, Kieseritsky Gambit with 5 Ne5, Caro Kann Advanced with 4...a6; and in the main survey section: Ruy Lopez Marshall 15 Qe2, Botvinnik Slav 16 Na4, Catalan Open Variation 6...dxc4, Colle 4 dxc5, Grünfeld 4 Qb3. Is it my imagination or is the print getting smaller? Maybe a new pair of reading glasses is called for. This one is for hardened theory anoraks only but it is undeniably quality material. JS.






   


Just in:
ChessBase Magazine 130, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £18.95 [buy this item]
The Philidor Defence by Alexei Shirov, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £26.95 [buy this item]
ABC of the Ruy Lopez (2nd Edition) by Andrew Martin, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £24.95 [buy this item]
ABC of the Chess Openings (2nd Edition) by Andrew Martin, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £24.95. [buy this item];

 

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