+ Billy Collias Midwest Master by Rantala/Schiller/Watson

+ Bobby Fischer From Chess Genius to Legend by GM Gufeld

+ Boris Spassky Master of Initiative by Raetsky and Chetverik (gift to me by <spawn2>)

+ CJS Purdy's Fine Art of Chess Annotation Vols. 1 & 2 by CJS Purdy

+ Leonid Stein Master of Risk Strategy by GM Gufeld and Lazarev

I only read the first few pages of Billy Colias...quite a good read!

I am about halfway through <Leonid Stein, Master of Risk Strategy> and am enjoying the games quite a bit.

<50 Essential Chess Lessons
by Steve Giddins>

<50 Essential Chess Lessons,> by Steve Giddins When a friend suggested that I take a look at this book, I thought: "Oh great, yet another book aimed at the beginner." Yet this friend persisted - so I scanned the book at the local bookshop. I liked it so much that I purchased a copy for the local chess club. (We raffle off a free chess book at our local tournaments now.) I am also a chess master and teach chess for a living ... so I like to think that I know a thing or two about this subject.

First the basics. The publisher - Gambit Books - does nothing but chess. A solid book, flex cover, firm binding, acid-free pages with minimal 'bleed through,' excellent diagrams, (several per page); and top-notch editing. You probably won't ever buy a real clunker from this publishing house.

I thought that this was a good book, but when I got it home, I discovered that I was wrong. To quote Tony the Tiger, its GRRRRREAT!! (I gave it five stars, even though I had said I was not going to do this any more ... I try to save this for exceptional books. Well, maybe this is one of those cases.)

Why? Well let me explain. Most of the time when I recommend a book, some players will complain that "the book's subject matter is over my head," or that "it drowns me in a sea of variations." Not here, think of this as a "Nunn-LITE" book, the main emphasis is on teaching and explanation, and NOT on variations! (Much like Irving Chernev, although this book is in algebraic, of course!)

A Grand-Master once told me (many years ago) that there were only three proven ways to get better. One study method he said was to study COMPLETE master-level games, this book follows that edict to the letter. Fifty (50) nicely annotated games. (I had seen most of the games in this volume before, but the average player will not be familiar with the large percentage of these masterful struggles.) I would say the main target group would be 1200 - 1799, although players on both ends of this spectrum should enjoy this volume. (I did, and my USCF rating is over 2200.)

There are 50 entries organized into five sections. (Attacking the King, Defence, Piece Power, Pawn Structure and End-Game themes.) All of these are highly instructional and annotated with lots of explanations and entertaining verbiage. For example, Game # 16, (Short-Timman, Tillburg; 1991); can be found on my website. But the player rated below 2000 will DEFINITELY want to review this game with Giddin's polished notes ... it will open many of the secret doors of chess knowledge for you. (Many of the themes and ideas that I commonly try to teach my students in the first 1-2 years are covered by Giddins in his analysis of these 50 instructive contests.)

I "fritzed" about five of these games with the computer, I found NO noticeable mistakes of any kind. I can offer no honest criticisms of this volume. ADVICE: I will note that the serious student will want to use a general reference work on the opening, (like MCO-14); when studying this book, just to see for themselves what the best lines are. (And to familiarize yourself with opening theory.) Additionally, the serious student should use a strong computer program to analyze these games, the author does not even try to examine every tactical possibility ... this would be impossible in a book of this size. (156 pages)

If you enjoy this book and get a lot out of it, then you may want to check out Neil McDonald's book, "Chess, The art of logical thinking," (from the first move to the last); by GM Neil McDonald.

In closing, this is a first-rate book, and I highly recommend it. I am certain that the average player will get a lot out of close study of this work, several of my on-line students recommend this volume to all of their friends. (The author is not one of the most well-known in the chess market, but perhaps this is about to change!)

<Isolani>: An excellent book to acquire, if you can find it, is Endgame Strategy written by Mr. Shereshevski himself. Do not confuse this book with other classics such as Basic Chess Endings or A Guide to Chess Endings however.

This book goes over the "principles" of strategy and tactics in the endgame as opposed to the R+P vs. R, general pawn endings or basic mate patterns, for example, that you would find in the two that I just listed. In other words it explains what to do in the very late middlegame/early endgame stage of the game.

(original post: Mikhail Shereshevsky)

TITLE [Paul Morphy and the evolution of chess theory]

AUTHOR [Shibut, Macon]

TITLE [Paul Morphy: A modern perspective]

AUTHOR [Beim, Valeri]

A TALE OF TWO MORPHYS

It was the best of moves, it was the worst of moves...

Paul Morphy was a force of nature. He came out of what was essentially a chess backwater at the time, as the strongest players of the day were in Europe. Yet he blew through opposition in a manner reminiscent of Fischer's remarkable run to the world championship. For a collection of quotes on Morphy from world champions and other prominent players, see: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_M....

Both Beim and Shibut have published recent books on Morphy. Neither cover much biographical information; readers interested in those matters should keep a lookout for Lawson's out-of-print Morphy biography (http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Morphy-P...), although it may be difficult to find a used copy at an affordable price. Beim does dip briefly into Morphy's early life, but only insofar as it informs the development of Morphy's talent; that is, Beim is interested in what factors encourage rapid improvement of young talent. To that end, Beim examines Morphy's games chronologically and sees signs of improvement along the way. Shibut approaches Morphy differently. He has separate sections for odds games, for opening analysis, blunders, endgames, specific opponents, and so forth. Shibut includes a fair number of odds games because the total number of Morphy games available for study are relatively low for so prominent a player and because odds games were taken seriously at the time as a way of handicapping games and matches.

Both authors analyze selected Morphy games and game fragments, and not just the usual suspects that appear in all the anthologies. Both also look at some of Morphy's blunders, not to show he had feet of clay, but to see how Morphy would fight his way out of difficult positions as well as analyze possible reasons for the mistake. Seeing strong modern players subject Morphy games to critical analysis was the most interesting thing to me about both books. For example, Shibut devotes 11 pages to the 10th game from the Anderssen match (Anderssen vs Morphy, 1858), a Morphy loss. In concluding that analytical criticism of one of Morphy's continuations were not demonstrably superior to what Morphy actually played, Shibut dryly comments, “It's so easy to sacrifice someone else's pieces.” Later he sums up his approach to much of previous analysis of Morphy: “We see the widespread assumption: Even in games that Morphy ultimately lost, annotators are prone to trust him, to assume that any sacrifice he rejected must have been incorrect.”

Morphy games analyzed by Shibut: Game Collection: Shibut's Morphy games (Shibut also analyzes games by Morphy contemporaries for comparison that I have not included in this games collection)

Morphy games analyzed by Beim: Game Collection: Paul Morphy: A Modern Perspective

Shibut is the bigger book, but provides notes to fewer total games. The second half of Shibut's book is a collection of complete Morphy game scores, with an addendum of 52 Morphy games published by Lawson after his Morphy biography was published.

Where the two books differ most is how to place Morphy in historical context. Beim is more or less in agreement with Reti's assessment in <Modern ideas in chess> where he considers Morphy to be the “founder” of dynamic play in the open game. Shibut, on the other hand, agrees with Alekhine, who claimed that dynamic play did not originate with Morphy. Alekhine laid out most of this argument in a letter to the Russian magazine <Shakmanty Vestnik> in response to one by Znosko-Borovsky. Shibut includes both as well as a long serialized piece on Morphy by Stenitz from <The International Chess Magazine>.

Alekhine argued that many of Morphy's sparkling combinations were against weaker players. Shibut illustrates how a sufficiently stronger player can make anyone look bad by showing a quick crush by a young Kasparov in a telex match (Kasparov vs G West, 1977). On the CG game page, West says he was a young player who blundered in the opening against a then-unknown future world champion while distracted by a football match on television. Another example would be Shaked vs Kasparov, 1997, where Kasparov was alleged to have quipped, “I used a nuke to kill a bug,” in describing his use of something he had prepared for stronger opposition. Alekhine claimed Morphy was exceptionally strong, so many of his opponents were outclassed, and when Morphy played serious competition, he often prevailed because he was more tenacious and resourceful when in difficult positions. Shibut quotes Anderssen on Morphy: “He wins in 17 moves and I win in 70.”

Anderssen is generally considered Morphy's most serious opponent, despite the lopsided match score (+7 -2 =2). “A quiet move in a loud position” is how Shibut sums up Anderssen's bias toward “coiling up the spring” for an impending combination. As an illustration, he shows an 1848 Anderssen composition:

click for larger view

Beim, being more interested than Shibut in Morphy's development as a player, had this to say at the end of his book: <.”..before he went to Europe, Morphy's chess education was insufficient. He was a runt, with the gifts of a genius. And that even after his match with Anderssen he was still a very young, phenomenally gifted, actively learning player, who still had to enlarge his opening and strategic repertoire. He also had definite shortcomings in the area of chess technique.”>

Well, <that's> a frightening thought – Morphy was still climbing when he hit the wall of self-imposed retirement. How could he be such a dominant force if his star was still rising? Both Beim and Shibut consider Morphy's endgame technique to be very good for his day and both agree Morphy was a gifted attacker who could calculate as well as or better than his opponents.

The “something extra” Beim attributes to Morphy is his chess “intuition” in regard to dynamic play (initiative, development, piece coordination), and it is this “dynamic” play that leads Beim to consider Morphy a founder of a “contemporary dynamic approach to chess.” As such, Beim sees a conceptual lineage from Morphy to Capablanca to Alekhine, to Tal, to Kasparov. Ironically, Alekhine himself did not see Morphy's play as a conceptual revolution, only phenomenally stronger than his contemporaries. Why, then, was Steinitz's “revolution” more successfully followed than Morphy's? Beim claims, <”...it was harder for Morphy's contemporaries to grasp the innovations that his play brought to chess than to understand the principles expounded by Steinitz.”> The static positional elements stressed by Steinitz are probably easier to grasp and implement than the transient dynamic elements of Morphy. Also, Morphy, aside from some specific game annotations, did not write about his views on how best to play. Steinitz, on the other hand, not only wanted to play the game differently, but also wanted to promote that approach. Understanding the trick won't necessarily make you a successful magician, but not understanding the trick leaves you often not knowing where to start.

Speaking of magic, I don't think chess “intuition” is all that mysterious a force, and furthermore, trying to enshrine it as such is a disservice to developing players. Strong players build up an enormous reserve of practical experience through their own games and home analysis. “Intuitive” moves aren't based on concrete calculations that end in definitive evaluations, but neither do they usually spring fully-formed like Athena from the forehead of Zeus. For example, Tal made more than his share of “intuitive” moves, but did a lot of calculating on them. Besides, even if an “intuitive” move lands you deep in the mud, if it puts your opponent in the mud deeper still, all the better!

Here’s some information:

(re-posted from <chessjones11>)

There has been one that I know of. In 1968 Wolfgang Heidenfeld published a German version of the book, "Grosse Remispartien". In 1982 the English version "Draws" was published edited by John Nunn.

All of the games without notes can be found at http://www.queensac.com/chessblog/b... .

Attribution to "CHESS" Volume 70 NO.11 February 2006.

For me, books that just review game after game without taking a step back and addressing fundamentals are helpful, but limited. I'd like to understand key endgame concepts on a deeper level. I have vague understanding of opposition - king v. king opposition is pretty clear, but king v. piece gets complicated, and the notion of "key squares" seems hopelessly contextual for me to get a practical grasp on it! Is this the book for me?? Dvoretsky goes straight into examples without explaining the concepts for weaker players. On the other hand, I'm not a beginner, so Pandolfini's "Endgame course" was just a waste of money.

I very much appreciate your help, as I can't tell you the number of theoretically won positions I've had with which I've had to settle on a draw (or worse!).

On another note, I work in chess in Spanish, French, and English, so if there's anything I can do to help contribute to this forum on the best chess community website known universe (excluding Russian!!!), please put a note on my forum, understanding that I'm basically a patzer on steroids. I'll be living in Europe again soon, and will have access to more reliable internet and bookstores and real-life players in the months to come.

hms123 chessforum and

hms123 chessforum

The book is not an encyclopedia. It explains things, has you work through certain positions, gives you principles, and is perfect for someone at your level. Once you work through it (which won't take that long relatively speaking) you will be ready to tackle any of the advanced books.

that's why you should get <Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics>!!!

<I have vague understanding of opposition - king v. king opposition is pretty clear, but king v. piece gets complicated, and the notion of "key squares" seems hopelessly contextual for me to get a practical grasp on it!>

Source: Source: http://www.chess.com/article/view/c...

<PACHMAN’S DECISIVE GAMES (Pitman, 1975), later published by Dover as DECISIVE GAMES IN CHESS HISTORY by Pachman

This book is simply delightful. It covers 50 classic chess events (tournaments and matches from Baden-Baden 1870 to Fischer’s match with Spassky in 1970), gives a crosstable and exciting build-up, and then offers one or more of the decisive games that contributes to the final result. It’s written in a way that not only teaches you a lot about chess history, but also creates an edge-of-your-seat rush as you long to know who won and why – in many ways it makes you feel like you’re there live, living out every thrilling moment as it was happening.

CHESS FOR FUN AND CHESS FOR BLOOD by Edward Lasker (1942, but endless editions afterward make it easy to find)

A very personal little book by a chess legend (Edward Lasker – don’t confuse him with World Champion Emanuel Lasker!) that highlights his philosophy of chess, and also follows some of his adventures. This includes his amazing game vs. Emanuel Lasker in New York 1924 which he appeared to be winning. The press was ready to publish the story of this epic upset but the World Champion found a miracle drawing maneuver that had never been seen before! Poor Edward had to rush into the pressroom and get them to quash the story.

One of my favorite moments in the book appears early when he has several prominent people discuss why they love chess. Thus he presents these as, “From a Mathematician”, “From a Scientist”, and after more highbrowed individuals are introduced and have their say, we get, “From a Woman.” This (and the shocking things she says) really illustrates the time period that the book was written in!

CHESS FOR FUN AND CHESS FOR BLOOD appears in most used bookstores and is very inexpensive. Great value for the money! I’ve read it over a dozen times since I first learned to play chess, and I’m sure I’ll read it quite a few times more.

The next recommendation is by Fred Reinfeld. When I was starting out, Reinfeld was a bit of a laughing stock – his books were considered to be garbage that only the unwary chess hopeful would purchase. The truth is that Fred Reinfeld was way ahead of his time. He was the first to crank out an enormous amount of chess books, and in retrospect, many of them were really excellent. We’ll discuss my favorite Reinfeld book:

THE GREAT CHESS MASTERS AND THEIR GAME (1952)

THE GREAT CHESS MASTERS AND THEIR GAME is a complete history lesson, but passionately written and offering insights that had never before appeared in other sources. The information given on these giants (Adolf Anderssen, Paul Morphy, Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Capablanca, Alehine, Euwe) is often mind blowing, and once you begin reading this 302-page monster you’ll have trouble putting it down.

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CHESS PLAYER by Reuben Fine

This was originally a paper published in 1956 under the title of PSYCHOANALYTIC OBSERVATIONS ON CHESS AND CHESS MASTERS. In 1967 it appeared again, this time with a new title: PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CHESS PLAYER. Fine was one of the very finest players in the world, but quit chess so he could pursue a career in psychoanalysis. A pure Freudian, this book gives you all the things you’d expect from someone that hails from such a limited view of reality (everything is based on sex, sexual repression, the need to have sex with your mother, and the need to do who knows what with your father). I got the original edition for two dollars at a used bookstore, and it promises many “eyes wide open” moments, as well as endless laughs over how pompous and deluded poor Fine really was.

THE BATTLE OF CHESS IDEAS by Anthony Saidy (1972)

Tony considers this to be his masterpiece, and it certainly shows his enormous love for chess. Here we see the legendary International Master tackle the search for meaning in chess, the romantic era of the game, ideas in and about chess, “search for synthesis”, and detailed looks at Botvinnik, Reshevsky, Keres, Bronstein, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Larsen, Spassky, Fischer, and Karpov.