CHESSBOOK REVIEWS
Latest book
reviews of 1 January 2024
Wilhelminalaan 33
7261 BP RUURLO
The Netherlands.
John
Elburg
Chess Books
1001 deadly chess
puzzles by James Rizzitano
2023
Gambit
Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
302pages
US$28.50
ISBN (13 digits):
978-1-80504-057-6
As we all know there is no better way to improve chess than doing chess
puzzles and this new book from International master James Rizzitano is
a truly tactics course on it's best.
The first four sections are compared with the rest in the book are all
a little easier,but
for the remaining chapters you need decision making skills.
Specially in the final chapters as Advanced and deadly ones.
Most of the puzzles are middlegame positions but some interesting
opening and endgame positions are included. There are even chess
puzzles where best play is only good for a draw.
But there are no trick questions or other such oddities in this books
and that makes it all very enjoyable.
James Rizzitano explains that this book is a rather higher level than
John’s Nunn’s 1001 Deadly Check mates but it does share one major
feature: there is little overt’ instruction’ in this book.
The idea is that you learn by solving.
Full solutions are provided!
Conclusion: This is a tactical master
piece of a chess puzzle book!
Secrets of Queen
Endgames by Ferenc Berkes & Tibor Karolyi
2023
Gambit
Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
382pages
US$29.95
ISBN (13 digits):
978-1-80504-057-6
Grandmaster Ferenc and his companion International master Tibor
Karolyi provide the reader in this book with a detailed, move to move
book from 382 pages on
queen endings.
This book is not only a guide for handling positions with Queens and
pawns but both authors will teach you at the hand of understandable
words the complex ability of queen endings with logical explanations.
But above all it also teaches the reader how to improve your thought
process and how to calculate the right candidate moves.
All material is divided into nine sections: Extreme tactics in Queen
Endings, Tools in Queen endings, Queen and pawn vs Queen, All the pawns
on the same side, Extra outside passed pawn, Practical and strategic
queen endgames, The queen, The king and at last Complex queen endgames.
On page 49 I found the fascinating ending between Svetozar Gligoric and
Jan Timman,from Bugojno 1980.
The position White Qc8,Kd7 Black Kh4,Qg1 and pawn h5 is covered with
nearly four pages of higly instructive text. And Jan Timman could have
easy
drawn this game if he had avoided somewhat mysterious move Queen
move.{88….Qe3?}
Conclusion: A master work on queen endings!
Chess DVD's
Fritz 19
ChessBase
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price €89,90
Minimum:
PC Intel i3 or i5 or Ryzen 3, 4 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 (32- or 64-Bit),
DirectX11, graphic card with 512 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media
Player and internet access. Recommended: PC Intel i7, i9 or Ryzen 7/9,
8 GB RAM, Windows 11 or 10 with 64-Bit, Windows Media Player, graphic
card with 1 GB RAM, RTX graphic card for real time Raytrace board,
DVD-ROM drive and internet access. For ChessBase ACCOUNT: Internet
access and up-to-date browser, e.g. Chrome, Safari. Runs on Windows, OS
X, iOS, Android and Linux.
The new engine in Fritz 19 is the brand new Computer Chess World
Champion for 2023.
The Calculation Training has been extended, especially in the important
preliminary query of candidate moves. The Buddy Engine and the
annotated engine analysis from
ChessBase 17 have found their way into Fritz 19. The notation (and the
whole program interface) has been rewritten. Tactical Analysis, the
important full commentary of your
games, has been improved and more!
There are six different characters that mimic typical club players: All
rounder, Aggressive, Positional, Swindler, Fearful, Endgame Expert.
When playing against Fritz 19, you can acquire 136 different trophies.
Some are quite simple, like Closed Centre or Bishop Pair. You will grab
them.
Others don’t just happen by themselves: the advance of a passed
pawn, a knight outpost, an unsafe opponent’s king position, space
advantage or a sharp position.
The crowning glory are trophies such as queen sacrifice, mate with
knight, and many more. There is a ranking list for each of these
trophies
Fritz plays human moves that fit these types, but builds-in tactical
mistakes so that you can win with a sacrifice attack, for example. The
sharper the position, the more likely the program will misstep.
There is a wide range of tips and support that you can use to the full,
or ignore, depending on your mood. With all the tips, you will
practically always win against the “strong club player” level. If you
ignore them completely, it becomes challenging for most players.
The 2023 event was held this time on laptops equipped with an AMD Ryzen
3700X processor, a very competent CPU sporting 8 cores and 16 threads.
Since most chess engines are heavily CPU based, this should provide a
level playing field, but as we know, neural networks such as Leela
require a strong GPU (video card) to run at their most effective.
The turnout this year was underwhelming it must be said, and four
participants came for the prize: Arasan, Fritz, Jonny, and Stoofvlees.
As a result of this, it was a quadruple round robin, meaning the
competitors played each other four times in all.
The defending champion, Fritz, managed to defeat Stoofvlees, a neural
network engine by Gian-Carlo Pascutto (author of LeelaGo) twice with
White, and being the only program to actually win any games,
successfully defended its title.
Wolfgang Zugrav, also European Correspondence Champion, is the operator
of Fritz in the event.See ChessBase.com
The users of ChessBase 17 will be glad with impressive engine and most
players will have more than enough with this new Fritz 19!
Included is a special Fritz 19
openings book, Hugh Database and 6
months ChessBase Premium account!
Conclusion: This is a wonderful
playing
tool!
Mega Database 2024
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
2023
Price:€219,90
Desktop
PC or Notebook, 2 GB RAM, Windows 11, 10 or 8.1, DVD-ROM drive (if
ordered with Postal Delivery), ChessBase 17, 16 or 15, Internet access
(downloads).
The
new Mega Database is good for 10.4 million games,and it Includes Mega
Update Service 2024: update your Mega with your ChessBase 17/16 program
every week with
over 5,000 new games. That’s about 250,000 new games by the end of 2024!
Enlarged Tournament menu! Comfortable menu and more Top-level
tournaments than ever before!
More than 112,000 annotated games
Direct access to the games of all the World Championships, among the
over 450 years of high level chess play.
Direct access to Top Tournaments, Games, CrossTable and more
Player lexicon for download with over 600,000 player names and more
than 40,000 player photos (only with ChessBase 17 or 16)
Find all important tournaments: all World Championship matches,
Women’s, Juniors and Senior’s World Championships tournaments were
added and a lot of top tournaments can be directly accessed via the
menu — with tables, all games, and texts about the tournaments which
give you additional information and insights.
Pleasant to read are the tournaments text information’s, and it only
takes seconds to find the games of your next opponent! The repertoire
overview shows you which lines your opponent likes to play and
statistics reveal eventual weaknesses in his or hers repertoire.
Conclusion: Top level material!
Najdorf: A dynamic
grandmaster repertoire against 1.e4 Vol.1 & 2
by
Luis Engel
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail
info@chessbase.com
2023
Price Euro 69.90
Windows 7 or higher
Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, 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.
MacOSX only available as download! Minimum: MacOS "Yosemite"
10.10
The young chess genius Grandmaster Luis Engel provides the user
on this overloaded DVD with a impressive grandmaster coverage of
Najdorf:
On this two part DVD you will find the following lines:
Introduction
6.Bg5
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Bg5 e6 - Sidelines
6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.Bh4 Nbd7 9.Qf3 & Bc4
6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.Bh4 Nbd7 9.Qe2
6.Be3
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3
6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.h3 & Qd2
6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 h5 9.Nd5
6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 h5 9.Qd2
6.Be2
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Be2 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bg5 & 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg5
6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8th move alternatives
6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9th move alternatives
6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3
6.Bc4
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Bc4 e6 7th move alternatives
6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3
Repertoire training
6.Bg5
6.Be3
6.Be2
6.Bc4
Practice Positions
6.Bg5 Sidelines 1
6.Bg5 Sidelines 2
6.Bg5 9.Qf3 & 9.Bc4 1
6.Bg5 9.Qf3 & 9.Bc4 2
6.Bg5 9.Qe2 1
6.Bg5 9.Qe2 2
6.Be3 7.Nf3 1
6.Be3 7.Nf3 2
6.Be3 8.h3 and 8.Qd2 1
6.Be3 8.h3 and 8.Qd2 2
6.Be3 9.Nd5 1
6.Be3 9.Nd5 2
6.Be3 9.Qd2 1
6.Be3 9.Qd2 2
6.Be2 7.Nf3 & 7.Nb3, 8.Bg5 1
6.Be2 7.Nf3 & 7.Nb3, 8.Bg5 2
6.Be2 8th move alternatives 1
6.Be2 8th move alternatives 2
6.Be2 9th move alternatives 1
6.Be2 8th move alternatives 2
6.Be2 9.Be3 1
6.Be2 9.Be3 2
6.Bc4 7th move alternatives 1
6.Bc4 7th move alternatives 2
6.Bc4 7.Bb3 1
6.Bc4 7.Bb3 2
Bonus
Analysis
Najdorf: A dynamic grandmaster repertoire against 1.e4 Vol.2
Introduction
6.h3
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.h3 e6 7.g4
6.g3
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.g3 e5 7.Nde2/Nb3
6.f4
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.f4 e5 7.Nf3
6.a4
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.a4 e5 7.Nf3
6.Bd3
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Bd3 g6 7.f3/0-0
6.Rg1
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Rg1 e5 7.Nb3
6.Nb3
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Nb3 e6 7.g4
6.h4/a3/Bd2
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.h4/a3/Bd2
6.Qf3/Qd3/Qe2
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6
6.Qf3/Qd3/Qe2
plus exercises
Repertoire training
6.h3
6.g3
6.f4
6.a4
6.Bd3
6.Rg1
6.Nb3
6.h4, 6.a3, 6.Bd2
6.Qf3, 6.Qd3, 6.Qe2
Practice Positions
6.h3 1
6.h3 2
6.g3 1
6.g3 2
6.f4 1
6.f4 2
6.a4 1
6.a4 2
6.Bd3 1
6.Bd3 2
6.Rg1 1
6.Rg1 2
6.Nb3 1
6.Nb3 2
Minor 6th moves 1
Minor 6th moves 2
Minor 6th moves 3
Minor 6th moves 4
Bobby Fisher started playing the Najdorf in the late 1950s and was very
successful with it.
His US game Grossguth,1956 was his first game ever to be published.
All together this is good for nearly ten hours highly instructive video
entertainment.
Plus interactive training including video feedback
Training with ChessBase apps - Memorize the opening repertoire and more!
Conclusion: Truly grandmaster material!
Understanding
Middlegame Strategies Vol.7 - 9
by
Ivan Sokolov
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail
info@chessbase.com
2023
Price Euro 99.90
Windows 7 or higher
Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, 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.
MacOSX only available as download! Minimum: MacOS "Yosemite"
10.10
The great master of explanation digs in a impressive 13 hours video
entertainment the secrets of strategy play as: part 7 The Dynamic
Catalan where our Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov has been on the white
side of the bord in many top-level games, against players such as
Caruana and Vallejo Pons, and “felt comfortable playing it: space,
initiative, safe king.”
This all and more is well explained by Ivan Sokolov.
Part 8 holds the famous French Winawer and part 9 the French Tarrasch.
But first the Contents:
Introduction
Dynamic Catalan
Catalan vs. Semi-Slav / Triangle pawn structure
Game 1: Lysyj - Lupulescu
Game 2: Giri - Morozevich
Game 3: Esipenko - Kacharava
Game 4: Nakamura - Lendermann
Game 5: Kramnik - Giri
Game 6: Sokolov - Vallejo
Game 7: Sokolov - Bok
Game 8: Deac - Berkes
Game 9: Sokolov - Caruana
Exercises
Description
Exercise 1: Esipenko - Kacharava
Exercise 2: Esipenko - Keymer
Exercise 3: Espienko - Kacharava
Exercise 4: Sokolov - Caruana
Exercise 5: Sokolov - Caruana
Exercise 6: Deac - Berkes
Exercise 7: Lysyj - Lupulescu
Exercise 8: Sokolov - Bok
Exercise 9: Salem - Niemann
Exercise 10: Nakamura - Lendermann
Exercise 11: Salem - Gusain
Exercise 12: Gelfand - Steinberg
Exercise 13: Giri - Morozevich
Exercise 14: Nakamura - Lendermann
Introduction
Intro
French - Winawer
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4
Game 1: Fischer - Larsen
Game 2: Spassky - Korchnoi
Game 3: Ivkov - Portisch
Game 4: Anand - Nikolic
Game 5: Santos - Rapport
Game 6: Anand - Ponomariov
Game 7: Ponomariov - Ivanchuk
Bonus: 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 Nunn - Korchnoi
Exercises
Description
Exercise 1: Anand - Nikolic
Introduction
French - Tarrasch
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5
Game 1: Van der Wiel - Korchnoi
Game 2: Karpov - Korchnoi (Leningrad 1971)
Game 3: Karpov - Korchnoi (Candidates 1974)
Game 4: Karpov - Korchnoi (Baguio 1978)
Game 5: Karpov - Vaganian
Game 6: Kasparov - Short
Bonus videos
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5: Ponomariov - Ivanchuk
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5/Nc3: Movsesian - Gurevich // Bologan - Gurevich //
Baramidze - Prusikin
Exercises
Description
Exercise 1: Karpov – Korchnoi
With interactive training including video feedback
Extra: Training with ChessBase apps
Conclusion: This is ChessBase on it’s
best!
ChessBase
Magazine issue 216
Extra
December 2023
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, 10
The extra data collect file of this ChessBase Magazine Extra is good
for 51797 entries, and all played between 19/8 and 29/10 of thus year.
The extra lucky bag with 45 super analysed games is good for 45
entries, and a fine example of play is: Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2781) -
Carlsen,Magnus (2858) [A02]
Zagreb SuperUnited Blitz Zagreb (15), 09.07.2023
[Mikhalchishin,Adrian]
In this game Magnus proved his real power! 1.b3 Bobby Fischer and Bent
Larsen favorite side opening repertoire! 1...g6 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.e4 [Safer
lines are 3.e3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.d4] 3...d6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.d3 e5!
7.fxe5 Ng4 8.Nbd2 [Not better alternative was 8.Nc3 dxe5? (8...Nc6!
9.exd6 cxd6 10.h3 Ne3 11.Qd2 Nb4 12.Rc1 Bh6) 9.h3 Ne3 (9...Nf6 10.Nxe5
Nh5 11.Nf3 Ng3 12.Rg1 Nc6) 10.Qd2 Nxf1 11.Rxf1 Nc6 12.0-0-0 a5 13.Kb1
Nd4 14.a4 Bd7 (14...c5!) 15.Qf2 c5 with great game for
Black,Petrosian,T (2663)-Matinian,N (2475) Moscow 2015] 8...Nc6 9.Qe2
[Black had strong initiative after 9.Nc4 f5! 10.exf6 Bxf6 11.d4 Re8
12.Bd3 d5] 9...Ngxe5 10.d4 [Better was 10.0-0-0 a5] 10...Nxf3+ 11.Nxf3
Re8 12.0-0-0 [#] 12...Bf5 13.e5 dxe5 [13...Nb4 14.a3 Nxc2 15.g4]
14.Nxe5 [Black would win a pawn after 14.dxe5 Qe7 15.Qe3 Nxe5 16.Nxe5
Bxe5 17.Bxe5 Qxe5 18.Qxe5 Rxe5] 14...Nxe5 15.dxe5 Qg5+ 16.Kb1 [Or
16.Qd2 Qxd2+ 17.Kxd2 Bh6+ 18.Ke1 Bf4] 16...Bxe5 17.Bxe5 Rxe5 18.Qc4 Rd8
19.Be2 b5! One more powerful strike of Magnus! 20.Qxc7 Rc8 0-1.
But there is more as some smashing video files as from Nico Zwirs with
the Catalan: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4
7.h4 and Jan Werle with the King's Indian Classical with
7...Nbd7.{ 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0
Nbd7}
Conclusion: This is super material for
a bargain price!