Tournaments Books

I like the games in this book. They are from some of the strongest players in one of the strongest tournaments. Though the analysis to the games seems accurate, I found that some times there was no explanation of things that I had a question about. And the analysis and ideas would lose me at times. Not all that clear.

It has been said that this book is best for players of at least 1600 strength, due to the positional nature of the games presented and the relative lack of annotated variations. However I feel the book is excellent for anyone about 1200 or higher and I offer the following concrete reasons.

1. The book serves as a fine introduction to the concepts of positional play. That is, by carefully going through the games, you will learn about positional thinking. A second or even third run-through will reinforce these ideas and they will begin to make sense.

2. The narrative explanations are actually better for a lower rated player because they are easier to follow and understand. The lower player gets lost in a maze of variants.

3. If something is not clear (this happened to me in many places, of course) then put it on your computer and explore the situation with the help of Fritz or some other engine. Clarity will not always come but plenty of learning will take place.

4. I think most important of all the book gives the lower player something to strive for. The feeling, after repeated study of the games, of "a light going on" is something that I really appreciated. This is learning of the best kind.

Though the lower player has to spend most study time on tactics, one good book of GM games to study is important. This can easily be that book.

This book is constantly reviewed in glowing terms. In my opinion, this exalted status is not at all warranted. Yes, this was a great tournament with many games of very high quality. Yes, Bronstein is a brilliant and imaginative player who writes well. Furthermore, I definitely applaud Bronstein's goal "to avoid weighing down his book with variations." Nothing is more annoying than an anno-Fritzed game where the mass of variations cannot be untangled to understand the position.

However, Bronstein errs way too far in the other direction. Many games are "annotated" with no variations at all, with Bronstein relying instead on overly wordy evaluations of positions which do not allow the reader to form an objective opinion. General principles unsupported by any concrete variations are even more unhelpful than too many variations.

For example, compare the analysis of Geller-Euwe, Euwe-Najdorf, Averbakh-Kotov and Keres-Smyslov in Bronstein's book with the analysis of these games in "The World's Greatest Chess Games", and there is simply no comparison. The modern approach by Burgess and Nunn of providing enough variations to allow concrete understanding is overwhelmingly better than Bronstein's discussions of the same games. The game collections of Kotov (Grandmaster at Work), Averbakh (Averbakh's Selected Games), Smyslov (125 Games) and Taimanov (Taimanov's Selected Games) contain games from this tournament, and all of them do a much better job of annotating and explaining than Bronstein.

Overall, I have to go against the consensus and rate Bronstein's book as mediocre. (Don't lynch me.)

This is perhaps the greatest tournament book ever written. Bronstein's his psychological insights into the thinking processes of strong GMs make this book a must-have for players of all strengths.

In particular, players of sub-2200 rating will find this book a treasure and a careful study will certainly enhance your understanding of the game. For a creative and tactical genius, Bronstein does not weigh down the book with detailed variation analyses, but focusses on the broad thinking of positional and strategic matters.

Kotov in his classic "Think Like a Gramdmaster" quotes freely from this book.

The easy, conversational style of the annotations makes it a pleasure. Witness this (I am not quoting from memory here) - "It is time to introduce the reader to the secret of the backward d6 pawn in the King's India Defence...". The paragraph that follows is a deep insight into one of the fundamental positions of the KID.

Buy this book. You will be much the better player for it.

Excellent, chatty entertaining annotations. Elucidates the evolution of the philosophy underlying chess strategy in excellent prefaces.

This book doesn't seem to blend well with the rest of my shelf. I don't actually fish. My nephew, Miles, loves fishing, and my brother-in-law (his dad) is a competitive bass fisherman. Miles wanted this book for his birthday so we bought it for him and I decided to read it before we gave it to him.


In case you didn't know it, Mike Ianconelli is the hip hop loving, baggy pants wearing, tattoo displaying, former champion break dancer who is from New Jersey (I think - I don't remember now) and has won some major bass tournaments - traditionally a rural, good old boy activity. It is a very quick read (an hour or two) and was very interesting. Until reading this book I had known absolutely nothing about competitive bass fishing; and I feel I now have some insight into an unknown world. Don't expect to see me at a bass tournement anytime soon, or watching one on ESPN2, but this was a fun and interesting book.

Enjoyed the book, couldn't put it down, finished it quickly, it was an easy read mostly. Except for the tables and stories between the stories that made me stop reading, start reading something else, then go back to reading the story. know what I mean? Distracting. Liked learning about Mike's pro life, could pass on the personal stuff. But can see he has fun doing what he does, and I can appreciate that. I guess some folks dont like his attitude, I thought he came off like a guy I'd like to know.

Good book, glad I read it.

It's a quick read, I finished it in a couple of hours. I thought the writing style was poor. It's written in a really familiar voice. Picture reading a long email sent by a friend. He uses the monumentally annoying "you know?" at the end of 50 or more sentences throughout the book. Of course I don't "know" what you're talking about, instead of explaining yourself you just trail off thinking the point is too obvious to bother printing.

There's about 15 sidebars throughout the book, explaining everything from breaking down a lake to what his favorite songs are. There's not much technical fishing knowledge (i.e. lure selection or casting technique) in the book, which honestly is OK since I didn't read it for that. The author favors trying to get the reader to see all the questions that were considered to reach a certain decision and I like that approach. Fishing isn't something you apply a template too, many fisherman can figure out what lures and tackle to use if they just know the important questions to ask themselves. I think it's better to learn the right questions to ask and work out the answers for yourself and apparently the author agrees.

The fishing stories themselves are decent, but often plot lines just fade into pointlessness. The best example I recall was his tale of the 2003 Classic. The author is really worried about spectator traffic on day 2 ruining his prime fishing hole. The worry is explained for several pages and even mentions how he tries to wear a goofy costume so that fans wouldn't be able to identify him at a distance as easily. He's doing all he can to throw them off the trail, he doesn't want them to ruin the fishing spot before he can use it to win the Classic. Well, in short, he never brings it up again. When he arrives at the spot he outlines his day's catch and never mentions how the spectators effect him or the fishing. The previous pages of worry are just forgotten and not resolved or explained.

The main focus of the book is really the hardships of living on the road and the lifestyle of fishing for bass professionally. It won't really help your fishing tremendously and the writing isn't very good. Still, it's not a completely miserable book and the subtle fishing related topics do have some value. I don't think there's any reason to own the book if your library has a copy, there's no lasting knowledge or tidbits to revisit between fishing seasons.

I started to read it and couldn't stop. It took me a week to finish it and it was great. Mike takes you to the real ambience of tournament fishing and his tips are very good to improve your fishing techniques. The books also represents a very good example on how his familiy has been a very important part of becoming a chmapion and how this affected his personal life.

Great book overall!

Pablo Magallanes
Guadalajara, Mexico.
July, 2008

Full disclosure...I had only read about the author in Bassmaster magazine or watched him on ESPN, so I had a negative opinion about Mike before I ever picked up his book. However, that doesn't mean that he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to catching bass. He had many valid points about the world of professional bass fishing. The material about his personal life (e.g., divorce and his sexual conquests) did not really add anything to what he had to say, but all in all it was a pretty good effort. Mike, I don't hate you any more. I just think you are emotionally immature.

I couldn't put the book down. Keidler captured the essence of the epic journey of both the wrestlers and their families. He exposes some of the evils involved in youth programs and with parenting yet doesn't dwell on the negatives, allowing the reader to make his or her own judgement. After reading the book a trip to the Iowa State Wrestling Finals has been added to my bucket list of sporting events to see. As a non-wrestler I have always admired the dedication and spirit of the sport and this book provided even more appreciation. The ultimate compliment I can give the book is that since finishing it I find myself checking the progress of the wrestlers as they compete in college. Kreidler really stuck it!!

A great read on two wrestlers who seek greatness in Iowa High School wrestling. The book focuses on the intensity and drive required to be the best. As someone who doensn't live in Iowa, I came away with an appreciation of how big wrestling is in Iowa. Drama, challenges and interesting characters are all here. This is one of the very few books that I will re-read.

The way "Four Days to Glory" picked up steam from chapter to chapter, I had a hard time setting it aside, and wound up reading it too fast. I actually had to go back a second time to pick up the little details I missed.

This is a great story about heart, sacrifice and pride. I have almost no background in wrestling, but I found myself afterwards going to the internet to find out how Jay and Dan are doing now. Thanks to their success, this looks like a story that is going to continue to be told for years. It should be -- they've got an awful lot to say to many of us who can use the inspiration.

I have read basically every book on the subject of wrestling. This book is number one. The first time you read it, the hair on the back of your neck will stand up several times. I liked the interconnection between the wrestlers, families and the Iowa culture of wrestling. As an avid reader, I rarely read a book a second time. This book was just as good the third time.

"Four Days of Glory," was a super read. Kreidler takes us right into the hard, lonely world of high school wrestling. It was great following these two wrestlers as they deal with all the pressures of trying to accomplish a huge feat. It's not just about takedowns and nearfalls, it's about fathers and sons, hometown hero's and an obsession with goals. Very entertaining...It's "Friday Night Lights," for wrestling in the state of Iowa.

Let me preface this review by saying that I've read about a dozen other books before this one, including Dan Harrington's tournament books, Phil Gordon's Green and Blue books, Brunson's Super System, and other classic poker books. I like 'em all, but if you're a fan of online sit 'n go tournaments like I am, then you'll find that this book just stands out above all the rest.

This book did exactly what it claimed - it changed me from being a break-even player to a winning player. It completely changed the way I was looking at SnGs.

Moshman's examples are written in the same format as Harrington's, which I enjoy. Rather than just telling you how to play, it gives you an opportunity to make a decision about what you would do in a given situation, and then the author explains what the correct decision is.

The book is broken down into low blind play, mid blind play, and high blind play. There's a fourth section entitled "Career Play," that deals with various things like bankroll size, strategies for multi-tabling, optimum times to play during the week, etc. I was suprised I could learn as much from "Career Play" as I did from the first three sections that dealt specifically how to play a SnG. Definitely worth checking that section out.

If at times I find myself struggling and feel like I need a refresher, this is the book I go to. It caters specifically SnG's, and does so in a very logical, detailed, and in depth manner. No tournament book out there even comes close to this one.

Bottom line: I was playing $1.10 SnG's before I read this, and now I'm very confidently playing $10 SnG's, and before long I'll be playing the more expensive SnG's.

very technical. additionally, it can be read more then once and you will learn more and more each time. some parts are quite boring

If I had to advice one poker book only, my choice would be this one. It's explanation of the play with different blind sizes is fantastic. It's very useful also for cash players because they can understand the importance of the stack size (deep cash play is somewhat similar to small blind tournament play). I strongly advice this book

This is an excellent book on the 1-table SNG format. After describing the theory of play in each of a wide variety of situations (small, medium, and high blinds; short- and big-stacked; cards in hand; etc.), Moshman provides several hand "quizzes" that examine how to play specific hands. This is an EXCELLENT feature missing from most poker books--even most of the good ones.

One minor beef: I'd like to see some expansion into multi-table SNG's, which somehow ride the line between the 1-tables discussed here (and in several other books) and full-on tournament play.

If you want to learn a very aggressive approach to playing single table sit and go Holdem tourneys at the $100.+ plus buy-in level this is a good book. The author says he is successful with this method and I believe him. The downside is that his approach will likely be much less successful at the lower limits where raises get far less respect but some of what he teaches will apply to lower limit play.

I loved this book it ruled! If there was a 6 star rating and I would choose 6 and Wrestlemania 1-2000 (16) execpt there was only a promo for Wrestlemania 2000(16) I wish they showed Wrestlemania 2000's Fatal 4 way elimination match other than that read the book and watch the DVD and you'll know enough abot WWFE WRESTLEMANIA

A LOT OF PICTURES OF MATCHS LIKE HOGAN\WARRIOR, AUSTIN\BRET,TAKER\KANE,SHAWN\AUSTIN,BRET\SHAWN,ROCK\AUSTIN AND OTHERS.PS BUY IT TODAY IF YOU ARE A TRUE WWF FAN.

they give you all wrestlemaina besides legos and yearbooks of wwf my title is wrestlemaiana from 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 but no 19 because may 20th wrestlemaina XIX is live

This costs WAY more than it should, as it read extremely quick but is damn good while it lasts. Nice big pictures too, with the DVD a crowning touch, though the 16 entry leaves lots to be desired as the segment is merely a promo for the already-occured-a-year-prior event.

A great book from start to finsh. It tells you every main event at ever wrtestler mania 1- 16 and it event come with and dvd that shows you 2 hours of highlight from ever wrestler mania 1- 16. IF YOUR A TRUE WRESTLING FAN YOU MUST GET THIS BOOK.

Highly amusing sports journalism, if you want to call it that, not to mention a travelogue.

A writer, who also happens to be your A-grade pennant sort of standard type of tennis player thought it would be interesting to see if he could get one of the worst national football team's players to each play him in a short tennis match.

Not being the most open or easy to get by in country this presents some challenges, and some bemused players, although most are pretty good sports.

Some eye-opening local stuff about the country he comes across, especially with some of the less athletically skilled inhabitants.

A good read, especially given nobody knows anything about the place.


3.5 out of 5

As someone who takes a great interest in the former Soviet Republics, I'm always interested in personal travelogues throughout the area. This book didn't disappoint. His perspective is great for a country so rarely visited. And he shows respect and deference to Moldavians and the progress they've been working towards. The pictures are great as are the descriptions of each soccer player.

As a die-harder on CIS traveling, I do my best in ready every travelouge written on the former Soviet republics - some works, some do not work and some are great. Tony Hawks book is - against all odds - in the 2nd category.

The reason why Hawks has the odds against him for writing a travelouge that works (and under no circumstances is capable of writing a great travelouge) is that is simply doesn't have a clue about Moldova. As anyone that succedes with making a living out of something he doesn't have a clue about, he does not try to behave like he is an expert, he chooses a subject most other people don't have a clue about either and of course it does not hurt that he has a great humour and a lot of good spirit.

As a consequence of his approach though, the book is probably more interesting AFTER you have visited Moldova (or as entertainment for you that have no intention what so ever to go there - a marketsegment I suspect to be much bigger) than as preperation before you go.

2 other CIS travelogues come to my mind after reading Playing the Moldovans at tennis. Hennighan's Lost Province and Bissel's Chasing the Sea. Hennighan does not work, Bissel has written a great travelouge. The reason why Hennighan's book does not work is that as he as Hawks does not have a clue about Moldova nad the CIS, totally lacks the humour and - more important - the self irony and conciousnes about his own ignorance that it takes to write a good travelogue from this startingpoint. It should be stated that if you can live with the anoyments this creates, Hennighans book is quite worthwhile as the period of time he spends in Moldova, the fact that he speaks the language and the fact that he works there, give insights that Hawk's book can not provide. The reason why his travelouge is not great as Bissel's, is exactly because he does not even try to get a clue about the subject before he started writing. One can very well argue though that Hawk never intended to write a travelouge in this tradidtional sense.

Funny book - good observations!

I really enjoy Tony's humor, the way he writes and the fact that he actually goes through with his totally wild bets. A fun read!

If the Moldovan football team may not reach notoriety on the playing field, it certainly reaches notoriety on the tennis court. After watching a football match, Tony Hawks---not the skateboarder---makes a bet with his friend that he can defeat the entire Moldovan football team ... in tennis.

Masterfully done by a leading British comedian, "Playing Moldovan in Tennis" is a perceptive novel about the struggle, bureaucracy, kindness and hospitality in Moldova. Describing the good and the bad of a country so remote from the private eyes, Hawks' insights reveal a beautiful land with its share of problems - tensions in Transnistria, ethnic relations with the Roma community in Soroca, and the corruptive measures of a green organized crime. Yes, there are those references of which a Moldovan may not be proud. But in the heartiest of lights, the book opens a window into the intrinsic splendor of a country that even its people choose to ignore in today's daily struggles.

Filled with laughter, "Playing Moldovan in Tennis" is the best comedic piece to emerge in the West about transitional economies. Highly recommended!

Lev Alburt's seven volume course is uniquely effective in taking a diligent student from beginner to about expert level. Volume I is merely an introduction to the game. This volume follows with truly comprehensive coverage from beginner through the various novice stages, say ELO 300-1200. Suitable for age 9+ ...with exception of prodigies!

My chessclub now uses this to teach new people the game. GM Alburt provides great insight and an easy to follow course. Easily gets a beginner to the 1400-1600 range. Teaching with it is great review for a more skilled player. Plus, there are some things a better player coming up through the American chess system will find useful.

I am both a history and chess person. And, I learned in school that using both chess and the making of jam has a lot to do with each other in the way Russia was run under communism. The Government supported chess and wanted every kid to learn (this was good!). But because they didn't have enough chess teachers to go around teaching every kid at every school they needed a simple way for teachers to teach the masses. The answer was a slow way to get teachers to read material and go through things step by step. So there was a method for teachers who knew little or nothing about chess.
Now if you introduced chess to every kid in the United States this way and then had the good teachers work with the ones that show talant then you would produce far more grandmasters than any other country by far. Russians didn't dominate the world by the quality of teaching, but by sheer numbers. Actually this is the communist way (which worked) to defeat Germany in World War Two. They sacrificed about 10 Russian Soldiers for every 1 German Soldier in mass assualts. They could afford the lives and the method to win was not because of superior strategy but because of sheer numbers they could afford to lose. Now look at Germany and look at Russia. Who really won WW2? Germany is rich and now Russia is a disaster because of their entire communist system. It will take them many more years to get out of their mess. Russian Grandmasters have moved from Russia to get away from their poverty.
This book takes the old outmoded way of teaching chess to the masses and trys to dump it on you, trying to tell you because Russian dominated the chess world this must be good.
Just ask Fischer, who may not really be a chess teacher, but he put communist Russia to shame.
The writers of this book were born and raised in communist Russian. Though good players they lack efficient teaching skills. Chess itself doesn't have anything to do with communism. But teaching methods do.

I bought the first and second volumes of Lev Alburt's chess course. The first one, I ended up teaching my little brother, and he learned how to play chess up to the intermediate level. Oddly, I had learned most of volume I throughout playing 20 years of chess. At 34, I managed to buy volume II, and it took me a little over a month to complete the volume II. It taught me endgame knowledge I was not incorporating into my play. Something extremely important! It also taught me what I need to know to get to my desired 1800 strength. I now play with great insight into the endgame and know that opening is minor to the class player. I discover tactics work better. GM Alburt also autographed my first copy, as I remember. :) Plainly put, I do not see how anyone anywhere cannot reach at least a 1500 USCF playing strength if they truly live and study Alburt's two volumes of the Comprehensive Chess Course. And, if someone truly mastered all the materials in volumes I and II - incorporating them all into their play (including all the ideas in the 100 annotated games) - there would be no surprise if they reached an 1800 A-Class strength. I have noticed a difference in my chess already by 100 points, and I was rated in the 1400s. Now, my chess has climbed into the 1500s, and continues to grow! It would be in the 1600s if I played all my games at my full strength. Thank you Lev Alburt for such an outstanding set of books! I just recently purchased Tactics for the Tournament player - the third book which takes you beyond A&B class player. 1800 here I come! Bucky Adams

I liked it because it has a lot of things to learn from in it. I didnot find it entertaining but the things it covers are good.

In my early years of playing and studying chess, Alekhine's games made the most impression on me (let me say first I didn't study more modern masters after Botvinnik in those years because I read materials which were dated years ago so it excluded Fischer, Kasparov, etc.) I heard that some players including Kasparov also remarked that. If you think of chess as an art, Alekhine's games certainly have quite distinct qualities which I try to describe.
Alekhine's games possess qualities which someone may find very attractive (myself in early years) but another one may find it heavy (like Fischer; although Fischer did made some positive comments on Alekhine's chess). I like to compare Alekhine's art to that of Beethoven while Capablanca's to Mozart's). Alekhine in his early years did not possess the positional mastery which is necessary to propel a player to the top rank, but he did have combination gift which makes his games fascinating. This reason (there is also psychological block which Reuben Fine pointed out)explains why Lasker and Capa were superior than him in his early years. Later Alekhine developed his positional mastery and he's a well-rounded player with a rare ability to produce beautiful games. At his peak, he is distinguished even among world champions.
The decision to buy this book may depend on your taste and your stage of development. Some masters' games are complicated and beginners may find them a bit difficult to understand without annotation. In my opinion, beginners will benefit from studying Morphy's games and learn the importance of development and how to play in open positions. Capablanca's games are also very good to beginners. His games improve my playing with positional understanding. Besides, I believe that one can imitate Capa's playing style with no risk. The same is true for investors to imitate Warren Buffett's investment style (but there's no gaurantee that you can achieve the same results as Buffett). But you can hardly imitate Alekhine's style as it's risky to try to imitate George Soros's investment style.
In conclusion, I think you will not regret buying Alekhine's games but it's possible (depend on your taste) that you will like other masters. At the same time, some will find great inspirations from his games. One of Alekhine's greatest games, Reti-Alekhine 1923 (if i'm not mistaken) is truly spectacular, a rare beauty. I wonder if a very strong computer program (perhaps even stronger than Alekhine) can produce this game.

This book (originally published in two volumes, covering 1908-1923 and 1924-1937) has some great faults. Yes, Alekhine's analysis is sometimes unobjective. Yes, he sometimes (though rarely) presented as the actual gamescore a faster win that, in fact, he had only found in a post-mortem analysis. And, yes, of course, his opening ideas and opinions are outdated.

That said, this book (these books?) are still, justifiably, considered a classic. The real reason has nothing to do with Alekhine's outdated opening analysis or his creation of a quicker win in the endgame after the fact. It is Alekhine's analysis of the MIDDLEGAME, of attack, defense, and counterattack--the very meat of the game--that makes this book great.

As a master of the complicated attack, of turning nebulous strategic advantages into concrete winning variations, Alekhine had seldom, if ever, been equalled. Choosing a game at random (Game 62, Tarrasch-Alekhin, Pstyan 1922) and skipping over the opening variations, Alekhine notes, inter alia:

1. Move 14: White is already strategically lost because he "ceded the center to his opponent in exchange for a pawn of little value".

2. Moves 18-24: After launching an attack to take advantage of this, Alekhine notes in detail the only correct tactical way to carry on the attack, praising White for defending very well (incidentally, praise for his opponent's moves--and criticism of his own--are quite common in Alekhine's analysis, contrary to the usual claim that he despised his rivals.)

3. Move 28: How he prepared a bishop sacrifice to break down white's final defense and mate.

It is probably true that, in top-flight games among the world's top 20 grandmasters, such games are impossible today, due to improvement in defensive technique that would not allow Black to achieve this kind of strategic advantage in the first place, or perhaps find resources to defend once the mating attack is launched.

But for anybody is not one of those top 10 (or perhaps 100) players, knowing how to conduct an attack in the middlegame once you have a strategic advantage is the single most important subject to learn, as this is how most games are decided; and here, Alekhine is unrivaled. Even if one (unfairly) ignores *all* of Alekhine's opening analysis as outdated and *all* of his endgame analysis as invented, what is left is an absolute gem.

The only reason I rated this book a 3 is because I only understood a little from the annotations as well as his games. I can see that the games are powerful, but I can't use them to my advantage, or use the sight-of-alekhine in my games.

I have purchased this book in hopes that I would become stronger very quickly. I was dissilusioned by the idea that buying a book by one of the greatest (if not best) chessmasters would make me a master myself in no time at all! I was very wrong.
For those people who are rated 1500 or below, save your money. Save the 10 dollars for a book you can actualy understand. "Art of Attack" is what im readin so far, and so far so good.

SUMMARY: Good price, but is over most people's head.
Only buy if your rated higher than 1600, and have a willingness and the pateince to learn.

As others have mentioned, Alekhine's analysis is highly unobjective. He often neglects to mention defensive oversights by his opponents in order to make a dubious attack seem like a forced win. Furthermore, his opening analysis is incredibly weak in this book. Many of the lines he criticises harshly are now considered the "book." It almost seems that the more rudely he treats a line, the more respect that line currently receives.

But the most appalling thing of all is that a good number of games have been doctored or made up out of whole cloth. Just a few of the most egregious examples:
Volume 1 --
(1) On page 69, he discusses a game he played as White in Moscow 1915 which ended with 5 queens on the board. In fact, his opponent Grigoriev had White, and the game provided never happened (White played 11.O-O-O, not 11.NPxP). The line he cites as the game actually come from an analysis of the game.
(2) On page 79, he changes the ending of the game. The game proceeded 36....QN5 not 36....BR5!
(3) On page 84, he claims Mieses resigned. In fact the game went on an additional 15 moves.
(4) On page 107, he changes the move order to highlight some analysis.
(5) On page 109, he claims he played 27.QK3! In fact, he played a weaker move and the game dragged on 21 more moves.
(6) On page 240, he cites a game Alekhine-Tenner 1907 which never took place.
Volume 2 --
(7) On page 250, he changes the ending of the game. He had played the weaker 22....PxB not 22....QxB leading to mate.

Utterly disgraceful.

I am working throught this book presently. I have had it since '95 and each time I come back to it I am more blown away by how great it is. The only negative--and it has nothing to do with the quality of the book--is that there aren't a lot of Sicilians and King's Indians, so we don't really know how the great man would have dealt with those. This book represents one of the best values on the market, at 500-some pages at around ten bucks. If you don't have this book, you cannot be said to have a chess library.

It's a really interesting book, full of details and easy to read.
The cover describes Fisher as a lone hero, but inside the description of the two competitors is much more balanced.
Probably it could include some more details about the chess games: even if I'm not an expert, I was forced to find elsewhere the moves of the games which were described as particularly good or bad.

I first noticed this book on a stand at a bookstore because of its bright red cover. When I walked up to the stand and read the title I was surprised and excited to see that the book was about the famous Fischer-Spassky chess match held in Reykjavik, Iceland in the summer of 1972. I lived in New York City and was 14 years old then and I didn't know who Bobby Fischer was, neither did I know anything about chess, which goes for everyone I knew at the time also. I was aware of a cold war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R though. The hype in the media is what got me and my friends interested in the match and chess, especially since Bobby Fischer was a New Yorker from Brooklyn. Before the Fischer-Spassky match I didn't know anyone that played chess except the elderly men I would see playing chess on stone tables in the neighborhood park. The serious expressions on the elderly men's faces as they played made me think chess was a boring game that lacked any fun. But, the same way that Tiger Woods got younger people and minorities interested in golf so did the match with Fischer and Spassky got me and some of my friends to learn to play chess and a good thing that was because it was a long, hot, boring summer and learning chess along with the Fischer and Spassky match kept us out of mischief.
I had often wondered how this historic chess match came to be played in Iceland of all places and this book tells you how that happened along with the whirlwind of behind the scenes preparations, accommodations, negotiations and drama regarding Fischer's demands and the demands of other parties involved with this match. I felt sorry for the Icelandic people because the Fischer-Spassky match disrupted their obscure peaceful lives but they adapted gracefully.
Even though this book is mostly about the people, events and issues surrounding the famous chess match it also provides some general background information about Fischer, Spassky and the chess world leading up to the match. There is more information concerning the Russian side than Fischer's side but that's only because Russian chess was a well-organized government funded sport that involved several committees, trainers, doctors and other Russian chess grandmasters. Bobby Fischer on the other hand was a loner who took up chess at the age of six and got deeply and passionately involved with the game and who mostly studied and taught himself chess. At a young age Bobby set the chess world championship title as his goal and he relentlessly pursued the title with intensity. Besides Bobby's passion and talent for chess I don't believe Bobby's life was interesting or special in any way. In fact, he grew up relatively poor with no father and dropped out of school to devote as much time as possible to the pursuit of excellence in chess. This is a guy that always carried a pocket chess set with him and he would pull it out anywhere and anytime he was bored or uninterested with his surroundings. One of Bobby's famous quotes is "Chess is life" at least chess was Bobby's life.
The Russians knew years before the famous match that they would have to contend with Bobby Fischer for the world chess championship title and when he finally did achieve the right to challenge the Russians for the chess championship at the relatively young age of 29 he had become a juggernaut, mowing down all of the grandmasters in the candidates round, a feat without precedence in the history of chess
Were the Russians concerned? You better believe it. But, since Fischer had never defeated Spassky in the past Spassky wasn't that concerned and that was part of his undoing. As we all know Bobby Fischer won the match convincingly and the repercussions were felt everywhere because the media had hyped this event as an east vs. west cold war showdown. The Soviet chess machine was dethroned and shaken to it's foundation, Bobby Fischer went from unknown to an instant heroe and international superstar celebrity overnight in a way that hadn't been seen since unknown pilot Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic ocean from New York to Paris non-stop to win the Ortieg prize in May 1927. The big difference is that Lindbergh basked in his new found celebrity status and prospered well and went on to promote aviation for many years. Bobby Fischer disappeared and forfeited his title to Karpov in 1975 when he refused to defend his title because the FIDE agreed to only 178 of his 179 demands thus adding more mystery and confusion to the enigma that was Bobby Fischer. Some people say Bobby didn't defend his title because he was afraid of losing, I don't believe that for a minute because as I wrote before Bobby had become a juggernaut and was in his chess playing prime. I will add another Fischer quote "The Russians have held my title for ten years and they're going to be in for it when I win the Championship. They're going to have to wait and play under my conditions." Besides Bobby's intense animosity towards the Soviet commies, and his desire to be in control due to his distrust of chess organizers, Bobby knew that the Russians were masters at drawing games and the one demand that the FIDE would not agree to was for draws not to count for half a point that way there would be more pressure to win a game than draw a game also Bobby believed it would truly decide the superior player and matches wouldn't last as long due to more decisive games and fewer draws. The FIDE thought the opposite way; they believed that with draws not being awarded half a point could cause matches to last indefinitely. I believe Bobby was right, thus Bobby's attempt to change some tournament and match game rules for the better was negated and he truly withdrew from chess competition.
No one in history has done more for chess than Bobby Fischer. Even today using Bobby Fischer's name will sell books, DVD's and magazines. For the first time since the Fischer-Spassky match people were able to make a living from chess because of its increased popularity. It took someone like Bobby Fischer with his antics, demands, brashness and genius to get the chess world noticed in this country. Bobby Fischer was the perfect person to take on the Soviet chess machine because he was totally unpredictable. Even the Russian psychologists after studying the profile they had on him came to the conclusion that he was a psychopath.
How do you play against a psychopath? to quote Spassky, "When you play Bobby, it isn't a matter of win or lose, it's a matter of if you survive" Spassky claims it took him a year to recover from the match with Fischer.
The losers to Bobby's withdrawing from chess competition is all of us who enjoy playing and love the game of chess because one can only imagine the wonderful games and brilliancies he would've performed had he continued to engage in chess competitions. Thus, when Bobby stopped playing chess, I stopped playing chess also but, I started to have another interest and my new interest was girls. Since no girls played chess and no girls were interested in chess and no girls were interested in guys that played chess, I stopped playing chess completely until I bought and read this book two years ago and started to take up the game of chess again and it was such a joy to relive the summer of 72 again. Thank you Bobby Fischer, you are the immortal king of the immortal game. RIP

If Bobby Fischer's name is affiliated with a book, it comes to reason that there is some amount of weirdness forthcoming. I am not referring to the chess books Fischer wrote, as those are guidelines to chess perfection. This refers to any discussion of his life, which this book does. The world's greatest chess player, Fischer, has lived his personal life much less logically than his life is an eight by eight square cell.

To help the nonchess reader sort out the menagerie, authors David Edmonds and John Eidinow provide a "Dramatis Personae," listing 21 Americans, 24 Soviets, six Icelanders, four match officials, and six sundry others, explaining their relationship to the Reykjavik, Iceland chess match. They also include a short glossary to educate us in the vocabulary of competitive chess.

The book begins with a vital quote by Boris Spassky, "When you play Bobby, it is not a question of whether you win or lose. It is a question of whether you survive. This sets the tone for all that follows.

Edmonds and Eidinow lay out the social mire Fischer was growing up in, and his quick rise to chess dominance.

In 1954, when Fischer was 11, he was attending matches and doing well enough but not at his later prodigy level. In that year, as he is quoted, he "just got good." Modern chess history, or at least for one its most colorful characters, begins then.

1972: Boris Spassky was the champ. He deserved to be there. Bobby Fischer was the contender. He deserved to have the opportunity. Between these two men stood a world of complex politics, money, national pride, idiosyncrasies, and suitors to the game. Reykjavik, Iceland was the location of what has become one of the most legendary chess matches ever, between Spassky and Fischer.

Early on during Fischer's career, he had the same impact Michael Jordan would later enjoy later enjoy as professional basketball player. "Fischer-fear" was the description of some players' psychosomatic illnesses from Fischer's intimidation. Opponents would make mistakes as a result. Fischer had the bravado of Muhammad Ali, but none of his class. He would take this personality and boorish demands to the match.

Boris Spassky is painted differently. A product of the Soviet support system, he became professional about the game. Affable and popular, an opposite to in every way to Fischer, he still had what Fischer lacked -- the title "World Champion."

The bulk of the book moves on from biography and personality profiles. It follows the path the chess culture -- all chaotic in its apparent systemic approach. Going from the need to compete to the actual match turned through every convoluted corner, with Kissinger's involvement, the FBI, the KGB, and as much intrigue as a James Bond movie.

The travails of the match are outlined as needed (but not heavily), highlighting the most interesting parts and never boring nonchess players. The psychology of the players and chess players in general is discussed, as is the history of modern champions, providing a field for tension and a framework for the match.

This was in the midst of the Cold War, and the Soviets -- not just Spassky, owned the chess champ title. Nixon was president. Fischer, the bombastic, arrogant American who hated Russia, had a knack for successfully risking it all on the board by knowing the principles of chess as a sublime art form. Spassky, the methodical Russian, against Fischer, became a symbol of the Cold war itself. The image of the match was only half of the matter. Neither man was the caricature the press saw them as, but such are the stories of legend.

I fully recommend "Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time," (title from the hardback edition) by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. Oh, and if you somehow missed the big news back in 1972, Fischer won the match.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

This is the 2nd book I read by these 2 prize-winning journalists and authors and I praise this work once again as a brilliant tour of famous chess match between Spassky and Fischer!
The book has multiple focuses. While the matches themselves are not described in stark detail, the atmosphere around is. Included in this are brief biographies of these 2 chess superstars, pre-match and post-match reactions as well as its influence and possible involvement in the Cold War.

In it, one discovers the passive, gentle and cordial personality of Spassky - a gentlemanly figure, in contrast to a demanding, bad-boy personality, yet a prodigy, of Bobby Fischer. The book recounts all the relevant events prior to this championship in Iceland in 1972, as well as reactions to it afterward. While there is some allusion to the matches themselves, as well as precise moves and brief analysis, the book in no way targets chess players as their primary readers. The book is targeted for anyone interested in history, particularly one having to do with chess and Cold War.

The book is a real page turner and hard to put down. The style has a fast pace to it, yet thorough enough to capture even minute details. Overall, a great read for anyone and I highly recommend it!

I was pretty excited about buying this book, because who wouldn't want a book about how one man stood up to a Superpower at the height of the Cold War and won?

But then, when you get into it, the book becomes more of a breakdown of the Fischer/Spassky match, only one written for non-chess players. Apparently most all of the story comes from interviews and the recollections and memos of the participants

The problem with that is that they couldn't get an interview with Fischer, and the book shows it. In terms of pages, "Bobby Fischer Goes to War" is 40% about Spassky, 20% about chess, 30% about the reporters or other GMs at the match or whatever, and maybe 10% about Bobby Fischer. Which would be fine if it wasn't put out there as a book about Bobby Fischer, but it was and its not that at all

Written by 2 co-authors and apparently not edited at all, the book meanders from place to place and anecdote to anecdote, and the last 100 pages are intolerably slow. They cover the post-mortem of the match; what went wrong and where the participants ended up. The main problem with that, again, is maybe 10 of those 100 pages are about Fischer. I mean, its really great to know that some Soviet minister of whatever retired and had a good life, but to my mind the book is crippled by long detours into side characters' lives, and I think the authors only indulged in those detours because they had next to no information about Bobby, so they had to talk about something to run up the page count

The first half of the book is interesting and relatively fast-paced, and actually does illuminate the Spassky/Fischer match, even if it doesn't offer any actual insights into Bobby Fischer, beyond what some people who met him once or twice think of him. The second half is just a re-hash of things already stated, and a "where are they now?" type piece on each of the officials of the various organizations who put the match together

So to sum up: this book is basically just a story about that historic match up, and its more told from Spassky's side than anyone else's. If that's what you want, great. Here it is. If you wanted a book about Bobby Fischer, about any part of his life other than those few months in Iceland, you won't find it here. If you wanted his insight into the matches, or analysis of the matches, that's not here either

Also, you should be warned that the story is told about 75% from the Soviet side of things, so there are alot of Russian names and governmental titles. That might bother some readers; I found it difficult after awhile to differentiate between the various Russian officials, especially since some are referred to by nicknames at one point, then by their given names, then by title, etc.

Hope that helps you make an informed decision on whether or not to buy the book

Flatbellies is an invitation to yesterday...to the adventures that sprouted after you out-grew your bike, but never forgot the kids you rode with. It's about young people who gladly overlook each others' faults in the interest of loyalty and love. And it's about what happens in the magic summer of youth...your first love, your first brush with victory and its promise...and your first look at the distant horizon. Read it; you'll remember.

Dr. Hollinsgworth embarassed me as a human, former teenager, and golf loadie. It was the worst thing I have ever read.

I have never golfed, nor have I any interest in the sport. However I must say this is one of the best books I have ever read. It truely is a timeless classic. The book is a comming of age story loosely based on the author's own childhood. It has very well developed characters that just about anyone can relate to. I absolutely loved it. 5 stars does not do it justice.

I really found this book hard to put down. Good story line, great characters, good golf content, and enough action to keep you riveted. An easy and great read.

This story reminded me to Stephen King's Stand By Me or Lorenzo Carcaterra's Sleepers. All are stories about a group of four teenagers who use their relationship with each other to survive the pains of growing up in the 1960;s. Where Stand By Me was grounded upon the kids' search for a dead body and Sleepers was located in a juevenile detention facility, Flatbellies is located in a sleepy Oklahoma town and the boys are the members of the local golf team.

I found that I could sympathize with the storyteller, Chipper DeHart, who cares less about his own scores than whether the team can progress to the championship. You definitely want to see both the team and Chipper succeed, both on and off the course.

The only real problem that I had with the book was that some of the characters seemed a little bit too stereotypical, particulary the teen wonder, Jay Justice, who combines good looks, athletic ability, and a photographic memory into a package that is just a bit too good to be true. If asked whether I wanted to spend a round golfing with Jay or the rebel from the other town, Smokey Ray Divine, I guess I'd have to take the later.

Overall, I really liked the book and look forward to see if Hollingsworth has another story to tell.