5 comments about Masters of the Chessboard.

1. This is a readable book, but serious players have to take theanalysis with a touch of salt. The book will give you some idea of thedevelopment of the game. Other treatments that do this are Reti's 'New Ideas in Chess' and Euwe and Nunn's 'Development of Chess Style'. 'Masters of the Chessboard' was published circa 1930 and the raison d'etre for its publication was Reti's adverse reaction to writings of one Gutenmayer. To give one example of Reti's suspect analysis take his annotation to the immortal game (Anderson - Kieseritsky,1851), published in 'New Ideas in Chess'. This has been carefully demolished in Hubner's article 'The Immortal Game' published in the American Chess Journal (No.3). 20 pages of detailed analysis reveal the truth of the game in a way broad generalizations cannot. 'Masters of the Chessboard' won't radically improve your strength if you're already over 1500 USCF. But to reiterate, it's areadable book and charts the development of some ideas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century



2. This book is Reti's masterpiece and I consider it one of the finest chess books ever written. Reti died, in 1929 at the age of forty, just before its publication. In it he chronicles the development of chess with sketches of the game's greatest practicioners. In doing so, he analyzes some games played by these masters.
   
   The analysis has imperfections by today's computer aided standards, but this is not primarily an instructional book. Rather it is a work of literature wherein a great mind shares his love of chess with beautiful prose.
   
   Those seeking instruction of high quality from a contermporary of Reti might consider Grandmaster Aron Nimzovitch's "My System". It is entertaining and a classic on positional chess. And it is written in a lively and unique style.



3. This is a chess book that every collector should own as part of their chess library. It is one of the all-time classics. It was published by Dover and runs 436 pages in Descriptive notation. (If this book was ever republished in algebraic notation I would rate it 7 stars!!).

   It basically contains a sampling of master games from many of the greatest masters of all-time; Anderssen, Morphy, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Lasker, Schlechter, Pillsbury, Maroczy, Marshall, Rubenstein, Spielmann, Nimzowitsch, Vidmar, Tartakower, Capablanca, Bogoljubow, Alekhine, Grunfeld, Euwe, Saemisch, Colle, and Torre.

   Each chapter focuses on a different master in the order described above. There is a biographical sketch of each master at the beginning of each chapter as well. It focuses on a particular masters achievements and some of the unique ideas and methods that master brought to the game.

   There are a total of 70 very well annotated games.

   This book is not only a great games collection, but a virtual textbook on how to play the game. It thoroughly discussed many different opening systems, middle game strategies, and endgame topics.

   One thing I noticed was how many combinations originating from these games are used in so many tactics books such as 1001 winning chess combinations, or combination challenge. I have used those training books in the past - and now I know that they come from real games and who played them!

   This book has become very hard to find. My advice is this - if you can find this book in a used book store somewhere, don't hesitate. Grab the book, pay for it and get out of there fast before someone else finds the book. You will not regret buying this book.

   I rated it "only" 4 stars for a couple of reasons - 1)it is in descriptive notation (this book makes it worthwhile learning DN if you don't already know it) 2)Reti died before all of the chapters could be finished. Some of the later chapters in the book are not as thorough and interesting as the earlier ones. Some of the biographical details are left out.

   Even with the limitations mentioned above, there are few chess books as fun and instructive. Based upon the level of annotations in this book, players rated between 1,100 - 1,600 USCF would probably benefit the most. Players outside of that rating range would still enjoy playing over the games, but would not gain as much insight from the notes.




4. Richard Reti shows the evolution of chess by analyzing games from great players from the past. In doing so, he also provides the reader with basic ideas on how to handle the opening, approach the development of pieces and confidently enter the middlegame. The contrast between the hypermoderns and classicists is also of interest and, in my opinion, a landmark in chess is represented by this book.

   The biographical notes are also interesting from the chess culture point of view. I love this book and consider worth having it in my personal library. Why 4 stars instead of 5? Because of the descriptive notation...




5. This review is just to highlight to potential purchasers that the 2008 Ishi Press reprint is still in descriptive notation. This is not what I expected, so I hope others will buy (or not) better informed. I haven't read the book yet, so my rating is purely trying not to disadvantage what I believe to be a wonderful book.

2 comments about The Grandmaster's Mind.

1. Since I'm the author, I do not pretend to be objective. So, here is what others have said about the book:
   "Original and extremely interesting... often very entertaining... it is a lot of fun, but it's also an important and most welcome addition to chess literature" - IM Jeremy Silman.
   "The players and topics covered are generally fascinating... there are also practical tips and useful discussions of chess concepts that should prove valuable for many players" - NM Randy Bauer.
   "Avni presents an enlightening and very enjoyable look at how top players think... (it) is a delight" - Chessville.com.
   "Fascinating new book" - GM Lubomir Kavalek.
   "The wealth of examples would be very instructive even for those who feel at distance from the psychological issues" - IM Israel Shrentzel.
   "Avni is a relaxed and informal interviewer and gets some straight answers from his subjects... it is a stimulating and readable book" - British Chess Magazine.



2. My banner makes an attractive headline; but I would humbly opine that this book is sort of like Kotov's classic "Think like a GM" and Pal Benko's "Winning Chess Psychology" combined. I was at the prestigious HB Tournament as a spectator; and there was the widest array of chess books I had ever seen were on sale. Opening books, ones on tactics, games collections, etc. but I wanted something a bit different and this was one of about 6 books I purchased and I have not been dissapointed.
   
   There are two parts of the book, the first part has 12 chapters; the "interviews" with 12 different chessplayers and this keeps up one's interest. Though grandmasters and masters are interviewed in the various chapters and give their input on chess and the thinking process, my favourite chapter is 9 on Ofer Comay, who is largely a chess problem solver,having won tournaments for solving such puzzles. It is interesting to hear what he has to say and some puzzles are provided. This is one of the strongpoints of this book in that like the Pal Benko book there is an element of "human interest." Much of the book can be set aside for bedside reading or maybe when one takes the bus, a workbreak and such.
   
   Part two of the book entails discussions, chapters 13-21. Classic games are discussed and another strongpoint of this book, sometimes not-so-classic games, but they make points by the author and interviewees so suffice well. In fact, I like some of the examples provided not involving Grandmasters because it is probably closer to my skill levels. That brings me to the point that some parts would seem to be for more advanced players but others would benefit as well.
   
   Another plus of the book is Avni's uses of boxed quotes to highlight important concepts and other uses of summing up key points of information.
   
   Of course, for my humble opinions, I am only a player between 1600-1700. I've sought to give this work an honest appraisal. I noted two reviewers here, the author and another urging reading a review of this book. I purchased it and read it and will return to it time and again for the interviews and discussions on the thought processes involved in playing chess.

2 comments about The Chess Kings (Volume One): History, Politics, and the Fine Art of Mythmaking in Chess.

1. Calvin Olson, a dedicated chess historian and correspondence master, has finally released the first volume (covers up to 1940) of his two volume history of chess. The main focus is not the development of the mechanics of the game itself, but the human factor: world championship level players. For a history of chess up to 1900 focusing on the development of the mechanics of chess you will want "History of Chess" by Murray.
   
   You will learn, from the author's interesting perspective, about the politics, lives and accomplishments of not only the world champions themselves, but those who came close enough to be considered world championship contenders.
   
   The author has done extensive research to make his scholarly book as accurate as possible. Pointing out and dispelling commonly accepted myths and inaccuracies adds a unique flavor and insight what many might otherwise consider a boring subject.
   
   Having owned several thousand chess books, with all of the most important books on chess history, I am confident in stating that "The Chess Kings" is certainly the most extensive and scholarly book covering the history of chess over the last several hundred years.
   
   Some of the nice features of this book:
   
   1. Thirty-One well annotated games of historical importance - plenty of diagrams.
   2. A glossary of chess terms.
   3. An index allowing for quickly finding important players, tournaments and openings.
   4. Footnotes showing sources of information.
   5. Appendix showing all of the world champions as well as claimants to the title (including world women champions, all major tournaments and the winners.
   6. A very comprehensive bibliography.
   
   The book is well written and can be easily understood by ages 12 through adult. It will appeal not only to those wanting to gain an insight into the history of chess but to players wanting to improve their game and understand which games are a important part of chess history.



2. Calvin Olson's The Chess Kings aimed at raising the standards of chess historiography by providing a detailed and well documented account of chess. This first volumes was supposed to bring the history of chess up to the 1940 and take in the major figures in a critical narrative that set aside gossipy accounts and examined the players, the famous contests and the overall culture and politics of chess. This is a large task and would require an enormous amount of reading and a deep understanding of the game. The substantial bibliography in this book testifies to the authors considerable study. The citations are excellent and one feels more or less comfortable with the authors moderate claims about this or that event or person. The 31 annotated games provide little new, although they are a nice addition to the narrative.
   
   The book suffers from two fairly big problems, however. First, the authors style is unlovely, to say the least. Contrary to the previous reviewer's assessment ( the same person wrote the blurb for the book)that the book was 'well written', the book suffers from a crippling lack of fluidity, general syntactical incompetence and dreary style. The reader feels trapped in a Suzuki violin practice session, where effortful sour notes and a shaky rhythm overwhelm the best intentions of the listener.
   A second problem is that the author was unable to find anything really interesting to say about his subject material. While he succeeded in correcting many inaccurate stories and rightly criticizes some of the more pathetic literature on the subject, he restricts himself to one, ultimately fairly trivial concern within the vast subject of chess history. He is almost entirely taken up with the results of chess tournaments and matches. He laborious relates how many times such and such a player played e4 or d4 and what his results were with each. But there is nothing about chess style, the evolution of strategic ideas and process of discovery that led to advances in chess. Any satisfactory book on chess history should include examples in the text of beautiful chessic conceptions, brilliant ideas or controversies over opening theory such as those instigated by Steinitz' provocative claims. This line of inquiry has been fruitfully developed by recent writers such as Macon Shibut whose smart book on Morphy philosophically dissects the questions of style and its relation to theory. . Older books by Euwe and Fauber do a nice job of pursuing the question of originality, personality and chess evolution. Of course the Reti classics, highly praised in Chess Kings, elucidated beautiful ideas related to the history of our beloved game.
   This book however plods along without asking one interesting question beside who the strongest player was. While it concerns itself a bit with the politics of the game, it cannot find anything new to say about the relationship between chess, society, political events or the personal histories of the players. So ultimately one feels done in by the dullness and mediocrity of a book which was hailed as a scholarly work of distinction on a couple of chess cites (but perhaps all by the same person?)
   The book represents a huge amount of research and and does attain the level of scholarship but fails in the most important task of engaging the reader. The great book on chess history has yet to be written. Edward Winter is the ideal author for a substantial and eloquent survey of chess. For anecdotal accounts of players, devotees of Caissa should not miss the articles by Genna Sosonko. The Oxford Companion has superb historical material and critical assessments. And for lively and intelligent point of view one can hardly do better than browsing through Fred Wilson's charming Picture History of Chess, a book which Dover should reprint.
   
   Perhaps the second volume of Chess Kings will try at least to repair the infelicities of style and show a little more enthusiasm for the subject.

5 comments about How To Think In Chess.

1. Going through sudies will help your play, and this book has that. But there is a lot of dry, strange stuff in here that isn't so practical. I re-wrote this review after my initial enthusiasm for this book waned.



2. If you need a phD in chess psychology, I am sure this is essential reading. If you like playing and studying chess, get chess books instead. In other words, this book is too far removed from chess reality for the VAST majority of players.



3. This is not a "How to" book, despite its title. The advice it presents are few and rather superficial, and mostly bunched into the last few pages.

   This is more of a descriptive study and self-knowledge guide, with half of the book consisting of various tests and their solutions. Some of these tests are rather instructive, but IMHO they have little to do with the subject of training your chess thought. Of course, doing the excercises will improve your play, so this is not a useless book.

   This is definitely not for the beginner. You will also need an interest in psychology and the associated jargon to enjoy this book.




4. Do I HAVE to give stars ??
   A very demanding book, has more to do with how the brain work then chess...
   The first pages are very interesting (thats why I bought it) but then it gets very hard. It expects you to look at positions and say what you think into a recorder and then analyse that and...
   There formulas in there about how you should pick your variation wich would be great,.. if you had the memory of a computer. A friend of mine (elo 2150) came too same conclusion. "What the hell is that" he said ;)
   Don't buy this one.



5. at first i thought it was awesome, but it has two problems:
   1. waaaaaay to hard. cmon, no one sees the pages of analysis that the authors give as the answer and the positions are insanely, impractically difficult. it will just make you feel bad about yourself.
   2. the analysis isnt all that good. check it with an engine and you'll find numerous perpetuals that arent at all, etc.
   
   having said that, some of the problems are quite beautiful

No comments about Chess Opening Essentials: 1.d4-d5 / 1.d4-various / Queen's Gambits (Chess Opening Essentials).

No comments about Attack and Defence: The Fifth and Final Session from the World-Famous Chess School.

No comments about Chess Opening Essentials: Indian Defences (Chess Opening Essentials).

No comments about Ponziani opening.

1 comments about Modern King's Indian Attack.

1. This book is excellent for Club Players with a rating below 2200. The strength of the book is its combinative mixture of grand master games along with high level club matches by the authors. The inclusion of many of the authors games allow for a step by step in depth understanding of certain variations. In addition it is especially useful for those club players who tend to favour attacking through h4 on their ninth or tenth moves. The reason for not giving a five star rating is due to a lack of examples where the attack is conducted through f4 rather than h4.

4 comments about San Luis 2005.

1. At last this book is issued. I think the other chess fans have been waiting for so long for this book!! There is no need to comment, all the games annotation, some color pictures, the background of this tournament etc, I think all those fans who have brought this book would be more than satisfied. The only complaint from me is that the main moves and the analysis, both the size of the words are similar, so sometimes I do not know whether the actual moves in the games, or the moves are analysis. I think they should follow gambit's book, which lay out the actual moves two by two, with bold letter, the analysis in ordinary letter, then this would even make this book even more classic. I think any chess fan should brought this book. P. S. It is a pity that in the coming event of 2007 world championship in Mexico in September, 2007, Topalov is absent, what a pity for the number two player currently in the world is not in this event!!!



2. The book arrived promptly and in great conditon. To me, price is the most important thing. The fact that it was great quality was a huge bonus. Amazon is amazing.



3. This is unquestionably the most detailed chess analysis of the games of the San Lois 2005 World chess championship event ever done; there are plenty of words explaining the complex variations to go along with the technical analysis. The main problem going through the notes is not the density of the notes but that the sub variations are not as clearly separated out as one could desire with the modern chess database and word programs that were available to the author's - That being said, the authors do a great job of describing the players and the history of various lines that the players are using in the games. There is also quite a lot of pictures (Probably really too many) of the players and some of the other people that made the event run smoothly. You really can't go wrong in buying this book except for its actual weight - It may well be the heaviest paperback chess book I've every owned so its not too convenient to take on trips to chess tournaments along with your notebook computer. But if you need to get some ideas in a day or two about some hyper-critical lines of openings like the English attack in the Sicilian Najdorf, or the Petroff, Queen's Indian and other often played openings variations discussed by the top players, then this is the kind of book you're going to want to look too - I only hope that the Authors Alik Gershon & Igor Nor do a similar book about the recent world championship tournament in Mexico that crowned Vishy Anand the unified World Chess Champion!San Luis 2005



4. be aware of 2 things:
   
   1: like another reviewer mentioned, the ACTUAL GAME MOVES and ANALYSIS MOVES are sometimes identical in appearance (same font and face, same line/paragraph) and it can get a little confusing keeping track of the main lines and side lines. kind of annoying.
   
   2: this book is for the intermediate player and up, not for beginners AT ALL. it is heavy, dense analysis (with LOTS of opening theory) and requires the reader to really invest a solid hour or two into getting the full enjoyment of a single game. it is NOT the kind of book that follows the format of: "list three moves, mention a good positional move, list three more moves, mention a tactic, list three more moves, mention an error, etc..."
   
   
   with that being said:
   
   this book does a fantastic job of really taking the reader inside of san luis and puts them right in the games of the 2005 world championship. it was a fantastic tournament, with an unusually high amount of sharp, complex games... simply brilliant chess.