Magazine Chess Book Reviews : July 2010
Nunn’s Chess Endings, Volume 1 by John Nunn, Gambit, 319 pages, £17.99. 
The aim of this new book by John Nunn is to provide instruction to the ambitious player via the study of some carefully analysed endgame positions from practical play. It doesn’t set out to be encyclopaedic, nor is it a reference work, but focuses on situations that are likely to occur with some frequency. In the reviewer’s estimation it is pitched at (or at least would be most suitable for) players from about 1800 upwards. This two-volume work can be seen as a more advanced follow-up to the author’s own 2009 book Understanding Chess Endgames.
The focus here is on the practical. In the introduction, there are words of warning as regards over-reliance on the sort of idealised or pared-down examples to be found in many endgame books. In real life, endgames have more complexity and don’t often yield their secrets to broad-brush pattern recognition. Another pitfall is what Nunn (perhaps euphemistically) calls the ‘standard narrative’, whereby a faulty piece of analysis, perhaps coming from one of the players of a game, is used again uncritically by subsequent annotators. He revisits a number of such positions which have been passed on in this way and reveals their errors. This is a salutary reminder to us all not to trust everything we read but to keep our critical faculties well honed. Nunn continues to refute various published annotations in the main body of the book.
Then, after giving a quick refresher course on the three key endgame skills – calculation, knowledge and imagination – the author gets down to the main content of the book. It is divided up into chapters on the following six endings: pawn, knight, same-coloured bishop, opposite-coloured bishop, bishop v knight and queen endings (a forthcoming second volume will deal with all endings with rooks).
Having set out his stall, Nunn is soon delivering on his promises with some fascinating material in the first chapter on pawn endings. For example, he gives some fairly conventional examples of the strength of the outside passed pawn but then, instead of moving onto the next topic (and leaving the reader with an over-inflated impression of the significance of this advantage), he confronts us with some remarkable examples where the outside passed pawn confers no advantage at all, or even leaves the possessor with a distinct disadvantage. This is just one example of the professorial way Nunn seeks to ease our grip on superficial concepts and principles and shows that kindergarten attempts at pattern recognition are usually no substitute for hard analysis or superior imagination.
That said, other endings require different skills altogether. In the specific case of opposite-coloured bishop endings, Nunn talks in terms of logical thinking being more important that analysis in some cases. He ably demonstrates this with a practical example followed by a deceptively simple piece of logic which, if followed carefully (it really isn’t that hard) steers you inexorably to an unexpected solution to the game position.
This is the very essence of good instructional writing. The author surprises you with his expertly-selected material, and does it in such a way that, before long, you are surprising yourself with some new-found dexterity of thinking. The book is a joy to read and cannot be recommended more warmly. Review by John Saunders.
The Caro Kann by Lars Schandorf, Quality Chess, 250 pages hardcover, £27.99. 
This is a repertoire book for 1...c6 players against 1 e4 by the experienced Danish grandmaster. He sticks to modern main lines for his recommendations, with 3...Bf5 against 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4, castling short when White castles long, 3...Bf5 against 3 e5 and 5...Nc6 against the Panov (3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 Nf6 5 Nc3). He doesn’t have time for sidelines (such as the reviewers old favourite 5...g6!? against the Panov). Production values are excellent, both by author and publisher, though the price tag does seem rather high. JS.
Play The Najdorf Sicilian by James Rizzitano, Gambit, 143 pages, £13.99. 
The book starts with the author’s amusing response to the question “why do you play the Najdorf?” or at least the flip answer he once gave as a teenager. “The Najdorf is the only theoretical equaliser – it has the highest ECO code (B99) of all the king’s pawn openings and the last line has an evaluation of ‘unclear’.” This highlights the fact that the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings codes do seem to work their way up numerically from the lesser openings to the highly theoretical openings favoured by the elite, and that those of us in search of a decent opening for Black often find an annoying plus-over-equals sign at the end of ‘book’ variations to indicate that, with best play, White will enjoy a slight edge. The Najdorf Sicilian enjoys its reputation for being a ‘Rolls-Royce’ system for Black thanks to the patronage of Bobby Fischer and later Garry Kasparov. In this book the American IM annotates 25 games which also encapsulate the main ideas and latest thinking on this variation. This is an excellent overview of a wonderfully rich and diverse system and will interest the general reader as well as opening theory addicts. Review by John Saunders.
Beating 1 e4 e5 by John Emms, Everyman, 220 pages, £15.99. 
This is a repertoire book for White after 1 e4 e5, with the recommendations based on the Italian Game (Giuoco Piano) but going via the Bishop’s Opening move order. Hence White plays 2 Bc4, mainly to duck the Petroff Defence, with a view to 2...Nc6 3 Nf3. Of course, Black could be uncooperative and play a pure Bishop’s Opening, and there is coverage of that too. But if the Italian Game happens (with 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nc6 3 Nf3 Bc5 4 c3 Nf6, the author recommends 5 d3 rather than 5 d4. Suited to players of 1400 upwards. JS.
The French Defence: A Complete Repertoire by Nikita Vitiugov, Chess Stars, 228 pages, £17.95. 
It’s not often you get a 2700+ rated player writing a repertoire book but this is such a book. The young Russian super-grandmaster’s repertoire is mainly based around the Winawer (3...Bb4 against 3 Nc3), but he also gives some lines with 3...Nf6 for good measure. Against the Tarrasch (3 Nd2), he opts for 3...c5. It is a comprehensive work, with plenty of good textual advice amongst the variations. JS.
Just In: How to Win at Chess – Quickly! by Simon Williams, Everyman, 192 pages, £15.99 
Just In: Soviet Chess Strategy by Alexey Suetin, Quality Chess, 239 pages, £16.99. 
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