Latest book reviews of 1 November 2006
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG.
Wilhelminalaan 33John Elburg
7261 BP RUURLO
The Netherlands.
Chess Books
New in Chess Yearbook issue 80
2006
244 pages
Price € 24.95
ISBN 90-5691-173-2
New in Chess issue 80 comes with a interesting collection of 32 openings surveys where I found for example the Sicilian Defence Sveshnikov Variation with the rare move 15.Nc2 from Alexander Galkin; {1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3 Be6 12.0-0 Bxd5 13.exd5 Ne7 14.c3 Bg7}and where the author is so kind to give in this interesting written survey all his secrets away.
The Sveshnikov expert Dorian Rogozenko considers this move in his book The Sveshnikov Reloaded,Quality Chess as an possible alternative, which is far less popular and less ambitious than the queen lunge to h5.
A other interesting survey comes from the great Efstratios Grivas with his pet line 4…Qb6 variation that runs with the moves: {1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bd3 d6 8.Be3 Qc7 9.f4 a6 10.Qf3 Be7 11.0-0-0 b5} and now the new novelty 12.e5!?
In April IM Nikolaos Gavrilakis asked the great master of the Grivas Sicilian advice on this move and he suggested 12…dxe5!
The analyses that follow in this survey are all very intensive and cover a small two pages of text.
In forum I found a interesting letter from Marc Schroeder who played a exciting Traxler game Schroeder,M (2438) - Lea,P (2136) [C57] EU/MSM/VII/prel1-7 ICCF webserver, 20.12.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7 7.Nxh8 d5 8.exd5 Nd4 9.d6 Qxd6 10.Nf7 Qc5 11.d3 e4 12.b4 Qf5 13.dxe4 Nxe4 14.g4 Qg6 15.h3 Qc6 16.Ng5 Qxc4+ 17.Kg2 Nxg5 18.Bxg5 Ne6 19.Nd2 Qxb4 20.Nf3 Bc5 21.Re1 Kf8 22.Qd5 Qb6 23.Re5 Qd6 24.Qe4 Kg8 25.Re1 a5 26.Rxe6 Bxe6 27.Qxe6+ Qxe6 28.Rxe6 Kf7 29.Re4 Bd6 30.Bf4 b5 31.Nd4 b4 32.Bxd6 cxd6 33.Rf4+ 1-0
Conclusion: There is no better way to keep abreast of latest developments!
Play stronger chess by examining chess 960 by Gene Milener
2006
Castelong.com
http://www.castlelong.com
250 pages
Price
ISBN 0-9774521-0-7
A few months ago I had the opportunity to play at the schemingmind.com site some chess 960games and to be honest it is a great pity that I did not have this interesting written book from Gene Milener!
For the first time there is a real book on Fischerandom chess that explains you how to play and understand this way of play. When I played one of my first 960 games I was very surprised that my opponent suddenly castled, strange enough I had no idea that this was possible!
In chess 960it is not always necessarily to castle but you must be aware that castling belongs to the possibilities of this way of play.
Gene Milener handles in this book different kind of strategies with openings tables and digs deeper into the play of chess 960 than any other book ever written on chess 960 and that counts also for Gligoric his book, Shall we play Fischerandom Chess,Batsford 2002.
My love for chess 960 does not dig so deep as Gene Milener does in this book but handles a lot of interesting topics as Would Reshevsky have been world champion in chess 960 and I must admit the analyse from Milener on Reshevsky make a lot of sense.
Reshevsky had a particular reputation as a player highly skilled at navigating the opening phase without benefit of deeply memorized opening lines.Botvinnink was the complete opposite, as the father of the Soviet school that elevated opening preparation to a rigorous science. Botvinnink thus had the opening phase as an advantage over
Reshevsky.I suspect Reshevsky might have won this1948 tournament and the world title if the rule had been chess 960.
This book is overloaded with information and love for chess 960.
Conclusion: A must book on chess 960!
Secrets of chess training by Mark Dvoretsky & Artur Yusupov
School of future champions 1
2006
Edition Olms
http://www.olms.de
218 pages
Price € 29,95
ISBN 978-3-283-00515-3
Secrets of chess training is a updated and expended edition of the 1989 paper edition of Batsford which won the BCF book of the year award in 1991.
This book is based on lectures and exercises written by the world's top trainer Mark Dvoretsky, and his great companion grandmaster Artur Yusupov.
Olms presents this highly regarded work in a new five-volume series for talented young players who have inspirations to become a master in chess.
The whole series is more a course and contains interesting reading material from famous trainers and grandmasters, as well as by students who have attended the material in this book.
The aim of this book is for players who want to study and don’t see a chess book as a piece of amusement, for example chapter two of this book starts with a superb. contribution from Artur Yusupov on the analyses of one’s own games.
The game Karpov -Yusopuv,Moscow 1983 is good for 7.5 pages of text where you can learn to understand the strategies that lay behind the Open variation of the Ruy Lopez.
The analyses from Artur Yusupov in this game is certainly more than a quick over view with the latest Fritz!
Very interesting is also the lecture on studying the chess classics from Mikhail Shereshevsky where the author is not interested in chess before Steinitz.
He admits that Morphy was a wonderful player but a study of his games does not come into my program. It begins with the theory of Steinitz.
The contribution from Mark Dvoretsky on Regarding a certain article is completely divided to
the famous game Capablanca – Alekhine,Buenos Aires 1927 and good for seven pages of text.
Conclusion: A important step to master ship!
The Taimanov Sicilian by James Rizzitano
2006
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
111 Pages
Price $19,95
ISBN 978-1-904600-62-6
In this age of computer databases we have other exceptions from a openings book than a small ten years ago where a reader was glad to see some latest developments.
This new opening series from Gambit “Chess Explained” offers the reader more than only latest Informator novelties, it covers a series of detailed openings lessons from a expert on one from his favourite pet lines.
James Rizzitano explains you in this book 25 highly instructive chess games based on the Taimanov Sicilian with the moves: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6, that belongs to one of the most flexible defences that black has in the Sicilian defence where all material is clearly divided in five readable chapters and well: 1 Probing bishop and Maroczy bind variations:5.Nb5 2 Taimanov introduction: 5.Nc3 a6,3, White’s sixth-move alternatives: 5.Nc3 Qc7 4 Flexible variation 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 and at last chapter five with the Paulsen main line 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Be2,which belongs to the one of the main lines of this opening.
This chapter is explained with five detailed games and is good for 23 pages of full text and that is more than enough to develop a good understanding of this important line.
Interesting to mention is the Probing bishop and Maroczy bind variation that once belonged to the favourite lines of Robert Fischer who preferred this move order in his famous game against Najdorf, Santa Monica 1966, Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. Bf4 e5 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Bg5 and Rizzitano gives now; A6 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. N5c3 f5 11. Qh5 Nd4 12. Bc4 Nxc2+ 13. Kd2 Qc7 14. Kxc2 Qxc4 15. Nd2 with compensation for the sacrificed material.
Fischer described the move 6.Bf4 as Sharpest. Objectively speaking, it is probably best to establish an immediate Maroczy Bind with 6.c4.
This line is instructively explained in the games Peter Acs – Viktorija Cmilyte,Wijk aan Zee 2003 and Chanda Sandipan – Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu,Pune 2004.
The first of the two is the most interesting because black goes for the invention from Kasparov: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 d5!?
Conclusion: A very impressive effort!
Chess CD's
Rybka 2.1 & Chess openings 2006
2006
Convekta
http://www.convekta.com/
Price € 48,96
System requirements: IBM-PC compatible computer, 128 Mb RAM, 1 Gb free of space on hard disk, CD-ROM, Windows 2000/NT/XP .Language versions: English, Spanish, German, French and Italian
The time that Fritz was the best chess engine in the world is no more,Rybka sports an impressive Elo rating from more than 3000 and that is a 150-200 points higher than any Shredder or Fritz engine.
His secret lays its unique algorithms and revolutionary technology for move selection and is created by the brilliant developer and International chess master Vasik Rajlich from Hungary.
On http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasik_Rajlich I found the following information about Vasik Rajlich Born in 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio, is an International Master in chess and the author of Rybka, a strong chess playing program. Rajlich is a Czech-American and saw first light in the United States of America to Czech parents, at that time graduate students, but grew up in Prague. He later spent many years in the United States as a student.
At the present he lives with his wife Iweta (neé Radziewicz) in Budapest, Hungary. Iweta, who is also an International Master in chess, helps him with the development of Rybka.
The power of Rybka lays in his human touch of the game and it is quite astounding that Vasik Rajlich has managed to create this chess monster in a time period of a small three years,he started programming in 2003! So lays the secret from Rajlich in his human approach of chess programming? Of is it the matter of playing strength of the chess programmer, usually programmers, please excuse me that I say this but programmers are usually not the strongest chess players.
Rybka does not come with a own interface but is packed in this Chess Openings 2006 program from Convekta.
This program is created on the basis of the Chess Assistant interface but it is a completely stand-alone database program.
So this version of Rybka and can not be used in conjunction with with other database programs at least I could not get it going in CA9.Users wishing to interface their Rybka in the Fritz environment should purchase the Rybka 2.1 UCI which I handle below.
Chess openings encyclopaedia 2006 covers an impressive files from over 1049930 entries, 8000 annotations and
500,000 expert evaluations, which means that this CD offers more openings information than any printed chess book.
Many chess players use this program as openings guide for the search of the best possible move, special with the help of the included cap files and easy go throw openings tables.
Chess openings 2006 is able to enter and annotate games, there are even superb utilities as ,edit and multi variation analyses but it is not possible to open with this program new game databases.
Included are two future internet updates from Rybka plus this program includes a interface to play chess at the Internet Chess Club!
Conclusion: A strong analytical chess package!
Rybka 2.1 UCI
2006
Convekta
http://www.convekta.com/
Price € 33,96
Requirements: IBM-compatible PC, Hard Disk (20 Mb of free disk space), Windows 2000/NT/XP, CD-ROM drive, playing chess interface.
For a long time the best engine was a matter of a few elo points but the new Rybka is a hell of a engine he is leading the famous computer list by hundreds of points.
Some chess computer engineers search the power of chess engines in the hardware of the computer as Deep Blue with his 256 processors but the bright Vasik Rajlich did it all with intelligent programming.
This CD package includes a Rybka 2.1 UCI engine for processors from 32 and 64 Bit.
A special Rybka 2.1 for chess Assistant 9,this is a special version where it is possible to connect Rybka 2.1 to CA9 as internal engine.
But Rybka works also in all main interfaces as Fritz and Chessbase but also in the free available Arena.{Please see http://www.playwitharena.com/}
Included in this package is a special 28 MB CTG openings van Rybka in case you have done a minimal installation from Fritz.
Included are two future internet updates from Rybka!
Conclusion: There has never been a chess engine so human as Rybka!
Chess Endgames 3 by Karsten Müller
Major Piece Endgames
2006
ChessBase
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price €29,99
System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive
The great endgame expert GM Karsten Müller handles in his part three of chess endings major piece endgames on all kind of endings
where queens are involved.
The material is again very instructive and Karsten Müller digs for example very deep in Queen against two rooks, as the author explains in chapter eight the two rooks are a little stronger that the queens but it depends all at position and the safety of the kings.
After Karsten Müller it is all a matter of technique which easy can be learned and the only thing you have to do is take up this DVD and watch it for at least for seven hours long!
And than I can guarantee you that you understand more of queens endings that you ever did before!
The material on this DVD is very modern and the author has put a lot of his energy in it.
Specially when we look at the sources that Karsten Müller has used for this DVD as his Endgame corner material from his regular ChessCafe.com contributions but also from the ChessBase magazines endgame contributions, where from great use for this heavy loaded endgame DVD.
A important hint from Karsten Müller is close the notation window of the ChessBase program that you are using.
Conclusion: Learn endgames with Chess Media files!
ChessBase magazine issue #114 on DVD!
Magnus Carlsen: Spectacular chess in Biel!
2006
October
ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Price Euro 19,95 per issue
Annual subscription costs Euro 99,70
Besides the two hour chess training in Chess Media Format as for example the game Van Wely-Timman from the last Dutch championship,
a brilliant game analysed by Van Wely in instructive words and great watching media files.
Other important reference material can be find in Recent tournaments {256 entries and 39 annotated games}Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2006 {29 entries and 17 annotated games} Chess Festival Biel 2006 {31 games and 22 annotated games}
But there is more as a superb openings article from Dorian Rogozanko on the famous Noteboom variation that runs with the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 b5 6.a4 Bb4 7.Bd2 a5 8.axb5 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 cxb5 10.b3 Bb7 11.d5 and all under the ECO code D31,but there are more surveys as the Italian game by Mihail Marin C55 with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.0-0 d6.
Or the Wojtkiewicz variation by Eric Prie 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 where Eric Prie writes: The recently departed Latvian-Polish-American Grandmaster was the world specialist of this line, with which he achieved enviable statistics in an overall environment of unfavourable figures for Black. Personally, I adopted it when I came upon Shulman,Y - Wojtkiewicz,A ½-½ Stilwater match 2005, trying to find a better antidote than 4...a6 5.Qc2 hampering the development of Black's queen bishop out of the pawn chain 5...b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.h3 Bh5 9.Nf4 Bg6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Bb2 g5!? This is probably playable for Black but difficult when faced by White's pair of bishops as proven by my miserable score against Glenn Flear with it. In comparison, the problems Wojtkiewicz had to face against Shulman seemed to me to be a cure!
4...g6 5.Nf3 transposes into a Grünfeld Schlechter against which Black should play the typical c5 break. The time Black has lost however really tells in this apparently unambitious line for White.
But there is more Grünfeld fun as the contribution from Michal Krasenkow who digs in the exchange sacrifice D89: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Na5 11.Bd3 Bg4 12.f3 cxd4 13.cxd4 Be6 14.d5 Bxa1 15.Qxa1 f6 and Lubomir Ftacnik on the D92 line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.Rc1 dxc4 .
Peter Lukacs and Laszlo Hazai look at the Nimzo-Indian with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 c5 8.dxc5 Nc6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Nf3 Bf5 and Viktor Gavrikov continues with his repertoire against the Rubenstein variation part 2 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Qc7 10.cxd5 exd5.
Peter Lukacs and Laszlo Hazai go for 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.g3 in the Scotch, Evgeny Postny made a impressive study with the Steinitz variation and Morozevich's discovery with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.a3 g5 and his conclusion is:
The line starting with 9...g5 is a new one, so it's too early to make a definite verdict. However, after this investigation I would say that the quiet move 10.Ne2 is the most unpleasant for Black. If White manages to keep his centre intact, he would secure a stable advantage. In the main sharp line 10.fxg5 Black's counter-resources seems to be sufficient. The whole line is very creative (Morozevich's style!), therefore I am convinced that we will see plenty of rich games in the near future.
The German openings expert André Schulz digs in the "Bjerring-Variation" 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Nxc3!
And at last Dorian Rogozenko looks at the Sicilian B27: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5.c3 Qxc5 and Rainer Knaak at the Benko Gambit :1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 Bb7 5.Qc2.Other columns on this DVD are Daniel King Move by Move,Oliver Reeh: Tactics: PeterWells: Strategy,Karsten Müller Endgames with some extra Chess Media files,ICCF Telechess {Good for 2895 entries!!}Knaak Opening trap etc.
Conclusion: Very important reference material!
UltraCorr Plus by Tim Harding
2006
ChessMail
www.chessmail.com
Price €35,00
Seldom a chess CD has impressed me so much as Tim Harding’s latest correspondence CD with over 800.000 games better said entries, exactly counted 811246 games where 25574 cover excellent annotations to the games.
But first before we take a closer look at Tim’s CD we compare it with some other corr CD’s as the ChessBase one with 588148 entries and a poor amount of 2495 annotated games.
Of course that is better than what I found on the latest CA corr.file from 376450 entries but al least this one is a free supplement in the CA9 package and you don’t have to pay 80 euro for these games.
Harding has made different versions of his UltraCorr CD and I would suggest visit http://www.chessmail.com/sales/ultracorr-info.html
Before you order you Ultra CD in case you have bought in the past Harding’s his MegaCorr4 CD.
Tim Harding is an excellent chess researcher and this you can find back on his annotations and unpublished correspondence games.
For example see the lost games from the scrapbooks of the 8th correspondence world championship semi-finals sent by the great Hermann Heemsoth,shortly before he died. For the interested readers on Heemsoth please see http://www.chessmail.com/players/heemsoth.htm
But the CD is also overloaded with nineteen century material all collected by Tim Harding him self, all together there are over 100.000 games that have never seen publishing before.
Personal I like this CD very much for all the correspondence games from famous over the board players as Alekhine and Keres,who played quite some correspondence but the most importance of all on this CD are of course the excellent references to the games.
Again there are some exciting extra’s on this Plus CD as all the ChessMail magazines, in PDF format and that are exactly 82 issues.
But there is more as Tim Harding’s Winning at Correspondence Chess book and some BCM PDF files.
And all files from this UltraCorr Plus are available in CA and PGN format!
Conclusion: I only can say buy this important correspondence CD!
Chess Magazines
Kaissiber Issue 25
April - June 2006
Deutschland 6.10 Euro
Offered for review by http://www.niggemann.com/
First our congratulations to Stefan Bücker with his ten year Kaissiber,that Kaissiber is a chess magazine of great use shows us the game Karpatschow – Mocamp,Marseille 2006.- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 Bxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.f4 d6 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Bg5 Be6 10.Na3 Bxc4 11.Nxc4 Nc6 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Ne3 Qd4 14.Qxd4 Nxd4 15.Rxf6 Rd8 16.Raf1 0-0 17.Ng4 Nc6 18.R6f5 f6 1-00,38.This all could have been avoid if black would have read Kaissiber issue 23.
I though to have found a draw in the Koltanowskis variation which was a improvement on the long analyses from Gutman,
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 Bxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.f4 d6 8.c3 Ne6 9.f5 Nc5 10.Nd2 0-0 11.Qf3 a5 12.Rf2 Bd7 13.b4 axb4 14.cxb4 Na4 15.Nf1 Bc6 16.Bg5 Nb6 17.Bb3 Ba4 18.Rc1 Bxb3 19.axb3 Nbd7 20.Ne3 c6 21.Ng4 h6 22.Nxh6+ gxh6 23.Bxh6 Kh7 24.Qh3 Rh8 25.Rf3 Nxe4 but Bücker found even a check mate with 26.Qh5 Qf6 27.Re1 d5 28.Rxe4 dxe4 29.Rg3 and mate in two.
And here lays probably the secret of this magazine no copy of paste method but really good analyses and excellent research articles.
Interesting is the letter from from Benoit Taddei whi ask's him self is 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d6 3.Nf3 f5!? Is playable?
With this move we go back to Orla Herman Krause 1867 – 1935!
The computer expert Chrilly Donninger digs in his “Von Bytes und Baueren” in his brainchild Hydra but does it stil have future after Rybka?
Bent Larsen takes a look at the Sicilian defence and lev Gutman digs again in the Italian game and is good for 26 pages of text!
Readable is the new article Auf der Fährte where Stefan Bücker takes a closer look at the Alekhine defence with 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Ne4.
And the Eröffnungskoffer is concentrates on the Clarendon Court with 1.d4 c5 2.d5 f5!?
But there is more as for example Alfred Diel Aus vergangenen Zeiten and the story from Ludwig Engels.
Conclusion: One of the most interesting chess magazines of this moment!
British Chess Magazine No.10
Volume 126
October 2006
Price: £3.60