CHESSBOOK REVIEWS

Latest book reviews of 1 April  2008
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG. 

Wilhelminalaan 33 

7261 BP RUURLO 

The Netherlands.
John Elburg
                                  Chess Books                                    
    

Chessmen Art and history by Mathieu and Ine Kloprogge
2007
Gopher B.V.
 www.gopher.nl
info@gopher.nl
375 pages
price € 69,90
ISBN 9789051795325

Mathieu and Ine Kloprogge have spend a major part of there life collecting and visiting museums from all over the world, for there great love, chess pieces, which as you can see from the photographs in this book these chessmen are art,and than  from the highest level and what follows behind it  is fascinating chess history.
They self not only have a fantastic collection chessmen but they also visited for this book all important museums in Europe to show in this book  with there fantastic made  photographs a unique collection chessmen.
How Mathieu and Ine Kloprogge describe the history behind these pieces is from high historical value, it are not only the legends of chess which make this book so fascinating as for example  the story of the Indian king Shiram also better known as King Rai Bhalit.
But the story of these chessmen made by great unknown artists as for example the 78 chess pieces that where found by a farmer in 1831 on the British Isle of Lewis,which where made of walrus tusks and varied in high from 7.3 to 10.3 cm.
The story is that the pieces were brought to Lewis by the Vikings.Sixty seven of the chessmen are now in the British Museum and the other eleven where brought to National Museum in Edinburgh.
Most Scandinavian chessmen are made of ivory, but some were also made of walrus bone.
Both authors ask there self whether these pieces come from the Scandinavian countries or from southern European countries like France and Italy.
The material in this book is  first divided  by century and afterwards by country. Where each century starts with a interesting  introduction.
Numerous chess players included Staunton have pleaded in the 19th century for a standard chess set.This call for standardisation was not new.Philidor,in the 18th century, tried to introduce a standard chess set but the time was not ready for it.
Nathaniel Cook asked Jaques Staunton to link his name to the Staunon design.
This was probably the first time that a famous name was used for the marketing of a commercial product.
The Edinburg Chess set is also called after the Northen Upright set and Staunton once said that this set was designed by the famous lord John Hay.
In the second world war the German soldiers received a simple special made chess set  with board where the board was stored in a card box.
The British army also gave chess sets to the soldiers at the front.These were made by no other than John Jaques & Son in London who also produced the Staunton set.
Both authors have concentrated on the origin and evolution of chess where chess pieces have become art!
Useful are website links of the bibliography where I found over 51 links!
Included is a extra CD which contains many interesting high resolute images of the chess pieces plus a lot of extra  historical information about the cities where the chess sets had been made.
Conclusion: Mathieu and Ine Kloprogge have managed to create from chesspieces a fascinating art book! 
Nick's Best by Lawrence Day
2007
Chess'n Math Association
295 pages
Price £16.99
ISBN 978-1-895525-14-4

On the MegaData base there are only a handful  games and two  photographs  from the chess genius Bryon Nickoloff who play chess as Rshid Nezhmetdinov and who had the I.Q of a Robert Byrne.
Bryon Nickoloff belonged in the genius category and had an extraordinary talent for opening preparation and endgame strategy but he could not handle the clock.
But he loved chess as no other,in this book he is described as a genius with a lack of schooling.
After discovering chess his first tournament being in 1971,he simply dropped out of the normal education system and devoted himself full time to his new monomaniacal passion.
Spending 16 hours a day behind the board brings his closer to Bobby Fischer than any other Canadian player.
This book does not come from one man but is the result of a lot of voices and this all makes this book so interesting not only the honest biography on the chess genius  Byron Nickoloff but also his outstanding games in this book  are mainly covered with superb notes.
But above all I love this book for the interesting  anecdotes as Bryon love for a Mexican girl.
Coming back from Buenos Aires Nick detoured to Mexico for a few months. He had fallen in love there during the Student Olympiad and was soon married to Linda.
But after a short time  he was divorced and arrived back in Toronto the Nick was become a nervous wreck.
In this book the authors did discuss,was Byron an alcoholic or just liked to drink to much?
Bob Kiviaho writes interestingly about his youth: There was an extreme situation in his life,perhaps when he was in Grade 8,Byron completely shut out the rest of the world and only studied chess.I don’t think it lasted all that long,perhaps several months,but it was complete concentration on only one thing.
Byron believed that his addiction made him the chess player was,but had he not been send to reform school he would gave become world champion!
He would have! What about smoking and drinking? Who knows? Had he not been send to reform school he may have just kept studying chess and not develop those insane habits.
From the many annotated games in this book I would like to mention his draw against Alexey Shirov,as we know Shirov is an enormously talented and creative player who managed to reach a 2700 ELO for the age of 20 but Nickoloff out played him!
Shirov,Alexei (2740) - Nickoloff,Bryon (2390),C78
North Bay op North Bay, 1994
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.d3 Bd6 8.c3 0-0 9.Nbd2 h6 10.d4 Re8 11.Re1 Bf8 12.Nf1 d6 13.Ng3 Na5 14.Bc2 Nc4 15.b3 Nb6 16.a4 c5 17.dxc5 dxc5 18.Qe2 bxa4 19.bxa4 a5 20.Nd2 c4 21.Nxc4 Nxc4 22.Qxc4 Rc8 23.Qa2 Rxc3 24.Bb3 Re7 25.Bb2 Rd3 26.Bc4 Rd2 27.Qb3 Bc6 28.Nf5 Nxe4 29.Nxe7+ Qxe7 30.Rad1 Rxf2 31.Rxe4 Qc5 32.Ba3 Rxg2+ 33.Kxg2 Bxe4+ 34.Kg3 Qxa3 35.Bxf7+ Kh7 36.Bg8+ Kg6 37.Bf7+ Kf6 38.Rf1+ Bf5 39.Qxa3 Bxa3 40.Bd5 Bb4 41.h4 h5 42.Be4 g6 43.Kf3 Bd7 44.Bc2 Bh3 45.Rg1 Bg4+ 46.Rxg4 hxg4+ ½-½
This game is analysed with five pages of full text but even more interesting are the words from Tony Cheron after the game: A beautiful game, however it was not Bryon’s favourite game. Something bothered him about the game.
On the way back to Toronto,Heather,myself and Byron took the long route because of a train derailment problem on Highway 11.On the way,Byron looked worried and asked me to stop the car in Bancroft.He took a chess set and walked into the main hotel there.He was looking for a place to set up the pieces.The bar was open.
Unfortunately, the bartender said to him,”No gamling in here,remove the chess set.”
Byron calmly answered back,”We’re analysing.”He got a nod of approval from the bartender and he proceeded to play out the game from memory. Bryon showed me the opening.”This poor guy.”he said “is rated number three in the world,but he has just walked into my backyard in the Archangel Variation.”
Despite a lifetime of smoking and drinking ,it wasn’t his lungs or liver that gave up,but his pancreas: Hodgkin’s Disease.He gave up alcohol and underwent chemotherapy.Althrough the Dokter has said might only live six months he managed another five years.
His last tournament was the 2004 Canadian open at Kapuskasing.
Conclusion:One of the most fascinating chess books I ever had in hand!
The Ultimate Chess Strategy Book: Volume1 by Alfonso Romero & Amador Gonzalez de la Nava
2008
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
207pages
Price $ 29,95
ISBN 978-1-904600-84-8

This first volume of The Ultimate Chess Strategy Book with the section closed opening is based on 90 multi choice tests where the reader is invited to play like the masters and grandmasters of these games.
There are several choices to make but the both autohors lead you in a instructive way throw a stricht scoring system but it is not allways necessarly, to find te best possible other alternatives are also provided with {instructive} explained points.
It are not only the points where you go for in this strategy book but the unique strategy approach where the authors explain you with readable words the secrets of chess strategy.
All examples or better said 90 in depth analysed games are all arisen from the move 1.d4 or by Flank openings all pleasantly divided for the reader in level of difficulty.
A interesting example of how the authors explain the secrets of strategies to the reader is for example the game Petrosian – Liublinsky,Moscow 1949.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 The similarity between this set-up and the Trompowsky attack is obvious,but white has extra options when he has not played Nf3.
3….c5 4.e3 Be7 4….Qb6 5.Nbd2 is the most critical variation. Theory considers that white gets fair compensation for the sacrificed pawn.
5.Nbd2 d5 6.c3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 0-0?! 7….Qc7 is more advisable,because it not only prevents the following move,but also avoids a presenting target for white’s kingside play.8.Nc5 White gains space for his pieces.
8……Nxe5 …Ne8 9.h4 9.dxe5 Nd7 A standard decision: exchange the bishop or keep it.
White has now two options: A10.Bf4 and B10.Bxe7
With 10.Bf4! you can make 5 points and the authors write: In keeping the bishop,white denies his opponent any easy way to free his game.
There is a principle in chess that when you have a space advantage you should not exchange pieces.
This happens many times in the Maroczy Bind of the Sicilian Accelerated Dragon,where white usually declines to exchange the dark-squared bishops.
This game is covered under the themes: Exchanges when having a space advantage; A classical Kingside attack.
These themes are very useful for chess trainer who are searching for special themes as Prophylaxis; Thwarting the Opponents plans.
Included throw this book are a lot of extra games to show the reader some practical examples of  the strategies that just where handled  in the multi choice exercise.
One of my favourite games in this book is test 29,Uhlmann – Gligoric,Hastings 1970/71 where black shows in a very instructive way throw a King’s Indian set-up  his endgame skills,this all very well explained by the authors with over two pages of text!
Included is a openings and players index so there is no problem to find your way throw this book.
Seen the large amount of  instructive themes I would like to recommend this book for training purposes!
Conclusions: One of those books that  truly improves your strategy skills!
Secrets of pawn endings by Karsten Müller & Frank Lamprecht
2008
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
287 pages
Price $ 29,95
ISBN 978-1-904600-88-6

One of the of the best written book on pawn endgames certainly goes to this work from the German duo, endgame expert GM Karsten Müller and his companion  International master Frank Lamprecht.
So I am very pleased to announce this new release of this second updated edition from Gambit Publications Ltd.
This book originally  published by Everyman Publishers in association with Gambit Publications Ltd in 2000,is a very well written book where it is difficult even with the latest help of latest chess engines to find a mistake!
So far I only could  found corrections  in the Chapter 13,”Thinking methods to find the right move” and here I found for example a  corrections in the position Lobron – Sehner,Bundeliga 1984/85;where the move 2..Kc6 has become in this edition a mistake.
For a good order the first twelve chapters of this book have deal with basic ideas and techniques.
The whole work is written to play and understand pawn endings as the authors explain in there preface; become familiar wit them.The ability to assess them quickly and plays an especially important role in the case of simplifications.
Throw this book you shall find a mass of instructive exercises and please don’t forget to study the ideas  of the  great endgame magician Nikolai Dmitrievich Grigoriev,because this book offers many of his brilliant ideas!
Conclusion: A must for every chess player!
Dangerous Weapons: 1 e4 e5 by
John Emms,Glenn Flear and Andrew Greet
2008
Everyman Chess
http://www.everymanchess.com
335 pages
Price $25,95
ISBN 978-1-85744-542-8

These dangerous weapons books are books that are filled with suggestions that you usually only find in gambit magazines as Kaissiber or the forgotten  one man magazine Randspringer.
But first of all a view in the index, the first thing that you do in dangerous weapon book is to see if there is something of your taste is in it.
The first chapter holds the good old  Max Lange Gambit, but if you as me it is more a Italian Gambit and we come close to the lines of Jude Acers and his book“The Italian Gambit System”where you have to care you don’t end with a pawn down.
More interesting is chapter two with the Reviving The Max Lange Attack where the author John Emms goes for the interesting alternative
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.fxg7,this line does not only avoids tons of memorizing but it promises white much more than the good old Max Lange Attack where white does not have much more than a draw.
Interesting to mention in this chapter is the game Karsten Müller against  Michael Hoffmann,Bundesliga,Germany 2007.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.fxg7 Rg8 9.Re1+ Be6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxe7 Kxe7 12.Nbd2 Qd5 13.b3 cxb3 14.axb3 Rxg7 15.Ne4 Rag8 16.g3 b6 17.Ra4 Rd8 18.Qc1 f6 19.Qf4 Rf7 20.c4 Qd7 21.Ra2 d3 22.Rd2 a5 23.Qh4 Qe8 24.Re3 Qg8 25.Nc3 Kd7 26.Qe4 1-0
Where white did read Kaissiber and black not.
Chapter three goes for the good old Giuoco Piano and Evans Gambit:1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Nxe4 and 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.cb4 Bxb4 5.c3 a5.
Please also see the strong suggestion 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.d5 Ne5 10.bxc3 Nxc4 11.Qd4 0-0 12.Qxc4 Nd6 against the Moller attack!
Chapter four: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4,Chapte five:1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5!?,Chapter six:1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 Be7,Chapter seven:1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.0-0!?,Chapter eight: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 and 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6!?
Chapter nine:Don’t be boring against the Göring! 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 Nf6 5.e5 Ne4!?and the Ponziani 3.c3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 Ne4 !? Chapte ten:Fighting the pseudo king’s Gambiteers: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.Nc3 0-0!?,Chapter eleven: The Vienna Poisoned pawn: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Qg4 Nd4!? Chapter twelve: Play like a Victorin: The King’s Bishop Gambit:1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4
Chapter thirteen and fourteen the Centre game revealed part one,two and three.
This is truly a impressive 100 page coverage on the Centre game.
Andrew Greet is responsible for these lines and I can truly recommended it to every serious chess player.
But as Greet explains a certain mount of theoretical preparation is essential in order to play this opening with success, as several lines can become extremely sharp at an early stage.By the way Glenn Flear was responsible for the chapters 3,4,5,6,9 and 12.
And John Emms did the chapters 1,2,7,8,10 and 11.
These dangerous weapons shall hold variations which not everybody can agree with as for example the line 1.e4,e5 2.f4,exf4 3.Bc4,Nc6 4.d4,Nf6 5.Bd5!?
Which has been lately discussed on the ChessPublishing site but I stil believe there is still no definite conclusion.
So this line  is certainly playable and certainley good enough to surprise your opponent!
Conclusion: Books like these are great fun!
Chess Explained the French by Viacheslav Eingorn & Valentin Bogdanov
2008
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
127 pages
Price € 23,95
ISBN 978-1-904600-95-4

Many prefer the French opening for it’s aggressive attentions but as we can learn from Eingorn and Bogdanov  there are also enough positional possibilities where both sides of the board can go for.
Both authors provide the reader with a readable overview of most important lines all based at a collection of 25 model games where GM Viacheslav Eingorn from the Ukraine is good for a lot of  creative input.
I counted 25 model games where the latest come from Daniel Stellwagen – Mateusz Bartel,Bundesliga 2006/7.
And this game holds the exciting Winawer line with the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Ba5 6.b4 cxd4 7.Qg4 where the both authors write: Without doubt, this is the sharpest and most principled continuation.
One question arises- is there any difference between the immediate queen move and the preliminary 7.bxa5 dxc3?
In fact, there is. After the move in the game,7…Kf8 allows white to play 8.Nb5,keeping his queenside intact, whereas once it has been compromised by 7.bxa5 dxc3,Black has greater reason to decide to keep his own kingside in one piece, by meeting 8.Qg4 with 8…Kf8 or even 8…g6.However,the most natural and populair continuation is 7.Nb5 Bc7.
And both authors continue on the move with around a half page of readable text explaining the subtleties of the knight to b5.
The whole Main line of the Winawer gets a lot of attention in this book and it does not matter what black plays on 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 it is well explained with moves and readable text!
The material in this book is mainly divided in the following chapters: 1.The Advance Variation,2;The Tarrasch Variation:Lines with …Nf6 3;The Tarrasch Variation with ….c5
4;Burn and Rubinstein lines:Black plays..dxe4
5; The Classical French {3.Nc3 Nf6}6;The Winawer Variation{3.Nc3 Bb4} 7;The Winawer with 4.e5 c5 and 8 with The Main Line Winawer 7.Qg4.
Minor lines as for example the famous Milner Barry Gambit gets no attention at all but Eingorn pet line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 h6! gets a interestingly enough a  small turn between the lines!
Nearly the same with the MacCutcheon Variation where nearly all the fun goes to the king move 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 h6 5.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Qg4 Kf8 and the game Volokitin – Korchnoi,Igualads 2005,game 15 of this book and is good for four and a half pages of instructive text!
All together we have here a very instructive written book on the French Defence covered with a unbelievable amount of instructive text!
Conclusion: A fine work to get involved with the French defence!
 Chess Explained: The Nimzo-Indian by Reinaldo Vera
2008
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
111 pages
Price € 23,95
ISBN 978-1-904600-72-7

The Cuban Ian GM Reinaldo Vera does not only explain you in this Chess Explianed openings book all strategies and plans of the Nimzo- Indian defence, the opening where black does not occupy the central squares but controls them with his pieces.
This is probably the reason that Botvinnik once said “there is no refutation of this defence” and indeed the Nimzo-Indian belongs to one of the most important chess openings.
From the 26 model games in this book are 12 from the year 2007 and 8 from 2006.
This all makes this book also very useful for the player who is also interested in latest developments of the Nimzo-Indian,
where I must say that between the lines of this book I even found more latest played lines as for example Kramnik’s idea 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 d5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7!? 9.a3 is well explained and it looks that it does cause black the most problems.
Carsten Hansen writes in his reference book on the The Nimzo-Indain with 4.e3; 9.a3 is also of some importance, although black should not worry  about  this move.
But he does not tell us that with  9…cxd4 10.exd4?! Bxc3!? 11.bxc3 Qc7! black reaches a well known  position with an extra tempo!
Vera has packed the material of the book  in seven readable chapters: 1 Sämisch Variation: 4 a3 or 4.f3 2;Capablanca variation: 4.Qc2 d5 3,Capablanca Variation: 4.Qc2 0-0 4;Rubenstein System : 4.e3 0-0:Variations with Ne2 5.Rubenstein System: 4.e3 0-0 with Bd3 and Nf3,
6 Fianchetto Variation: 4.g3 or 4.Nf3 c4 5.g3 and Leningrad Variation 4.Bg5 and others.
All together GM Reinaldo Vera offers you in this book a fine introduction in to a opening with a unique flexibility all explained at the hand of a large collection latest played games,which makes this book also very useful for the more experienced player!
Conclusion: A book where you can learn to play and win with the latest devolpmenst of  the Nimzo-Indian!
Hooked on chess by Bill Hook
2008
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
190 pages
Price €19,95
ISBN 978 90 5691 122-08

Bill Hook born in 1925 belongs to one of the few chess players, in the world who had the opportunity to meet and play with  some of the best chess players of the world.
So this book is more than a fine collection anecdotes, Hook is also a great  {photo} artist and this book includes more than hundred of his photographs,mainley all captured  from outstanding  chess players, as the late  great  late Tony Miles and black gammon specialist   Roman Dzindzichashvili.
These photographs  are really creative taken and I am sure that even the great photographer  Steve McCurry would agree about it.
But I would like to start with the said story of the unknown chess player Sam Richman; Hook writes: He was perhaps 35 at the time, tall,had a thick head of black hair, and one eye had an ominous black spot in the corner, which belied his essentially gentle nature.I later learned that Sam had been married and owned a delicatessen in Brooklyn in the 1930s.A strong player,he plunged into a series of increasingly high stake games with George Treysman, lost his delicatessen, and than his wife left him. His life in ruins because of chess miscalculations, he than chose to become a chess hustler for the rest of his life!
There are not many players who out played the legendary Bobby Fischer but Bill Hook did!
“Word was getting around about Bobby Fischer.From the first rumours of a talented kid from Brooklyn,he was now appearing regularly at the speed tournaments,and getting progressively better scores.At one point, however,I had beaten him four times in a row,and he cried at least once,revealing the depth of his intensity for the game.But one night at the Marshall Chess Club rapids where played a French Defence and a very peculiar thing happened.In the middle of the game Bobby made a strong move and I suddenly had an almost physical sense of power  emanating from it.And Bobby moved  again with the same effect; it was as if he were playing with dynamic rays of force that I had a heightened sensitivity to.It happened once more,and my position was busted,as the coffee house players would say.I never won an other game from Bobby,and I wonder if any other players had this experience while opposing him”.
This book from Hook spans a part of last century USA  chess and in someway we compare it with Edward Laskers work Chess Secrets, and to be honest this book from Hook is certainly not less interesting!
Conclusion: One of those chess book that you must have read!
Forcing chess moves by Charles Hertan
2008
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
382 pages
Price €18,95
ISBN 978 90 56912437

The FIDE master from Massachusetts Charles Hertan, provides the reader in this book, with a very special collection exercises all carefully selected on the purpose to develop your skills {radar eyes} to recognize winning moves.
As Hertan explains a forcing move is a move which limits the opponent’s options. Nothing more or less. The first step toward developing better calculation skills is to train your self to analyse the most forcing moves first! The author uses in this book amusing themes as brute force calculation and unexpected moves but dear reader to avoid confusion  this book is no computer generated work  all exercises come from practical play!
Charles Hertan has used over 14 years to collect and research the 650 tactical exercises of this book all divided in different themes as stock mating attacks, stock forcing moves, brute force combinations, surprise forcing moves, equal of stronger threats, quiet forcing moves, forcing retreats, zwischenzugs, defensive forcing moves, endgame forcing moves, intuition and creativity, various exercises etc.
The first two chapters of this book are focused on helping you to develop the skill brute force calculating where I found a beautiful classical bishop sacrifice between the Japanese Hyroko  Maeda and  Lynne Houstoun,played at Haifa 1976.
For the good order I will give the whole game but Hertan concentrates in this book on the move order   14…Kg6
15.Qd3+! f5 16.exf6 Kh5 17.Qh7 Kg4 18.h3 mate!
By the way 18.Qh3 mates too.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.Bd3 Bb7 7.Nf3 d6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1 c5 10.e4 Qc7 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Nfd7 13.Bxh7+ Kxh7 14.Ng5+ Kg8 15.Qh5 Rc8 16.Qxf7+ Kh8 17.Nxe6 Nxe5 18.Qh5+ Kg8 19.Nxc7 1-0
Interesting are the words from Hertan on correspondence chess;In correspondence chess intuition is largely replaced by cold calculation,but there is ample room for creativity in the service of dictating the play,since the wildest flights of fancy can be explored to their logical conclusions.
And Hertan continues with a correspondence game between Vigodchikov and Alekhine of 1910.
But there are more correspondence beauties in this book as Askelof - Svensson,corr,1983.
Solving these 650  exercises will certainly help you to develop your tactical skills and I would like to recommend this book also  for it’s unbelievable tactics!
Conclusion: A book that can  improve your tactical skills in no time!
Chess tips for the improving player by Amatzia Avni
2008
Quality Chess
233 pages
Price €23.99
ISBN 978-91-85779-03-1

The title of this book promises you improving tips and indeed it does but you must like the style of writing of the psychologist and Fide master Amatzia Avni from Israel.
Avni provides the reader in this book with a lot of practical tips even that some don’t come from the psychologist himself as for example, chapter To plan or not to plan.
Here he follows some wise words from the first world champion in correspondence chess the great CJS Purdy, Don’t always plan he writes if there is a good forcing move available, it is probably the best move on the board….therefore, do not waste time planning until you have first combed the board for good forcing moves…avoid planning when there is something better.
Avn writes now: Well,well.Isn’t this a shocking contradiction of conventional wisdom?
But the guy is right. Consider the following position and Avni gives the diagram position between Rogers and Vaganian,Manila Interzonal 1990.
Yes the reader of this book is forced to set up the board seen the large amount of game positions that this book is overloaded  with.
Going throw this book you get the feeling that Quality Chess had problems to fit the work from Avni in,because there is so much unused place left in this book.So why did the guys from Quality Chess  not use all these white spots for complete games?
This all would have made this book not only more readable but also much more instructive for the player who wants to improve in a practical way of understanding  his of hers playing skills.
The most interesting part of this book is chapter four with Rules of Thump but also the move from John Nunn,1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.e4 Nxe5 5.f4 Nbc6? 6.fxe5 Qh4+ 7.Kd2 is great fun!
Bogdan Lalic thought in his book The Budapest Gambit that black has some kind of counter play but as the bright Avni points out GM John Nunn found an aesthetically pleasing forced win for white.
Included is a index of players and composers, this is certainly a useful chess book for local club players who like to improve there skills in a not to complicated way!
Conclusion: Interesting but Avni deserved a better layout!
 
Chess CD's & DVD's

ChessBase magazine issue #122 on DVD!
Magnus Carlsen wins his first super-tournament
2008
February
ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Price Euro 19,95 per issue
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With one click of your mouse on the file 122 start  you have direct access to all the video entertainment that is covered on this DVD.
And that are video files from Karsten Müller,Dorian Rogozenko,Andrew Martin  and the great Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
Other video clips that I found where from the columns Endgames,Tactics and Opening traps.
For all lovers of video files under New products there are as well short descriptions from latest ChessBase DVD’s.
I found several superb. tournaments on this DVD as the Tal Memorial, the World Cup and not to forget the so important Wijk aan Zee tournament.
On the included booklet there is on the pages 6-10 an extensive obituary on Bobby Fischer by Leonard Barden which was first published in the Guardian of January 19,2008.
All eight games from Fischer on this DVD come from the CD "World Champion Fischer" by Robert Hübner.
The theory files from this DVD go to: The Evans Gambit C52: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.Qb3 by Peter Lukacs and Laszlo,Marshall Gambit C96:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 d5!? By Lars Schandorff,Grünfeld Defence D86: 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 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ by Michal Krasenkow,Queen’s Indian/Catalan E15: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.0-0 d5 9.Qc2 Nbd7 10.Rd1 0-0 11.Bf4 by Mihail Marin,Nimzo – Indian Sämisch E29: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Ne2 b6 9.e4 Ne8 10.0-0 Ba6 11.f4 by Viktor Moskalenko, Nimzo –Indian E36: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 c5 7.dxc5 d4 by Evgeny Postny,King’s Indian E62:1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 by Efstratios Grivas,King’s Indian E70 (part2}1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.Nge2 by Jozsef Horvath,Caro-Kann B12 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 Qb6 7.Nc3 Qxb2 by Lars Schandorff,Sicilian B70:1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.g3 by Dorian Rogezenko and at last a Najdorf with some Richter Rauser motifs B96 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nc6.
Other Colums are Daniel King with his move by move trainings questions,Oliver Reeh Tactics,Peter Wells Strategy,Karsten Muller Endgames,Tele Chess with 3426 entries!
And the new column Fritz trainer which holds some life video material from Rustam Kasimdzhanov!
Conclusion: These files are a must nowadays!
Chess Magazines's


British Chess Magazine No.3
Volume 128
March 2008
Price: £3.70

On the front cover of this BCM chess magazine we see the 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen who came equal with Levon Aronian at the Corus A tournament in Wijk aan Zee.
This tournament is well covered by Ian Rogers with 16 pages of  text but the most interesting of this issue is the 11 page tribute to Bobby Fischer.
Superb. are the annotations to the game Fischer – Barcza,Stockholm Interzonal 1962.
But the contribution from Jonathan Speelman with his “Speelman on the endgame” is certainly more than interesting.
Other readable items are: Gibtelecom Masters,Reviews and new Books,Quotes and queries,Endgame studies and News in Brief.
Conclusion: Buy it for the 11 page tribute to Bobby Fischer!