Chess Books

Queen's Indian Defence, written by Denmark chess expert and International Master Jacob Aagaard, is an extensive and informative study of a specific chess-playing strategy, one which is often used by the Black side against queen's pawn openings. Most of Queen's Indian Defence is devoted to diagrams and extensive lists of game moves, with commentaries on the wisdom or lack thereof of various possibilities. A superb resource for advanced chess players, Queen's Indian Defence is an especially recommended addition to any dedicated chess player's personal reference shelf for its technical detail and focus on excerpts from sample games.

This work was written in 1978 by the Old Man himself, Arpad Elo. Chess players remember Elo as the cantankerous professor of physics from Marquette University, and as the inventor of the rating systems used by the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Who better to explain the mathematics behind the rating system which, according to a letter Elo wrote to Chess Life several years ago, "is, after all, MY system". The explanations are semi-technical, but understandable by anybody with a mathematical inclination, regardless of their education in that field. There is even a chapter in which ratings are calculated retroactively, for grandmasters of bygone days. The book was written B.K. (before Kasparov), so of course Bobby Fischer comes out on top, with a rating of about 2780. His closest competitors are Lasker, Capablanca, and Botvinnik, each of whom peaked at about 2720. The average rating of tournament players in the U.S., by the way, is about 1500, several classes below the stars. Interesting reading.

'The Record Men', published on the 50th anniverary of Chess Records, is a fabulous piece of business literature. It tells the story of Leonard Chess, the Jewish founder of chess records - 'rude, comical, vulgar - but when you shook his hand, you knew he had met someone', who hit upon a new music - the black musicians such as Muddy Waters, with their sound steeped in the lore and culture and poverty of their background. From rough, humble origins in the hard, spit and sawdust Macomba Lounge in Chicago (which eventually burned down), Chess hit the road and hustled, persuaded and cajoled his way into building up Chess Records, an independent label with the freshness and creative freedom to outsmart the big majors when it came from picking up the sounds from the street and recording them low budget.

It is appropriate then, that 'The Record Men' was published by small independent publisher Profile Books in the UK. Profile, with their alternative fiction imprint 'Serpent's Tail' are a fantastic small publisher with their intellectual noses close to the cultural zeitgeist. They can pick up on books that the big boys such as Random House and Harper Collins overlook - their ethos very much in the vein of Leonard Chess and his small time hustle leading to great success.

And finally, a word about the style - Rich Cohen, an editor for 'Rolling Stone', writes in what almost seems like a pastiche of the American hard men - Steinbeck, Hemingway, with a hint of Woody Allen in movies such as 'Sweet and Lowdown'. It is fantastic. Cohen has a slick, streetwise voice with a cool ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for metaphor, for example, his description of the musician who plays hard, with his jacket 'frankensteining up his arms'. His writing is steeped in a love of American culture, and popular music - a culture emerging from the speakeasy, the jazz era, the mob. At times, this is almost too overdone, so it comes across as the kind of hardboiled prose cooked up to appeal to the escapist desires of middle class straphangers, but mostly, it is the genuine article -you can almost taste the sweat pouring off the musicians during their late night recording sessions. For anyone who is tired with mass market books, who finds much of the non fiction (and fiction) prose published these days stale and flat, grab a copy of 'The Record Men'. It is a fine, zesty tonic that will revitalise your interest in business, in non-fiction - it could even fire up your passion for life again.

This little book is excellent. It compares very well to Edmar Mednis's books on the endgame, inasmuch as it explains in detail how to make plans in the endgame and typical mistakes to avoid. Highly recommended.

I remember reading "the reliable past" article dedicated to the 50th birthday of Rafael Vaganian on the Russian website www.peoples.ru.
I recently discovered the article has disappeared. That was really pity.
But now I've got this book with the same title and there are many more portraits on other chess players like Euwe, Miles,Lutikov, Bagirov, Korchnoi etc.
I would highly recommend this book not only to those who is interested in chess, but also or especially to historians since... You'll find it out yourself why after you've read the book. Excellent!!!
The same gose for the title "Smart Chip from Sankt Petersburg". Unique.
I am now waiting for the first book "Russian Silhouettes" which is not available.

I have a lot of chess books, and have written lots of reviews. My reviews tend to not be very objective; rather, they are based on whether a book really held my interest, to an extent that I actually finished the book. This is why I think "My System" by Nimzowitsch is perhaps the greatest single chess book: it holds my interest every time I work through it, in a way that few other books have. This games collection by Reshevsky (my original copy is called "Reshevsky's Best Games of Chess") similarly holds my interest, and draws me into it deeper and deeper over time. I cannot say that it has the fascinating peculiarities of a "My System," or the unique engaging dialogue of an "Amateur's Mind," yet there is something about the games and the annotations that is uniquely compelling to me. Reshevksy's opening repertoire is exactly along the lines that I play, consisting almost exclusively of 1. d4 with white and the Sicilian and Indians as black. Yet it is not just the repertoire, but the way he plays it and explains it that is so fascinating to me. I am not a good enough player to fathom the "style" of a Karpov or a Kasparov (or Shirov, Leko, etc.). But for some reason, I find myself sensing something I can relate to in Reshevsky's games. It involves his "pacing" of the opening and middlegame. He plays the openings patiently, and seems to wait until his opponent makes a slight mistake before he gets aggressive. I tend to overreach myself and get too hasty in the openings. But Reshevsky has no problem playing e3 in response to a Slav. It is as if he is playing a Colle without having to deal with ...c5. This morning, I began studying a game in this book. Normally, when I study a chess book early in the morning, I get tired after about a half hour. Today, I was through three games in detail in about an hour before I even realized what time it was. This is what happens to me when I read this book. I cannot say objectively what it is; but I do know that this is one of my favorite chess books, because it has this magical quality that draws me into it and does not let go. Under no circumstances would I ever sell this old Dover copy of this book. If I were to lose it, I would do whatever it took to get another copy.

Well first of all we all know who is Reti,to read his thougts and ideas in his own books is someting and to read them on the board is a completly different thing because his words are very intresting but his games are realy full of simple winning chess.I played through his games more than once and every time i go back to them ,i would still have the same joy.and thanks to H.golombik the games in this book are realy well picked.Masterpeices needs masters to annonate...

During the 1930s, it appeared that the USA, not the USSR, would inevitably become the dominant force in the chess world. During that time the USA team won four consecutive gold medals in the Chess Olympiads. Moreover, the USA could boast two world beaters in the form of Sammy Reshevsky (see companion volumes) and Reuben Fine, whose best games appear in this book. However, the massive state support offered to chess in the USSR finally tipped the scales in the direction of Soviet Russia. Nevertheless, it is difficult to avoid the impression that - had the economic playing field been level - then the American Grandmasters, and Fine in particular, would have emerged on top. In this context it is fascinating to observe Fine's comments,in this book, about his trip to Russia in the late 1930's. Whereas Soviet writers, such as Kotov, (see the Soviet School of Chess) stress the creativity and free thinking of Soviet Masters, Fine, in distinction, observes a rigidity and conformity of intellectual purpose, which he believes would ultimately have imposed insuperable restrictions on them, had they been facing equally well resourced opposition in the crucial battles that came after the second world war. This is a remarkable book, contributing fresh insights into the chess of the 1930s, and containing games by a great master, whose output has been unjustly neglected. Reuben Fine was the American Grandmaster who formed, along with Keres, Botvinnik and Reshevsky, the most potent threat to the domination of the old masters Capablanca, Alekhine and Euwe, in the period preceding World War Two. Fine had an easy flowing style and with his shared victory at Avro 1938, ahead of the world élite and equal only with Keres, it appeared that his dream of world domination was at hand. Sadly, the Second World War shattered any illusions of chess hegemony by Fine and he declined his invitation to compete for the supreme crown, when it finally came in 1948. By then Fine was already set on the path of professional psychology. As with Pillsbury, events had contrived to deprive the USA of a likely world beater. Fine stands out as one of those individuals who might have challenged the Soviet juggernaut with success - as Bobby Fischer later did - had forces united behind him to support his struggle. As it was, lone westerners in the 1930s to 1950s stood scant prospect against the mighty Soviet state supported machine.

"The Right Way to Play Chess," now in its eighth edition, has been internationally acclaimed as "the best" book for beginners. It might well be subtitled "Chess without Tears." Designed to take the drudgery out of chess, it guides you easily and confidently through all the stages of the game. It may be a while before you can take on Bobby Fischer, but it's the best first step you can make.

An entertaining, painless yet thorough introduction to chess for young people. The King describes the basics of the game and introduces each piece, who describes his own moves. Elementary strategy and several simple games are included. Very well done -- I enjoyed it thoroughly as a child!