CHESSBOOK REVIEWS

Latest book reviews of 1 June 2016
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG.

Wilhelminalaan 33 

7261 BP RUURLO 

The Netherlands.
John Elburg


                                              Chess Books      

Caissa
1/2016
1.Jahrgang
Verlag Chaturanga
Friedrich Eert-Strasse 16
66538
Neunkirchen
www.caissa-journal.de
E-mail  Kundenservice@chaturanga.de
Price €14,90

Caissa is a new historical chess magazine made by the German Verlag Chaturanga ,all under the leadership of  the ambitious Dr.Mario Ziegler from Saarland.
The future plans are that there will be two issues per annum with around 100 pages of  text.
This issue holds a impressive 90 pages and is filled with superb contributions as the excellent written article from the well known Robert Hübner on the match between Blackburne and Steinitz from the London Chess Club match of 1862.
Some games of this match are lost in time but all games in Caissa are well analyzed by Robert Hübner,but Tim Harding writes in his book: Joseph Henry Blackburne A Chess Biography,McFarland 2015:Steinitz won the game and match but the moves are unknown.
This is a curious case.Many books and chess magazines have followd Bachman,in saying that the following were the moves,or at least it was a Blackburne – Steinitz game of this period.
The game: Blackburne,Joseph Henry - Steinitz,William [C51]
London m2 London (10), 1863
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 exd4 7.0-0 d6 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.Bb5 Kf8 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Ba3 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Qg5+ 14.Kh1 Ne7 15.Ne2 Ng6 16.Rg1 Qf6 17.Qd3 Kg8 18.Bc1 h6 19.f4 Kh7 20.f5 Ne7 21.Bb2 d5 22.f3 Rad8 23.Nf4 Rhg8 24.Nh5 Qh4 25.f6 Qxh5 26.fxe7 Rd7 27.exd5+ g6 28.Rae1 Re8 29.Re5 Qh4 30.Rf5 Qxe7 31.dxc6 Rdd8 32.Ba3 Qe6 33.Rf4 f5 34.Rh4 h5 35.Bb2 Rd5 36.Qc2 Qe2 37.Qb3 Qb5 38.Qc3 Re2 39.f4 Rxd4 40.Qf3 Qd5,0-1.
As we can see in the index,the contributions are brought in English of German language.
Preface by Herbert Bastian, President Deutscher Schachbund (DSB) e. V. and Vice President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). (deutsch Geleitwort)
Iván Bottlik (Budapest): László Tóth: Schachspieler, Redakteur, Herausgeber und Persönlichkeit des öffentlichen Lebens
Tony Gillam (Nottingham): Getting Things Right
Prof. Dr. Bernd Gräfrath (Duisburg-Essen): Die Wendejahre 1989-90 in der Zeitschrift “Schach”
Dr. Adrian Harvey (London): Social participation in the game of chess: A recreation for everyone
Dr. Robert Hübner (Köln): Der erste Wettkampf zwischen Blackburne und Steinitz
Dr. Peter Monté (Voorburg): Mythical Inventors of Chess
Siegfried Schönle (Kassel): Schach in Büchern aus der Zeit des deutschen Barocks oder der Frühen Neuzeit. – Eine annotierte Bibliographie
Antonella Ziewacz (Saarbrücken): Die NS-Ideologie im Brettspiel.
One of my favorite reads is the one from Siegfried Schönle on the bibliography of chess books of the first era.
Conclusion: Certainly one of the most interesting chess magazines that I have ever seen!    
Chess DVD's

Openings Encyclopaedia 2016
2016
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 99.90
System requirements
Minimum: Pentium III 1 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Windows Vista, XP (Service Pack 3), DirectX9 graphic card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 12/Fritz 13 or included Reader and internet connection for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel Core i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, DirectX10 graphic card (or compatible) with 512 MB RAM or better, 100% DirectX10 compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet connection for program activation.


The new Openings Encyclopaedia 2016 covers over 5.6 million games, exactly counted 5629050 million games, where a small 84000 of them are more than
excellent analysed.
Included are 5900 openings surveys where many of them cover latest developments, and not to forget the 931 special theory databases from the well known
ChessBase Magazines {up to February 2016!}.
Yes there is on this DVD at last one opening survey for every major line of the ECO!
All games of this DVD are compressed in a Hugh openings book,that gives the user an excellent over view of latest moves.
Included is the latest ChessBase reader  for an excellent access to all the material on this DVD.
Conclusion: This is superb material!

TrainingOpeningFritztrainer
Nimzowitsch Defence 1.e4 Nc6
by  Andrew Martin
2016
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 29.90
Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, DVD drive, mouse, soundcard


The well known Andrew Martin digs and explains the secrets and strategies of the famous Nimzowitsch Defence.
A fine example is the famous shortcut: Ligterink,Gert (2445) - Miles,Anthony J (2610) [B00]
Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee (2), 14.01.1984
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 [2.d4 d5 (2...e5 3.Nf3) 3.e5 (3.Nc3 e6 (3...dxe4 4.d5) ) 3...Bf5] 2...d6 [2...d5] 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.Bb5 a6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.h3 Bh5 [7...Bxf3 8.Qxf3] 8.Qe2 e6 9.g4 Bg6 10.Bg5 [10.Nh4!?] 10...Be7 11.0-0-0 h6 [11...Nxe4!? 12.Nxe4 Bxe4 13.Bxe7 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Kxe7 15.Qxc6 Qd7 16.Qxd7+ Kxd7³ "] 12.Bf4 [12.Bh4 Nxe4] 12...Qb8!f 13.Kb1 Qb4 14.Bc1 Rb8 15.b3?? [15.Ka1 0-0 16.Rhg1 c5] 15...Qxc3 16.Bd2 Nxe4-+ 17.Be1 0-0 [17...0-0 18.Rd3 (18.h4 Nd2+! 19.Rxd2 Rxb3+ 20.axb3 Qxb3+ 21.Kc1 Qa3+-+ 22.Kd1 (22.Kb1 Rb8+) 22...Qa1#) 18...Qc4-+] 0-1
Many prefer a Scandinavian set-up as we can see in the following game: Jimenez Fraga,Pedro Alejandro (2461) - Rakhmanov,Alexander (2603) [B01]
Panama op 3rd Panama City (3), 02.11.2013
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Nc3 [5.Be2 0-0-0 6.Nc3 Qh5] 5...Qh5 6.Be2 0-0-0 7.h3 Nf6 8.Rg1 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Qa5 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.Qf3 e5 12.dxe5 Bb4 13.g3 [13.exf6 Rhe8+ 14.Kf1 (14.Be3 Bxc3+ 15.Kf1 Bxb2 16.Rb1 Qa6+ 17.Qe2 Qxa2 18.Rd1 Rxd1+ 19.Qxd1 Bxf6) 14...Qa6+;
13.Qxc6 Nd5 14.Bd2 Nxc3 15.Bxc3 Qxe5+ 16.Kf1 Bxc3 17.Qa6+ Kb8 18.bxc3 Rd6 19.Qc4 Qf5] 13...Nd7 [13...Rhe8 14.Kf1 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Rxe5] 14.Kf1 Nxe5 15.Qe2 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Qxc3 17.Rb1 Rhe8 18.Rb3 Qc4 19.Qxc4 [19.Re3 c5 20.Kg2 Qxe2 21.Rxe2 Nc4 22.Rge1 Rxe2 23.Rxe2 Rd1] 19...Nxc4 20.Kg2 f6 21.h4 Rd4 22.Bf4 Nb6 23.Ra3 Ra4 24.Rxa4 Nxa4 25.Kf3 Nb6 26.h5 Nd5 27.Bd2 c5 28.g4 c4 29.c3 Kd7 30.g5 f5 31.Rb1 a6 32.Rb2 Kc8 33.Rb1 Re6 34.Rd1 Re4 35.g6 hxg6 36.hxg6 Rg4 37.Re1 Rxg6 38.Re5 Rd6 39.Rxf5 Nxc3 40.Bxc3 Rd3+ 41.Ke4 Rxc3 42.a4 Ra3 43.a5 Rb3 44.Rg5 Rb2 45.f4 c3 46.Kd3 c2 47.Kd2 Rb4 48.f5 Rc4 49.Kc1 Rc5 50.Rxg7 Rxf5 51.Kxc2 Rxa5 52.Rh7 Rb5 53.Kc3 Kb7 54.Rh6 Rc5+ 55.Kb4 Rc6 56.Rh8 Re6 57.Rf8 Kb6 58.Kb3 Re3+ 59.Kc4 Ra3 60.Kb4 0-1.
But Nimzowitsch did prefer 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 e6! and this is well covered too.
All together there are 37 video files and four self tests.
Included is a extra database of 315 entries.
Running time is just over 4 hours.
Conclusion: The Nimzowitsch Defence is more than a surprise weapon! 

ChessBase Magazine extra issue 171 Extra
April  2016
Videos by Adrian Mikhalchishin, Rober Ris,Amruta Mokal & Sagar
ChessBase
 http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Euro 12.99
System requirements
Minimum: Pentium III 1 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Windows Vista, XP (Service Pack 3), DirectX9 graphic card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 12/Fritz 13 or included Reader and internet connection for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel Core i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, DirectX10 graphic card (or compatible) with 512 MB RAM or better, 100% DirectX10 compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet connection for program activation.


ChessBase Magazine issue 171 Extra comes with a impressive collection of 23126 latest played games,where the closing date of this file is 26/4 2016.
My Latvian hero moment of this month goes to Sebastien  Midoux with his impressive win on Hendrik Bruun: Bruun,Hendrik Emil (2123) - Midoux,Sebastien (2342) [C40]
Reykjavik op Reykjavik (7), 13.03.2016
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.d4 fxe4 4.Nxe5 Nf6 5.Bg5 d6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.Qxg6+ Kd7 11.Nd5 Be7 12.Qf5+ Ke8 13.Qxe4 c6 14.Qg6+ Kf8 15.Nf4 Qa5+ 16.c3 Qf5 17.g3 Rg8 18.Qh6+ Ke8 19.Bd3 Qg5 20.Qh7 Qg7 21.Qh5+ Kd8 22.h3 Bg5 23.Ng6 Qh6 24.Qxh6 Bxh6 25.f4 Be6 26.f5 Bd5 27.Rh2 Bf7 28.Rf2 Na6 29.Kf1 Nc7 30.Re1 Nd5 31.Rf3 b5 32.h4 Nf6 33.Kg2 Bd5 34.Ne7 Bxf3+ 35.Kxf3 Re8 36.Nxc6+ Kd7 37.Rxe8 Rxe8 38.Bxb5 Re3+ 39.Kg2 Kc7 40.Nb4 Re1 41.Bd3 Rd1 42.Be2 Rd2 43.Kf3 Rxb2 44.g4 Nxg4 45.Bc4 Nf6 46.Nd5+ Nxd5 47.Bxd5 Rc2 48.Kg4 Rxc3 49.Kh5 Bg7 50.Kg6 Rg3+ 51.Kf7 Bxd4 52.f6 Rh3 53.Ke7 Bxf6+ 54.Kxf6 Rxh4 55.Ke6 Rh5 0-1.
Some players have no idea how to face the Latvian Gambit: Jenidarchiche,Douglas Rodrigo (1871) - Deus Filho,Joaquim (1995) [C40]
Sao Paulo op-B U2050 4th Sao Paulo (2), 25.03.2016
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Qf6 4.d4 d6 5.Nf3 fxe4 6.Qe2 d5 7.Bg5 Qb6 8.c3 h6 9.Bf4 g5 17.Rxh8+ Bxh8 18.Nd2 Nbd7 19.a3 Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Kd7 21.f3 Bg7 22.Kf2 Rh8 23.c4 exf3 24.gxf3 Ne8 25.cxd5 Bxe5 26.dxc6+ bxc6 27.dxe5 Rh2+ 28.Ke3 Ke6 29.Rg1 Nc7 30.Bc4+ Nd5+ 31.Bxd5+ cxd5 32.Nb3 Kxe5 33.Rxg5 Kf6 34.Rg8 Rxb2 35.Nd4 Bg6 36.Rd8 Bf7 37.Rb8 Rb1 38.a4 Bg6 39.a5 bxa5 40.Rxb1 Bxb1 41.Nb5 Ke5 42.f4+ Kf5 43.Nc3 Be4 44.Kd4 ½-½,5.Nc4 is the one and only move.
Many only buy these ChessBase Magazines for the excellent video files and I can understand it,Adrian Mikhalchishin digs in the game Svidler – Ipatov,Robert Ris goes back in time with the famous game Spassky – Petrosian Moscow 1969.
And Amruta Mokal analyses one of her own games.
Conclusion: These ChessBase Magazines are a absolute must!