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IMPROVE YOUR POSITIONAL CHESS
by Carsten Hansen
The subtitle of this work is “A practical
guide to making positional decisions” and that seems to fit
this book. Hansen selects game positions from some of the
best players and discusses how those players handle the
position. His selection is admirable, and his notes clear
and to the point, but his generalizations are lacking. That
may be because Hansen takes an opposite tact to the
prevailing current view that “chess is 90% tactics.”
Whether to support his book or because this is actually how
he feels, Hansen has made the statement that “chess is at
least 90% based on positional factors.” This is a
refreshing view (I say this because the quote more closely
gels with my own view of chess) but in order to support this
view, Hansen gives the position from which the winning
player exploits those advantages, whereas if you really
wanted to improve your positional chess, he should give the
thinking leading to that positional edge.
Gambit Publications Ltd., distributed in the US by BHB
International, Inc., 302 West North 2nd Street,
Seneca, SC 29678, has published Improve Your Positional
Chess by Carsten Hansen, ISBN 1 904600 00 X at $25.95
for the soft cover edition.
Nevertheless, the
examples given by Hansen are so consistently top-level, that
they make up a good book. The reader can learn much in
these 192 pages. Hansen breaks down the positional
struggle to ten factors – what constitutes imbalances, the
initiative, weaknesses, Knights vs. Bishops, Rooks, the
exchange, and material for the Queen, structural weaknesses,
Pawn sacrifices, and the attack. He rounds off the book
with a quiz and answers.
This book can benefit
players rated from 1700 to 2400.
STARTING OUT: ROOK ENDGAMES
by Chris Ward
Perhaps the most concrete of all endgames is
the Rook and Pawn endgame. There are certain techniques to
be learned and some generalizations that can guide the
student to the correct conclusion, but much calculation is
needed otherwise. This 128 page book is rich in instruction
to the student who is taking his first forays into the realm
of the Rook endgame. Chris Ward takes nothing for granted,
starting off with the battle between Kings and Pawns and
then introducing the Rook. He discussed the (unfair) battle
between Rook and Pawn and then expands on that to battles of
two Pawns versus a Rook and even five Pawns against the
Rook.
All the basic positions are noted here – what
I liked particularly was Ward’s discussion of why passive
defense works in the battle of Rook versus Rook and h-Pawn,
why passive defense works with Rook versus Rook and g-Pawn,
but why passive defense fails in the fight of Rook versus
Rook and f-Pawn. When the student can see the Rook can use
the h-file to drive the King away from defense, he can begin
to understand some of the basics of Rook and Pawn endgames.
Then building bridges, Philidor positions, and even zugzwang
become more meaningful to the student.
Everyman Chess, Everyman Publishers plc,
distributed in North America by the Globe Pequot Press, PO
Box 480, 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437-0480, has
published Starting Out: Rook Endgames by Chris Ward,
ISBN 1 85744 374 8 at $18.95 for the soft cover.
The Starting Out series is mainly concerned
with opening play, but this volume discussing endgames is
worthy of inclusion in the series. Very thorough, a
digestion of this book will make you a stronger endgame
player. I can strongly recommend this book for junior
players rated 500-1800. Easy to read, pertinent, clear, and
accurate, this is a good book to start out with in learning
about Rook and Pawn endgames. If you are rated below 1800
and want to learn about the most common endgame in chess,
buy this book!
MY GREAT PREDECESSORS, PART
IV
ON FISCHER
by Garry Kasparov
Buy this book, buy this book, buy this book.
Kasparov covers Reshevsky, Najdorf, and
Larsen in the first half of this volume, Fischer makes up
the second half. This is a good book in the first half. It
is a great book in the second half. Eminently readable, for
an old fogey (pre-1972) like myself, it was like reliving
the heady days of Fischer’s ascendancy. The games of
Fischer are presented with the usual help of Fritz, and what
is remarkable is how much more accurate Fischer was than his
contemporaries.
Everything is here – Fischer’s youth, the
Game of the Century, Portoroz at age 14, qualifying for the
Candidates, Fischer’s tournament triumphs, his failures, his
demands, his 6-0 shut outs, his winning the world title,
Sveti-Stefan 1992. All that is missing is his incarceration
in Japan. But the games are here, well analyzed. And they
help make this volume great.
Everyman Chess, Everyman Publishers plc,
distributed in North America by the Globe Pequot Press, PO
Box 480, 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437-0480, has
published My Great Predecessors, Part IV by Garry
Kasparov, ISBN 1 85744 395 0 at $35 for the hard cover.
I realize I sound too enthusiastic in
reviewing Kasparov’s first four volumes, but as a long time
bibliophile, I have to simply state that these four volumes
are without equal in the history of chess. Anyone who is
interested in great games and the past of chess will bless
these volumes. Buy this book!
THE GRANDMASTER’S MIND
by Amatzia Avni
I am not certain whether
this was an ambitious book that fell short of its goal, or a
light- weight effort that fell short of its goal. The
format was clear: author Avni would present is (largely)
Grandmaster friends with a chess position or game (or ask
them about one of their games) and ask them to verbalize
their thoughts. That way, the reader would get an insight
into the Grandmaster mind, a key to thinking like a
Grandmaster. This was first done in a systematic fashion by
de Groot who interviewed some strong players in this fashion
almost sixty years ago. Unfortunately, too many of Avni’s
GM friends are much stronger players than they are literate.
I suppose it is valuable,
somehow, to have a GM tell us about his 14-move draw with
Smyslov or that in chess, sometimes poetry is needed rather
than calculation, or Wow! as a GM is shown a move in a game
he is analyzing, a move that caught him by surprise.
Sometimes the G<M is at a loss to explain why he made the
move he made, only that the move is the correct one for the
position even if he can’t explain why.
Gambit Publications Ltd., distributed in the US by BHB
International, Inc., 302 West North 2nd Street,
Seneca, SC 29678, has published The Grandmaster’s Mind
by Amatzia Avni, ISBN 1 904600 19 0 at $23.95 for the soft
cover edition.
I don’t want to dwell on
the negative aspects of this book. There are positive
insights. Even the insight that some very strong players
rely greatly on intuition is valuable to give confidence to
those who rely on intuition. But overall I found this book
not very helpful to me, and I am not sure just who it would
be helpful for. I can say that the combinations and endgame
positions are mostly interesting and instructive. I know,
too, that Avni has some interesting friends. If you are
interested in different patterns of thinking about thinking,
this book may interest you.
ALEXANDER ALEKHINE MASTER OF
ATTACK
by Alexander Raetsky & Maxim
Chetverik
There are books on the
market that are designed to improve your tactics. For the
most part, these books give you a position and ask you to
find the tactical continuation. These books will increase
your tactical expertise by exposing the reader to different
patterns of combinations. For the most part these
combination books lack personality. Not so with this
book.
Everyman Chess, Everyman
Publishers plc, distributed in North America by the Globe
Pequot Press, PO Box 480, 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT
06437-0480, has published Alexander Alekhine Master of
Attack by Alexander Raetsky & Maxim Chetverik, ISBN 1
85744 372 1 at $18.95 for the soft cover.
All
the combinations in the book are by Alexander Alekhine, one
of the great combinational geniuses. Further, the entire
game is given, though the moves leading up to the
combination are not annotated. Once the critical
combinational moment is reached, then there are notes and
variations given, if necessary. This allows the reader to
gain an appreciation of some of the brilliant chess of
Alekhine. Of course it would be a better book if the
earlier moves were analyzed too, but it would also be a
different kind of book. As a combination book, I rather
like the mixture of chess history and chess combination.
So, though the book is slight, Alekhine’s genius remains
very much alive. This book can help you improve your
tactics if you are rated 1800-2400. Perhaps the pages from
84-94, “Alekhine Tips” for solving the various positions
could have been left out. The “hints” are more of a
distraction than a help.
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