CHESSBOOK REVIEWS


Latest book reviews of 1 October 2022

Wilhelminalaan 33 

7261 BP RUURLO 

The Netherlands.
           John Elburg


 
         Chess Books

                                            

United States Women's Chess Champions, 1937-2020 (Paperback)
Alexey W. Root

2022
McFarland & Company,Inc.,Publishers Box 611
Jefferson,North Carolina 28640.
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com
230 pages
Price $49.95

ISBN 10: 1476686939 / ISBN 13: 9781476686936


The former United States Woman's Chess Champion,Alexey W.Root examines in this wonderful written  book the careers with biographies and games from the 60 Woman championships
which where all held between 1937 and 2020.
The included careers with biographies, plus photographs and 171 annotated games make this book a truly gift, specially with the use of historical archives and original interviews.
Every heard of Mona May Karff?She was 1938 U.S.Woman's Champion who learned to play chess at the age of 8 years old,loved opera,collected art and spoke eights languages fluently,traveld the world round and made millions in the stock market.
Or Sonja Graf? Her chess career began as a child in her native Munich,learned chess from her father,and took lessons from the famous Dr.Siegbert Tarrasch and went to win the Woman's Championship of Germany.Tarrasch was so impressed by Sonja's combinative talent that he repeatedly published examples of nice tactics from her games in his Tarraschs Schachzeitung.
Other famous chess players in this book are for example Irina Krush who also did an excellent foreword in this book Jennifer Shade and our author W.Root who is the former United States  Woman's Chess Champion 1989.
The following game won the $250 Albert highest quality game first prize,as judged by Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier.
Belakovskaia,Anjelina (2355) - Zitserman,Tatyana (2125) [D43]
USA-ch (Women) Chandler (7), 1997
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Qc2 g6 9.Bd3 Bg7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rfc1 Qe7 13.Qb3 a6 14.a4 b6 15.Na2 Qd6 16.Qb4 Qb8 17.Rc2 Re8 18.Rac1 Bf8 19.Qb3 Bb7 20.a5 b5 21.Rc7 Rd8 22.h4 Bd6 23.R7c2 Nf6 24.Nb4 Ra7 25.Kf1 Kg7 26.Ke2 Nd7 27.h5 g5 28.Nc6 Bxc6 29.Rxc6 f5 30.Qc2 Rf8 31.Nd2 Nf6 32.Nb3 Nxh5 33.Rb6 Qd8 34.Qc6 Bc7 35.Nc5 Rf6 36.Nxe6+ Rxe6 37.Qxe6 Bxb6 38.axb6 Rb7 39.Rc6 Nf6 40.Bxf5 a5 41.Rd6 Qf8 42.Qc8 Qe7 43.Rc6 Ne8 44.Re6 Qf7 45.Rxe8 Rxb6 46.Rh8 1-0.
Included are nearly 6 pages references, openings index and general index.
Conclusion: One of those must have chess books!

                                                                                                       Chess DVD's


ChessBase Magazine issue 209
September/October 2022
ChessBase
 http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail
info@chessbase.com

ISSN 1432-8992
Euro 19.95
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

The main file on this ChessBase Magazine is good for 270 entries, and where a small 13 games are more than excellent analysed.
A fine example of this all is: Giri,Anish (2761) - Radjabov,Teimour (2753) [C54]
Norway Chess 10th Stavanger (5), 05.06.2022
[Giri, Anish]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 Teimour stays true to the ever solid Berlin defense. 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 I suspect this came as a minor surprise, since I usually go for other Anti-Berlins. 5...d6 Somewhat shockingly, my opponent mixes up the move order as early as move 5. The traditional order is 5...0-0 6.0-0 d6, but I guess Teimour suddenly got confused with 6.Bxc6!? bxc6 7.Nxe5, which is a testing line, but Black is supposed to be fine in complications after 7...d5. 6.d4!? Fortunately I had refreshed my move orders before the game, as incidentally the day before I mixed up my own against Carlsen (in a different opening, but still). The 6.d4 is the "punisher", though objectively Black is not really in any serious trouble yet. 6...exd4 Black has to give up the center. The fact that this only move took Teimour quite a bit of time, only confirmed that he indeed mixed up the order. 7.cxd4 Bb4+ 8.Bd2 The right way to play for advantage, though 8.Kf1!? looks super tempting, trying to win material. [8.Kf1!? When I had re-checked this before the game, I concluded that Black is fine by force. 8...d5! Only move. 9.e5 Ne4 10.Qa4 White still appears to be winning some material, but Black has a few way to organize counterplay, due to White's weakened king on f1. One instructive sample line goes- 10...a5 11.Bxc6+ bxc6 12.Qxc6+ Qd7! 13.Qxa8 Qb5+ 14.Kg1 0-0 15.h3 Bb7 16.Qa7 Ra8 17.Na3 Qe2! 18.Qxb7 Qxf2+ 19.Kh2 Qg3+ With a perpetual check. All theory, as they say.] 8...Bxd2+?! While 5...d6 is merely somewhat inaccurate, the decision to not allow the doubling of the c-pawns is already a serious mistake. Having given up the center already, Black is not in the position to prevent abstract threats like Bxc6 and should try to create counterplay quickly, in order to compensate for the strategic issues, such as lack of space in the center and potentially doubled pawns. [8...0-0 9.Bxc6 Bxd2+ 10.Nbxd2 bxc6 11.0-0 This is the critical position, where Black has to act fast, to try to come up with some counterplay before White gets to fully consolidate their center.] 9.Nbxd2 Bd7?! Besides that it loses a crucial tempo, it is also the fact that the doubling of the pawns, as bad as it is, trades a piece, which is a big relief for Black, as he lacks space. So I am not sure he should fear it much. 10.0-0 0-0 11.Re1 This move is obvious. 11...Re8 12.h3 I decided to prevent any Bg4 ideas, but developing the other rook with 12.Rc1 would have been more rough. [12.Rc1! a6 13.Bd3 I may have underestimated this retreat, but it is a good square for the bishop, guarding the e4 pawn. 13...Bg4 This is not an issue now. 14.Qb3 White has the pawns in the center well guarded and the queen will soon step over to c3, overprotecting the d4 pawn as well.] 12...Ne7 Transferring the knight to g6 doesn't solve the problems. 13.Bf1 c6?! This felt very wrong. Black isn't generating counterplay, but is weakening the d6 pawn. 14.Qb3!? Highly sophisticated. I felt that 14.e5 would sell my advantage too short, but actually it was simple and strong. [14.e5 dxe5 15.dxe5 Nfd5 16.Ne4 Nf5 I wasn't sure how much this was, as 17.g4 Nh4 kind of works out for Black. The position is just really good here though, as White can slowly mobilize and bring the a1 rook into play as well, before starting some concrete action. Black active looking knights have no promising jumps here.] 14...Qb6?! I was very surprised to see this move, giving me Qa3 for free, but Teimour had an issue that he couldn't solve after the more natural 14...Qc7. [14...Qc7 15.Ng5 Rf8 I was trying to make e5 work here, but Teimour told me that 16.f4!? scared him away, and indeed it is a very cool idea. 16.f4!? (16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 Nfd5) 16...h6 17.Ngf3 idea being 17...d5 (17...Nh5 18.f5) 18.e5 Nh5 19.f5! and capturing the pawn, loses to 20.g4!.] 15.Qa3! Eyeing the d6 pawn. 15...Qc7 [15...d5 16.e5 Nh5 is not a solution to the problem. 17.g3 Cuts out the h5 knight.] 16.Nc4 Nc8 17.e5! With the knight so passive on c8, this operation felt well timed. 17...dxe5 18.dxe5 Nd5 I thought of some concrete ideas related to 19.Ng5, but eventually realized that White just has to strengthen the position. 19.Rac1 Also strong was 19.Rad1. 19...h6 20.b4!? I really liked this idea, preventing b5 and c5 once and for all. [20.Nd4! Got intuitively dismissed on the account of b5 as well as c5, but it just works by force. 20...b5 (20...c5 21.Qf3! Is a powerful intermezzo. 21...Ndb6 Here there are many good moves, but my engine's first choice is incredible. 22.a4! I will see myself out. 22...Nxa4 23.Bd3! cxd4 24.Nd6!) 21.e6! Freeing the e5 square for the knight, with an overwhelming advantage, once the c6 pawn falls.] 20...Qd8?! Black spent a lot of time on this move and after thinking along for a while, I realized that 20...Ndb6! is the best chance, trying to get rid of my annoying c4 knight and potentially free the knight on c8 from the defense of the d6 square. Teimour's move is more passive. [20...Ndb6! White has plenty of options here, but it's hard to say which one is the best. Black can keep struggling on here.] 21.Qb2! Now my play is extremely easy. 21...Rb8 22.a3! Black doesn't want anything, so I can just afford to optimize my position. Interestingly, this move is also the engine's top choice, which goes to show that simple human logic can sometimes almost as if by accident match the all-knowing AI. 22...a6 23.Rcd1 Rook is slightly better placed here. 23...Qc7 Here it's time to go for the final push. 24.Qd4 I couldn't choose between this and Bd3, with the same idea, to setup a battery along the b1-h7 diagonal, which would be the final improvement of my pieces, when Black's position would crack. [24.Bd3! is even cleaner, as in the game there is still a bit of work left to do.] 24...Bf5 Black fights for the b1-h7 diagonal, but for this I prepared a simple response. 25.Nh4 Bh7 26.Bd3! Trading away a defender and introducing the idea of Rd3-Rg3. Black was already busted for a while, but now he is finally facing concrete problems. 26...b5 This pushes the c4 knight away, but at a high cost. The c6 pawn is now hopelessly backward and weak. 27.Bxh7+ Kxh7 28.Na5! Nce7 29.Rc1 I decided to just collect the c6 pawn, but there were prettier roads to victory. [29.e6! was a good one, making Black choose between different options, all of which are quite unacceptable.] 29...Rbd8 30.Qe4+ Kh8 31.Nf3 I decided to go for the c6 pawn and there was no changing my mind at this point. [31.Nb3!? Aiming for domination with Nc5 and eventual f4-f5 was also a way to convert.] 31...Qd7 32.Rc2 I thought this was accurate, as 32.Nd4 seemed to fail to 32...Nxb4, but in fact 33.e6! wins for White. 32...Ng6 Black tries to give up the doomed pawn and seek some active play, but one knight on f4 is not going to give White much headache. [32...Rc8 Defending passively not going to save the game either. 33.Rec1 Nb6 34.Rd2 Ned5 35.Nd4 Ne7 36.Kh2 Black is out of moves and White will eventually f4-f5 Black to suffocation.] 33.Nxc6 I just take the pawn. 33...Rc8 34.Rec1 Ngf4 35.Ncd4 Now I just go back. There is no compensation for the pawn. 35...Rxc2 36.Rxc2 f6 White is fully mobilized and ready for this attempt to stir up some drama in the center. 37.Rc5! fxe5 38.Nxe5 Black is the one losing material here, despite him being the one with a pin. 38...Nc3 39.Rxc3 Qxd4 40.Nf7+ An intermezzo that seals the game. Black resigned, losing material on the board, but also running out of time. 1-0.
Other contributions are, Video files: Daniel King: Jobava London System
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e4!?
Mihail Marin: English
1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Nd4 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nc2 Nf6 7.Nc3 Qe5
Ivan Sokolov: QG Ragozin Variation 8...h5 (II)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Bb46.e3 h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bg3 h5 9.h4

Opening surveys: Evgeny Postny: English Four Knights 4.e4 Bb4 5.d3 d6
Petra Papp: Trompowsky 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5 3.d5 Ne4
Martin Lorenzini: Scandinavian 3...Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3
Alexey Kuzmin: Sic. Moscow Variation 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4
Yago Santiago: Sic. Najdorf Variation 6.Bc4 e6 7.0-0
Krisztian Szabo: Centre Game 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 Nf6 5.Nc3
Sergei Grigoriants: Spanish 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nge7 5.0-0 Ng6
Roven Vogel: QG Ragozin Variation 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3
Christian Braun: Gruenfeld Fianchetto 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Nc3 d5
Andrey Sumets: Catalan 8.a4 Nc6 9.Qxc4 Na5 10.Qc2
Spyridon Kapnisis: King's Indian Petrosian Variation.
Other columns are:Special with Anna and Mriya Muzychuk,Ris Move by Move,All in one,The classic,Reeh Queen sacrifices of all kind,Mueller Endgame highlights from Prague,Knaak Opening traps and more.
Included is eye catching booklet in two languages plus 4 hours extra video download!
Conclusion: Smashing material!