CHESSBOOK REVIEWS


Latest book reviews of  June  2018
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG.

Wilhelminalaan 33 

7261 BP RUURLO 

The Netherlands.
John Elburg





                                                                                                          Chess Books


Winning in the Chess Opening: 700 Ways to Ambush Your Opponent
by Nikolay Kalinichenko
700 simple ideas to win early in the game!

2018
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
459  pages
Price $ 24.95
ISBN: 978-90-5691-762-3


The well known Russian correspondence Grandmaster Nikolay Kalinichenko provides the reader in this impressive made heavyweight,  a smashing collection of 700 brilliant played miniatures, all pleasantly divided in various openings lines.
As for example the following short cut from the famous Italian attacker GM Stefano Tatai:
Tatai,Stefano - Mariotti,Sergio [B12]
Reggio Emilia-10 1967/68 Reggio Emilia (9), 03.01.1968
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 exd4 6.Bc4 Bb4+ 7.c3 dxc3 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Qxd8 cxb2+ 10.Ke2 bxa1Q 11.Ng5+ Kg6 12.Qe8+ Kh6 13.Ne6+ 1-0.
Stefano Tatai started at older age to play e-mail chess but he did it all blindfolded with out the use of any board but,when I once told it to  Eliot Hearst,author of the book Blindfold Chess,he could not believe it!
This book from Kalinichenko holds instructive openings explanations and helps you as no other to develop the ability to punish errors in the opening!
Conclusion: This book will help you to sharpen your opening skills!


Super Chess Kids: Win Like the World's Young Champions!
by Franco Zaninotto
2018
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
139 pages
Price $ 16.95
ISBN: 978-90-5691-774-6


The Italian FIDE master and chess trainer digs in the world of strategy and tactics all based on junior games,from under 8 to under 14.
The reader is invited to  find at the hand of over 100 exercises the best move, and for the chess instructors under us,this book will help you to identify typical mistakes made by juniors.
A fine example of this all is:
Asadi,Motahare (1980) - Assaubayeva,Bibissara (2287) [A26]
Wch U12 Girls Batumi (7), 26.10.2016
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 0-0 5.d3 d6 6.c4 Nc6 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 h6 9.h3 Be6 10.Be3 Nd7 11.Nd5 Ne7 12.Nh4 c6 13.Nc3 g5 14.Nf3 f5 15.exf5 Nxf5 16.g4 Ne7 17.Qc2 d5 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.Bxg5 hxg5 20.Nxg5 Bf7 21.Nxf7 Rxf7 22.Nxd5 Nc6 23.Ne3 Nd4 24.Qd1 Nf8 25.a4 Nfe6 26.Bd5 Nf4 27.Bxf7+ Kxf7 28.Ng2 Nxh3+ 29.Kh2 Nf4 30.Nxf4 exf4 31.Qc1 Qh4+ 32.Kg1 Qxg4+ 0-1,the black player win the golden medal with 10 out of 11and ‘the white player finished fourth with 8 points!
Included are as this game several  illustrated games with excellent annotations plus uncountable instructive tips, which will help you to become a better chess player!
Conclusion: This book is overloaded with instructive tips!


Strategic Chess Exercises: Find the Right Way to Outplay Your Opponent
by
Emmanuel Bricard

2018
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
220 pages
Price $ 24.95
ISBN: 978-90-5691-760-9


The former France Champion grandmaster Emmanuel Bricard comes with a practical made strategy manual where the experienced master explains you at the
hand of 90 exercises taken from 80 games or fragments, the development of plans,evalution of positions the secrets of strategy play and more.
All in readable words and astounding games well presented in two parts middlegame and endgame.
Chapter four of this books holds fascinating endgames as for example the following correspondence game from Yakov Estrin: Estrin,Yakov Borisovich - Ivashin,A.F [C17]
 corr USSR, 1946
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 Nc6 6.Nb5 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 Nxd4 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.Qxd4 Ne7 10.Nf3 Bd7 11.Bd3 Qa5+ 12.c3 Qa4 13.Qxa4 Bxa4
14.Kd2 0-0 15.Nd4 Nc6 16.f4 Nxd4 17.cxd4 Rfc8 18.g4 Rc7 19.f5 Rac8 20.b3 Be8 21.f6 g6 22.g5 a6 23.a4 Rc3 24.Rac1 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Rxc1 26.Kxc1 h6
27.h4 hxg5 28.hxg5 a5 29.b4 axb4 30.Bc2 Bc6 31.Kb2 b6 32.Kb3 Kf8 33.Kxb4 Ke8 34.a5 1-0.
This game is well explained by Bricard,where the moves 28 and 30 are good for one page of full text! Bricard also suggests that Estrin did send at move 34 some
conditional moves with his last move,that is to say moves that he indented to play depending on black’s replay.
Interesting words come from Bricard’s bibliography:The games I have selected for this book come from everywhere.Readers who like my book should also
appreciate the three volumes of Modern Chess Strategy by Ludek Pachman,and also Paul Keres books The Road to the top and The quest for perfection.
This strategy book is a master piece of explanation!


The Shereshevsky Method to Improve in Chess: From Club Player to Master
by Mikhail Shereshevsky

2018
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
352 pages
Price $ 29.95
ISBN: 978-90-5691-764-7


This heavy loaded manual from Mikhail Shereshevsky,original published in two separate works under the name Endgame Strategy and The Soviet Chess Conveyor is
 now updated and totally reworked to this high level master work,where the reader is invited to explore techniques that are hardly seen before.
After Shereshevskyyou must learn to win games by good play in the game as whole, and not just to study super complicated openings, because these openings only arise once in every 50 games or so.
Probably many readers will never have heard of the name Shereshevski but as we can see in the following game he was once a very strong player:
Shereshevski,Mikhail (2470) - Apicella,Manuel (2430) [A45]
Cansys GM Budapest (1), 1991
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bh4 c5 4.f3 g5 5.fxe4 gxh4 6.e3 Qb6 7.Nc3 Bh6 8.Nd5 Qd8 9.Qh5 Bg7 10.Qxh4 cxd4 11.Qg3 Kf8 12.exd4 Bxd4 13.0-0-0 Rg8 14.Qh4 Nc6 15.Nf3 Bg7 16.Ng5 h6 17.Nxf7 Kxf7 18.Qh5+ Kf8 19.Bc4 Bxb2+ 20.Kxb2 Kg7 21.Nc7 Rf8 22.Rhf1 1-0,after 12.exd4 Shereshevski writes: I am like most players,in that I would rather attack with equal material than defend with a material advantage.
A very important endgame rule is: do not hurry! If there is a possibility of advancing a pawn two squares or one, then first advance is just one square, look more closely and then advance it another.Of course,the rule of not hurrying applies in quiet endgames and in tactical ones things are different.
Interesting are the words from Mikhail Shereshevsky on Tony Kosten investigations and publication in his book The Latvian Gambit, Batsford 1995,where he writes after:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Qf6 4.Nc4 fxe4 5.Nc3 Qf7 6.Ne3 c6 7.Nxe4 d5 8.Ng5 Qf6 9.Nf3 Be6 10.d4 Nd7 11.Bd3 0-0-0 12.c3 g5 13.0-0 h5 14.Nxd5?! Bxd5 15.Bxg5 Qg7
This variation shows a typical trick used to try to present a very dubious variation as acceptable: an absolutely inappropriate move.No one will criticize the natural developing moves 10.d4 and 11.Bd3,but why play 12.c3?The pawn on d4 is not attacked,it is unlikely to be attacked,and white does not free the f3-knight to move anywhere.
If white does not to anything,then,of course,black,in the end,will ctreate a serious attack on the kingside,but in positions with opposite castling,speed plays a significant role.The correct plan for white is to play c2-c4 in order to develop counterplay in the centre and on the queenside. But it is a pity that Shereshevski did not buy The Latvian Gambit lives from 2001,there he could have find the move 13.c4!
Conclusion: This book is more than a first step to masterschip!


How Ulf Beats Black: Ulf Andersson's Bulletproof Strategic Repertoire for White
by
Cyrus Lakdawala

New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
287 pages
Price $ 29.95
ISBN: 978-90-5691-771-5


How Ulf beats black is a fascinating work from Cyrus Lakdawala based on the white games from the legendary Ulf Andersson, who was once one of the top dozen players in the world.
As we can see in this book Andersson has a unique and individual style involving the accumulation and exploitation of very small advantages, a strategy he conducts with phenomenal patience {The World’s Greatest Chess Games}.
The book holds around 61 games but there are also many from Cyrus Lakdawala and that is in my opinion a great pity why are Ulf Andersson’s correspondence games not included?
One of my favourite Andersson games in this book is: Andersson,Ulf (2655) - Huebner,Robert (2600) [D14]
Ter Apel Ter Apel (1), 17.03.1997
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 Qa5 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Bc7 Qxc7 13.Qxb4 Rab8 14.Qa3 Nd7 15.Rfc1 c5 16.dxc5 Qxc5 17.Qxc5 Nxc5 18.Nxd5 Nd3 19.Ne7+ Kh8 20.Rc3 Nxb2 21.Ne5 Ra8 22.Nxf5 exf5 23.Rb1 Na4 24.Rc7 f6 25.Nf7+ Kg8 26.Nd6 Rfb8 27.Rxb8+ Rxb8 28.g3 g6 29.Rxa7 Nc3 30.Ra3 Rb1+ 31.Kg2 Rc1 32.Ra8+ Kg7 33.Ra7+ Kh6 34.Nf7+ Kh5 35.Nd6 Kh6 36.h3 Ne4 37.Nxe4 fxe4 38.g4 g5 39.a4 Ra1 40.a5 Ra2 41.a6 Kg6 42.Ra8 Ra1 43.a7 Kg7 44.Kg3 Rg1+ 45.Kh2 Ra1 46.Kg2 h6 47.Kh2 Kh7 48.Rf8 Rxa7 49.Rxf6 Kg7 50.Re6 Ra4 51.Kg3 Rb4 52.h4 gxh4+ 53.Kxh4 Ra4 54.Kg3 Rb4 55.Re5 Kg6 56.Rf5 Rb8 57.Kf4 Re8 58.Re5 Rxe5 59.Kxe5 Kg5 60.Kxe4 Kxg4 61.Kd3 1-0.
With 44.Kg3! starts Ulf Andersson’s subtle triangulation!
Chapter five holds Ulf's pet line 1.Pf3 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Na3!? But Lakdawala prefers 3.e3 which leads to normal QGA positions.
Included are several exercises to see what did Ulf played!
Conclusion: Highly instructive!

                                                                                                     Chess DVD's


Opening Encyclopedia 2018
2017
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 99.90
System requirements:Pentium PC, 32 MB RAM, Windows 10, 8 or 7 and Fritz 13, 14, 15 or ChessBase 14, 13 or 12 and DVD drive. 


The new Openings Encyclopaedia 2018 covers over 6.3 million games and that is a small 400.000 more games than previous Openings Encyclopaedia issue
2017,where a small 85500 of them are more than excellent analysed.
Included are 6450 openings surveys where many of them cover latest developments, and not to forget the 1073 special theory databases all taken from the
well known ChessBase Magazines!
There are 1073 articles included from over 17 years ChessBase Magazine,up to the February 2018 issue!
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 smashing material!   


Powerplay 26: Checkmate Challenge – essential knowledge
by  Daniel King
2018
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 29.90
Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, Windows 7 or 8.1, DirectX11, graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 14/Fritz 16 or included Reader and internet access for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel i5 (Quadcore), 4 GB RAM, Windows 10, DirectX11, graphics card with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10-compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet access for program activation.


The ChessBase movie star Grandmaster Daniel King provides the use with around 100 entertaining and puzzling exercises from level one to ten.
Where it is no problem to jump around in puzzling land but Daniel King kindle ask you to set up all puzzles on a real chessboard rather than from screen.
But there are also excellent analyses included from our so instructive explaining Daniel King!
All good for around 6 hours highly instructive video entertainment!
So a lot of video fun is secured!
Conclusion: This is ChessBase on it’s best! 


ChessBase Magazine extra issue 183
May  2018
Videos by Adrian Mikhalchishin, Yannick Pelletier and Georgios Souleidis
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.


This latest ChessBase magazine comes with a small 22676 entries and all played
between February and April of this year.The smashing video files come from Adrian Mikhalchishin, Yannick Pelletier and Georgios Souleidis.
Good for high quality video analyses!
Nowadays the Latvian is only played less high rated players but it does not make it less interesting!
A fine example: Janulaitis,Albertas (1804) - Samodelkin,Artiom (1637) [C40]
LTU-ch Kaunas (2), 03.03.2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.d4 fxe4 4.Nxe5 Nf6 5.c3 Be7 6.Qb3 d5 7.Be3 0-0 8.Nd2 c6 9.0-0-0 Qb6 10.Qc2 Ng4 11.Nxg4 Bxg4 12.Re1 Nd7 13.h3 Bf5 14.g4 Bg6 15.h4 h5 16.gxh5 Bxh5 17.Be2 Nf6 18.Bg5 Bg6 19.Nf1 c5 20.Be3 cxd4 21.Bxd4 Bc5 22.Bxc5 Qxc5 23.Ne3 d4 24.cxd4 Qxd4 25.Qc4+ Qxc4+ 26.Bxc4+ Kh8 27.h5 Bh7 28.b3 Nd7 29.h6 g5 30.Ng4 Nc5 31.Rh5 Nd3+ 32.Bxd3 exd3 33.Rxg5 Rac8+ 34.Kb2 d2 35.Rd1 Rcd8 36.Rg7 Rd5 37.Rxb7 Be4 38.Ne3 Rdd8 39.Rxa7 Bf3 40.Rg1 d1Q 41.Nxd1 Bxd1 42.Rgg7 Rxf2+ 43.Kc3 Bc2 44.Kc4 Bd3+ 45.Kb4 Bb1 46.a3 Rf4+ 47.Ka5 Rd5+ 48.Kb6 Rf6+ 49.Kc7 Rc5+ 50.Kd7 Rxh6 51.Re7 Bf5+ 52.Ke8 Be6 53.Ra8 Rg6 0-1.
Conclusion: There is no better way to keep abreast of latest developments!