CHESSBOOK REVIEWS 
Latest book reviews of 1 June 2004.
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG.Wilhelminalaan 33John Elburg
7261 BP RUURLO
The Netherlands.
Chess Books
Pal Benko My life games and compositions by GM Pal Benko & IM Jeremy Silman
Silman-James Press
http://www.silmanjamespress.com/
email: silmanjamespress@earthlink.net
668 pages
Price cloth $ 45.00
ISBN 1-890085-08-1
Seldom I have received for review such a heavy weight as this impressive written book from
Silman & Benko where Susan Polgar did the forward and John Watson was good for the excellent written openings over view from the great Benko.
A man who nearly played every established chess opening.{The whole openings overview is good for around 130 pages of this book!}
Bur first to Pal Benko a chess legend who has defeated nearly all top players of the world including the great Bobby Fischer and some say if Benko could have reduced his time troubles he would have certainly made it to world champion.
Interesting to mention is that Benko gave Fischer his place to the Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca in 1970.
I citrate Benko:When I gave my place to Fischer for the Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca in 1970,I was sure Bobby would advance to the Candidate matches and beat the Russians.
My own career was nearing its end,so why shouldn’t I give Fischer a chance to embrace his fate? I never had any doubts about his success and he didn’t disappoint me.
Surprising enough this book does not cover all the games from Benko but only a selection of 138 deeply analysed games and a very interesting chapter on Creating the Benko Gambit.
Besides the 300 compositions from Benko there are revealing interviews from Jeremy Silman with Benko,Evans and Gross.
What I like so much in this book are the vignettes of chess players and there personalities as Benko describes Laszlo Szabo: Though Laszlo was a good player, not many people liked him. He was a tough communist at that time, a real party guy, and he took full advantage of it.
He once told me, when I was twenty-four, that if I didn’t behave and do what he told me to do, he would make sure I was drafted into the army a second time!
Can you believe that guy? I had already done my army nightmare stint when I was sixteen, so I certainly had no desire to be introduced to that kind of thing again!
Or the story about Raymond Weinstein: This young International master was considered as very talented, but something went horrible wrong and he committed a murder.diagnosed as being mentally ill,in 1964 he was institutionalised in the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Centre in New York City, where he has been ever since.
Included are many rare photographs from players as Tal en Fischer.
Conclusion: The best book that I ever had for review on my website!
Across the board from John J.Watkins
2004
Princeton University Press
http://pup.princeton.edu
257 pages
Price $ 24.95
ISBN 0-691-11503-6
Across the board from the mathematics John J.Watkins is no normal chess book about opening or chess games but is besides a few chess compositions completely related to mathematics on the chess board as the fascinating knight’s jump tour around the board.
where you must try to reach each field of the board where it makes no difference where you play your first knight move.
It was the great Irish mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton who based on this subject a board game called the Icosian game in which the object was to complete a tour of the vertices of the graph of the dodecahedron.
Where we can read in this book that there was even a deluxe edition of the game ,A Voyage
Round the world in which the board was a solid dodecahedron and the vertices of the dodecahedron represented exotic locations as Delhi and Zanzibar.
So this horse jumping is nothing else as trying to find a Hamiltonian cycle in the associated graph.
The book from Watkins is really very nice printed and contains an excellent bibliography of 41 different board game books.
Many examples in his book are quite complicated but the author starts in a pleasant way hill up!
Conclusion: A very entertaining work that covers many mathematic secrets of our chess board!
Chess Informant issue 89
2003
Beograd
http://www.sahovski.com
380 pages
Price GBP 18.00
One issue to go and the people from Beograd can celebrate there 90 issue of there Chesss Informator but meanwhile his heavy loaded Informator issue is good for 491 excellent analysed games covering the period of the first of October 2003 till January the 31st of 2004.
These four months where for the chess world very interesting as the super tournaments as the European team championships, The match Kasparov – X3D Fritz ,Wijk aan Zee etc which are very detailed covered by the players who not only have been there but usually also have played the games.
The famous Informator has the reputation of being the simple the best and indeed it standards of analyses that are covered between these pages are extremely high and so far no other chess magazine has never reached in my opinion this high level of analyses.
The best chosen game of the preceding game goes to Anand – Bologan and this game I would like to show to my readers the comments t this game comes from Bologan.Bologan,V (2650) - Anand,V (2774) [B19] Dortmund 88/83, 2003
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Ngf6 11.Bf4 e6 12.0-0-0 Be7 13.Kb1 Qa5 14.Ne5 Rd8 [ 14...Nxe5 15.dxe5 Nd5 16.Bd2 Qc7 17.f4² ( 17.c4) ] 15.Qe2 0-0 16.Ng6! 16...Rfe8N [ 16...fxg6 17.Qxe6+ Kh8 18.hxg6 ( a) 18.Qxe7 Nd5 19.Bd2 Qxa2+ 20.Kxa2 Nxe7 21.Bb4 Rf7² ( 21...c5?! 22.Bxc5 Nxc5 23.dxc5 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Rxf2 25.Rd7±) ; 18...Ng8 19.Bxh6! gxh6 20.Rxh6+ Nxh6 21.Qxe7 Nf6 22.g7+ Kg8 23.gxf8Q+ Rxf8 24.Qxb7±] 17.Nxe7+ Rxe7 18.Rd3!² Ree8 [ 18...Qd5 19.Rg1] 19.Rhd1 [ 19.Ra3 Qd5 20.Rxa7 b5÷] 19...Qd5 [ 19...Nd5 20.Bd2 Qb5 21.Qf3] 20.Rg1 [ 20.f3 Nxh5;
20.Qf1 Nxh5; 20.Rf3!? .Nxh5? 21.Bxh6] 20...b5 [ 20...c5 21.dxc5 Qc4 22.Qd2 Qxc5 23.Rd1²] 21.Qd2!? #5B#5E h6#5D [ 21.Be5 b4 22.f4 a5] 21...a5 [ 21...Nxh5? 22.Bxh6! gxh6 23.Qxh6 Ng7 24.Rh1 f6 25.Ne4 Kf7 ( 25...Qxe4 26.Rg3 Re7 27.Qh8+ Kf7 28.Rxg7# #) 26.Rg3 Rg8 27.Qg6+ Ke7 28.Rh7+-;
21...c5!? 22.dxc5 Qxc5²] 22.Ne2! [ 22.Qxa5 Ra8] 22...b4?! [ 22...Qxh5? 23.Rh3 Qf5 24.Bxh6 Ne4 ( 24...gxh6 25.Qxh6 Qh7 26.Rg3+ Kh8 27.Qe3+-) 25.Qe3 Nxf2 26.g4 Qf6 27.Bg5 Qg6 28.Rh5+-; 22...Nxh5?! 23.Bxh6 gxh6 24.Qxh6,;
22...c5!? 23.dxc5 a) a) 23.Bxh6 Ne4; b) b) 23.g4 c4 24.Rh3 (b) 24.Re3 Ne4 25.Qe1 e5) 24...e5!; 23...Qxc5 24.g4 Rc8 25.g5 hxg5 26.Bxg5 Ne4 27.Qc1 Ne5 28.Re3f] 23.g4 Ne4 [ 23...c5 24.dxc5 Qxc5 25.g5 Ne4 26.Qc1 hxg5 27.Bxg5 f6 28.Be3 Qxh5 29.Qd1 Qb5 30.Nd4 Qb7 31.Bh6,] 24.Qe3 Ng5 25.Rc1!± #5B#C5 c4#5D [ 25.Bxg5 hxg5 ( 25...Qxg5 26.f4 Qd5 27.g5) 26.f4 gxf4 27.Nxf4 Qg5÷] 25...Nb6 [ 25...a4 26.c4 Qa5 27.c5 Nh7 28.g5 hxg5 29.Bxg5 f6 30.Bh4 e5 31.Rg1 exd4 32.Qg3 Re7 33.Nxd4] 26.b3 a4? [ 26...Ra8 27.Bc7! ( 27.c4 bxc3 28.Nxc3 Qd8 29.Bxg5 hxg5 30.Ne4 a4 31.Qxg5 axb3) 27...Nc8 ( 27...Qb5 28.c4 bxc3 29.Nxc3 Qa6 30.Bxb6 Qxb6 31.Na4±) 28.c4 bxc3 29.Nxc3 Qd7 30.Bf4±] 27.Bc7 Qa5 28.f4!? [ 28.Bxd8 Rxd8 29.Nf4 ( 29.f4? Nd5 30.Qg1 Ne4) 29...Ra8 30.Rd2 Nd5 31.Nxd5 Qxd5 32.Re2 Nf3 33.Rd1 c5] 28...Nh7 29.g5 [ 29.Bxd8 Rxd8 30.f5 Nd5 31.Qf2 Ra8 32.Rd2 exf5 33.Qxf5 Nhf6] 29...hxg530.fxg5 Rd7 [ 30...axb3 31.cxb3 Ra8 32.Qd2 Rec8 33.Bxb6 Qxb6 34.g6,] 31.Bxb6 Qxb6 32.Rg1!? [ 32.g6 Nf6 33.h6 fxg6 34.Qg5 axb3 35.cxb3 Qb5 36.Qxg6 Qf5] 32...axb3 33.cxb3 Qa5 34.g6 fxg6 35.hxg6 Nf6 36.Rg5! Rd5 37.Re5+-#5B#C5 #CDf4#5D 37...Ng4? [ 37...Ra8 38.Nc1 Ng4 39.Qh3] 38.Rxe6! Rf8 39.Qh3 Nh6 40.Rxc6 Rdf5 41.d5 1-0 [ 16.c4 Ue 31/186]
For those who enjoy the opening of this game I can say Sasa Velickovic { Author from the B12 CD} has written an excellent theoretical overview from this B17 Caro-Kann line.
Other enjoyable items are besides the games a selection combinations,endings,studies and not to forget the best of Alexander Beliavsky.
This Ukrainian grandmaster 9born 1953) made a impressive impact on the international scene by winning the World Championship in 1973.
A year later he joint first with the legendary Tal in the USSR championship.
Even in a excellent chess magazine you can have wishes and one of them is I would like to see more correspondence games!
Conclusion: A must for every ambitious chess player!
Encyclopaedia of chess Openings D 4th edition
2004
http://www.sahovski.com
607 pages
Price £ 18.00
ISBN 86-7297-052-7
This fourth edition of the D opening covering all openings than can arise after 1.d4 d5,1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 followed by 3…d5 as the Queens Gambit, Slav, Queens Gambit accepted, Orthodox etc has been expanded with 56 pages which brings this heavy weight to a total of 607 pages.
For example the Botvinnik Semi – Slav that you can find under the key code D44 is covered with nearly sixteen pages where the reader can find all the latest developments of this complex openings line.
Unfortunately still unplayable is the so called Alatortsev’s line with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 Nd5, 10.Nxf7 Qxh4 11.Nxh8 Bb4 12.Rc1 c5 13.dxc5 Nd7 14.Be2 Nxe5 15.0-0 Bb7 16.Bh5+ Ke7 17.Qe2 Rg8 which gives white a cutting end and it looks that the new theory can agree with the old but this fourth edition gives an excellent coverage of this romantic defence!
Abreast of new material in this tome starts with Informator 89.
Conclusion: A very compressive openings encyclopaedia!
Super Tournaments 2003 by IMSergei Soloviov
2004
Chess Stars
E-mail: chessstars@softhome.net
454 pages
Price £ 19.99
ISBN 954-9782-36-7
2003 was somewhere a super chess year not only participated 175 GM’s in the Aeroflot Open
and there for made it in to the Guinness Book of Records because there have never been before so many GM’s in one open tournament.
This latest Super tournaments 2003 book from Sergei Soloviov is good for a collection of 176 superb chess games all taken from strong 18 and higher tournaments where players as Khalifman,Valeri Beim,Alexei Bezgodov,Sergei Ivanov,Mikhail Golubev and more stand for these excellent move to move annotations.
For instance the game Polgar Ju. – Kramnik from Wijk aan Zee is good for around seven pages and not only the opening is well analysed but the fascinating endgame is covered in painstaking depth!
And than not in one or other symbolic language no in perfect understandable text where the GM’s are not afraid to show some of there secrets!
Included are detailed surveys of the strongest tournaments,crosstables,interviews and a lot of colour photo’s all from excellent quality!
Conclusion: A fine made tournament book!
Chess: the art of logical thinking by Neil McDonald
2004
Batsford Ltd London
http://www.Batsford.com
256 pages
Price $ 21.95
ISBN 0-7134-8894-8
This latest book from GM Neil Donald with a collection 30 games from the last 25 years
is a interesting try from the author to analyse chess games in logical way of understanding as Lasker once did in his Common sense in chess and the great Chernev with his famous move by move book.
Every game in this book from McDonald covers instructive annotations from how and why to play that typical move well explained by the author with a large amount of readable text.
Unfortunately for the more experience chess player quite some games in this book as Karpov – Korchnoi Baguio City 1978 have been prinyed many times before of course not really a big problem, the personal notes and explanations from Neil McDonald are even more understandable, specially for a beginner in chess but it is important to know if you decide to buy this book.
When we take a closer look at game thirteen Ponomariov – Congquest Torshavn 2000,than we can see that there are also many latest games in this book and the author has used around 8.5 pages to get all his annotations and explanations from this game on paper!
All together I would like to recommended it to players who would like to explore and understand chess.
Conclusion: A book filled with a lot of chess wisdom!
Modern chess analyses by Robin Smith
2004
Gambit Publications Ltd.
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
176 pages
Price $ 24.95
ISBN 1-904600-08-5
Modern chess analyses is nowadays very close related with the use of latest chess engines and modern personal computers with a lot of RAM.
From the correspondence chess master Robin Smith {ICCF rating 2610} we can learn how to use several chess techniques as to generate your own analysis with the help of your {favourite} chess engine.
The readers from ChessMail shall recognize many of these tips and suggestions but Smith has managed to cover in this book a number of interesting chess examples as for instance where the assistance from a chess engine does not lead to the best possible move as in the famous game between Dubois,S - Steinitz, of the Congress London 1862 where Steinitz surprised Dubois completely with the amassing 8…h5 {1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 d6 5.d3 Nf6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bg3 h5}
Robin Smith has done some computer testing on this position and so far not one engine has come up with 8…h5!!
Steinitz move was probably the result of home preparation where Smith writes: People do relatively better with a lot of time to think. Computers will also do better with more time, but are relatively stronger compared to people at faster time controls.
More relevant is of course how well programs of people evaluate positions, is how they evaluate.
The material is build up in this book on the following chapters,1 Relative Strengths of Computers versus Humans, 2Computer-Aided Analysis Methods, 3Opening Analysis,4Middle game Analysis,5Endgame Analysis and 6putting it all together.
In the chapter Computer aided analyses method we can learn that many engines as Junior, Tiger,Fritz and Ruffian have serious bugs,to use more than one program you can bypass these program bugs,because a bug in one program will not be found in another!
Conclusion: A must for every modern chess analyst!
Chess CD's
ChessBase magazine issue 99
April 2004
2004
ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Price Euro 19,90 per issue
Annual subscription costs Euro 99,70
This heavy loaded ChessBase 99 issue features the following material:
A Hugh master file from around 1267 entries where a small 440 of them are excellent analysed as for instance the following game that I have chosen from the Wijk aan Zee tournament that is analysed by the great analytics Stohl,
Sokolov,I (2706) - Van Wely,L (2617) [A57] Corus Wijk aan Zee (6), 17.01.2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 b4 Black gains space on the « and deprives the ¤b1 of it's most natural square. He also avoids the unclear, but potentially dangerous line [ 4...g6 5.cxb5 a6 6.Qc2!?] 5.a3 Sokolov plays the most testing move, which has already occurred earlier in his practice-White undermines Black's « outpost. [ 5.g3 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.a3 0-0 8.0-0 a5 9.axb4 cxb4 10.Nd4 Bb7 11.h3 ( ¹11.e4!? d6÷) 11...Qc8 12.b3 d6 13.Be3 Nbd7 14.Nd2 Nc5 15.Ra2 Ra6 16.Qc2 e6 17.dxe6 ( 17.Nc6!") 17...fxe6 18.Rfa1 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Nfd7 20.f3 Qa8 21.g4 Rc8 22.h4 d5f Hillarp Persson,T-Ramirez Alvarez,A/Moscow Aeroflot/2003/] 5...g6!? Continuing his development is arguably Black's best option. [ <5...Na6 6.axb4 Nxb4 7.Nc3 d6 8.e4 g6 9.Be2 Bg7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bf4 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Nd7 14.Qd2 Re8 15.Ra3 Qb6 16.Bg4 Ne5 17.Be2 Reb8 18.h4 Rb7 19.h5² f»,Sokolov,I-Georgiev,Kir/Sarajevo/1998/ leads to a typical King's Indian type position, which is advantageous for White.] 6.axb4 cxb4 7.e4!? Sokolov likes to play actively and spurns the more sedate [ 7.Be3 a5 8.g3 Bg7 9.Bg2 0-0 10.0-0 Bb7!? ( 10...d6 11.Nbd2 Bd7 12.h3 a4 13.Nd4 Qc8?! ( ¹13...Qc7 .¦c8,¥e8,¤fd7",Rogozenko) 14.Kh2 Qa6 15.f4 Rc8 16.Bg1 Be8 17.e4 Nfd7 18.Qe2 Qb7 19.N2f3 Nb6 20.Rfc1 Na6 21.e5 Nc5 22.h4± ?",Razuvaev,Y-Loncar,R/Maribor/1996/; 11.Nbd2 d6 12.Bd4 Nbd7 The position is similar to the abovementioned game Hillarp Persson-Alvarez, also in this game Black successfully counters White's central ambitions with a timely advance of his own §e7. 13.Re1 Qc7 14.e4 Nc5 ( 14...e5!?") 15.Qc2 ( 15.e5 Nfd7÷) 15...e5! 16.Bxc5 dxc5 17.Rf1 Bc8 18.Ne1 Bd7 19.b3 Ng4 ( 19...Ne8!?= /³) 20.h3 Nh6 21.Nd3= ½,Sokolov,I-Wilder,M/Preston/1989/] 7...Nxe48.Qd4 Nf69.Rxa7 Rxa7 10.Qxa7 Na6 11.Be3 [ 11.Be2 Bg7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Be3 d6 14.Nbd2 Qd7 15.Ra1 ( ¹15.Qb6! could lead to the game position.) 15...Qxa7 16.Bxa7 Nd7 17.Bd4 Ndc5 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Nd4 e5! Once again this important advance holds the balance. 20.dxe6 fxe6 21.f3 Bb7= ½,Kuzmin,A-Vaisser,A/Benasque/1997/] 11...d6 12.Be2 Bg7 13.Nbd2 Qd714.Qb6! A new idea, keeping the queens on board leads to complicated play and gives White more chances to retain the initiative. [ 14.0-0 Qxa7 15.Bxa7 Nd7= ( 15...0-0 16.Ra1 -Kuzmin,A-Vaisser,A) ] 14...Qb7 15.Qa5 Nd7 [ 15...0-0 16.0-0 e6 was more thematic, but here after 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.Nd4² /÷ White's position is more comfortable.] 16.Nd4 Ndc5 17.0-0 0-0 18.Ra1 Bd7 [ 18...e6 19.dxe6 ( 19.Bf3 e5 20.Nb5 Qb8 21.Bxc5 Nxc5 22.Qxb4 f5©) 19...fxe6 20.Bf3f] 19.N2b3 Ra8! Black already wisely gives up the idea of advancing his §e7. [ 19...e6 20.Bf3²;
19...e5 20.Nb5!? Nxb3 ( 20...Bxb5 21.Qxb5 Qxb5 22.cxb5± þb5) 21.Qxa6f] 20.Nxc5!? The only way to fight for an advantage, which leads to exciting tactical complications. Black's §b4 becomes dangerous, but to support it he must abandon his ¢ and White's "§ also get their chance. (See the position after move 40!) [ 20.Qa2 Nc7 21.Qb1 Nxb3 22.Nxb3 Bf5=] 20...dxc5 21.Nb3 Bxb2 22.Nxc5 Qc8T 23.Rb1 [ 23.Ra2 Bc3 24.Nxd7 ( 24.Nxa6 b3 25.Qxc3 bxa2µ) 24...b3! ( 24...Qxd7 25.Qb5!?f "§( 25.Qb6 Rb8! 26.Qxa6 b3 27.h3 bxa2 28.Qxa2©) ; 25.Qxc3 bxa2 26.Nb6 ( 26.Bh6 f6 27.Qa1 ( 27.Nxf6+ exf6 28.Qxf6 Qb7 29.Bd1 Nc5-+) 27...Nb4! . 28.Nb6 Qf5-+; 26...Qf5 27.Bd3 Qxd3 28.Qxd3 a1Q+ 29.Qf1 Qxf1+ 30.Kxf1÷ /³] 23...Nxc5 [ 23...Bf5!? 24.Rxb2 ( 24.Bd3 Nxc5 ( 24...Bxd3 25.Nxd3 Qxc4 26.Nxb2 Qc2 27.Rc1 Qxb2 28.Qb5 Qf6 29.Rc6 Qa1+ 30.Rc1=) 25.Bxf5 Rxa5 26.Bxc8 Bf6³ þb4( 26...Ne4!?) ; 24...Nxc5 25.Qxc5 Ra1+ 26.Bf1 Qxc5 27.Bxc5 Bd3 28.h3 Rxf1+ 29.Kh2 Bxc4=] 24.Qxc5 Bc3 25.Qxe7 Bf5 [ <25...b3?! 26.Bc1!± . 26...b2 27.Rxb2! ( 27.Bxb2 Bxb2 28.Rxb2 Ra1+ 29.Bf1 Rxf1+ 30.Kxf1 Qxc4+ 31.Re2 Bb5=) 27...Bxb2 ( 27...Ra1 28.Rc2+-) 28.Bxb2 Qd8 29.Qe5 f6 30.Qxf6 Qxf6 31.Bxf6+- ] 26.Rc1 b3 27.Rxc3 b2 28.Rb3 Ra1+ 29.Bf1 Bd3? The complications take their toll and both sides err. [ 29...Rxf1+ 30.Kxf1 Qxc4+ 31.Ke1 Qc1+ 32.Ke2 Qc2+ 33.Ke1= Qxb3?? 34.Qd8+ Kg7 35.Bd4+ f6 36.Qxf6+ Kh6 37.Qh4#] 30.h3! Rxf1+ [ 30...b1Q 31.Rxb1 Rxb1 32.Bh6! Rxf1+ 33.Kh2+-] 31.Kh2 b1Q 32.Rxb1 Bxb1 33.d6? [ 33.Bh6! .£f6+- 33...Qb8+ ( 33...Be4 34.Qf6 Rh1+ 35.Kg3!+-) 34.d6 Rxf2 35.Qe5 f6 36.Qe7 Rxg2+ 37.Kxg2 Qb2+ 38.Kh1+-] 33...Qf8! T [ 33...Bf5? 34.Bh6+-;
33...Rd1? 34.Bh6 Qb8 35.c5+-] 34.Qf6 [ 34.c5 Rd1 35.Qf6 -34.£f6] 34...Rd1 Now Van Wely gives it a try, after all he is a ¦ up. [ 34...Qg7 forces a draw: 35.Qd8+ ( 35.Qe7 Qf8=) 35...Qf8 36.Qf6=] 35.c5 Bf5 36.Bf4 .¥e5+- 36...Qg7 [ 36...Re1!? 37.g4 ( 37.c6 Re6 38.Qd4 Re4 39.Qd2 Qd8³) 37...Bd7 ( 37...Re6 38.Qh4 Re1! T 39.gxf5 Qa8 40.Qf6 Qh1+ 41.Kg3 Qg1+ 42.Kf3 Qh1+=) 38.Be5 Rxe5 39.Qxe5 Qe8³] 37.Qd8+ Qf8 38.Qf6 h5 [ 38...Re1 -36...¦e1!?] 39.Be5 Kh740.c6© = 40...Rd5 41.f3 Be6 .¦d6-+ 42.Qe7 Both sides can't improve their positions, so Sokolov finally forces a draw. [ 42.c7 Rxd6 43.c8Q Bxc8 44.Bxd6 Qg7=] 42...Qh6 [ 42...Kg8 43.Qf6=; 42...Qg8? 43.d7 .¥c7,¥d6+-] 43.Qf6 Qf8 44.Qe7 Qh6 45.Qf6 Qf8 46.Qe7 ½-½ Taking a "§ (if it's not completely poisoned, of course!) is always the most principled move, here it's more or less obligatory as well. [ 7...d6? 8.Qa4+ Nbd7 9.e5! dxe5 10.Nxe5 Qc7 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Be5 f6 14.Bd4f " 14...e5 15.Be3 Ng7 16.Qxd7+ Kxd7 17.Nd2 a5 18.Nb3 a4 19.c5 Kc7 20.Bb5 1-0,Kallai,G-Bricard,E/FRA-chT/1996/]
A other heavy loaded file on this CD comes Roberto Alvarez and Juan Morgado who managed to collect over 8000 correspondence games where a small 33 of them carry interesting annotations.
Other data files are Strategy {Material Imbalances Part 3B by Peter Wells},Endgame {With a rich kaleidoscope of endings brought together by Hans – Joachim Hecht},Tactics {The Charm of Petite Combinations by Valery Atlas},Fritz Forum {This section contains an German article on the 13th International Computer Chess championship in Paderborn}and not to forget the eight theory files starting with two King’s Indian files by GM Victor Mikhalevski {E97} 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 and GM Michael Roiz on the E94 line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Na6 8.Re1 c6 9.Bf1 exd4 10.Nxd4.
GM Zoltan Ribli presents two English {A34} openings and well 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Nc7 7.a3 e5 8.b4 f6 & 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb4 6.Bc4 Nd3+ 7.Ke2 Nf4+ 8.Kf1 Ne6 9.Ne5.
Jerzy Konikowski investigates the Center counter {B01} with the interesting 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.Bd2 e6 8.Qe2 Bb4 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 10.a3 Bxc3 11.Bxc3 Qc7 12.Ne5 b5!?, GM Sergey Erenburg comes with the 3.Nc3 {B30} simple to avoid the Sveshnikov,GM Dorian Rogozenko looks at the move {B33}of the feared Sveshnikov that runs after : 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.c3 Bg7 12.exf5 Bxf5 13.Nc2 0-0 14.Nce3 Be6 15.Bd3 f5 16.0-0 Ra7
And at last the Anti Marshall line from IM Sergey Klimov {C88} 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3.
The 628 MB! Video files go first to a multimedia report from Anna Dergatschova who interviewed at Wijk aan Zee Zhu Chen,Julio Granda Zuniga and the 13 year old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
But the second 355 MB video file or lest say movie goes to the so respected US GM Yasser Seirawan.
If you are unable to start the file maybe you need a new version of Media Player 9 from Microsoft!
Included are besides all these games files are the upgrades for Fritz and ChessBase 8 the latest, Crafty 18.11 engine.
All databases are also available in the format PGN and CBF.
Conclusion: A overloaded ChessBase magazine!
ChessBase Magazine extra issue 99
May 2004
ChessBase
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Euro 12.99
This ChessBase Extra is good for exactly 19978 games starting with special Internet games from the Players.com side and ending with some exciting blitz games from the German Internet championship. Between this all you shall find games from the Amber blind, New York masters etc.{But than all without comments!}
The multimedia files go this time to Kasparov in Dresden where I found the photo’s and Avi files from Kasparov a very interesting AVI file from Uhlmann (5.24}.
Conclusion: Filled with very interesting Internet games!
Caro-Kann B12 by Sasa Velickovic
2004
Chess Informant
http://www.sahovski.com
Price £ 18.00
On this well packed Chess CD from Chess Informant you shall find a detailed up to date coverage from the Yugoslavian IM Sasa Velickovic on the advance variation of the Caro –Kann defence covering all lines that can arise after the moves 1.e4 c6 2.d4 (d5} and 3.e5.
All material is packed in a chess Informant Expert lite database version where the reader has access to a B12 Monograph file which is simpler to the well known printed openings monographs as for instance Seirawan’s B12 one from 1993.
Included is also a Chess Informant base with 556 annotated Informator games of the B12 line, and not to forget a extra base file from over 3716 latest play B12 games but than unfortunately with out comments to these games.
Included in these opening files are very interesting alternatives as for example 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 or 3.e5 Bf5 4.g4!? but than white has to play as Morozevich with moves as 5.Nh3 e6 and 6.Nf4.
The Chess Informant lite version has it’s limits so as for instance you can not make a openings tree with it but you have the choice out three chess engines and strangely enough there are two different versions of Crafty’s {Crafty 18.7 and 17.9} but the third one Ruffian is a really killer!
Pleasant to mention is that all the opening files and games are stored in the so called PGN files and I can insure you that they are quite impressive, for example the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e5 is covered with over 34 different openings reports!
One example:
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5 7.h4 h6 8.Be3 [ 8.Nf4?! Bh7 9.Be3 cxd4 ( 9...Ne7 10.dxc5 Nec6 11.Bb5 Nd7 12.Qe2 Qc7 13.0-0 Qxe5 14.Rad1 Bxc5 15.Nfxd5= Korchnoi - Byvshev, USSR 1951) 10.Bxd4 ( 10.Qxd4 Nc6 11.Bb5 Nge7³ R. Henzner - G. Birkmeyer, Deutschland 1991) 10...Nc6³ S. Camilleri - H. Cast, Novi Sad (ol) 1990;
8.h5 Bh7 9.Be3 Qb6 ( 9...Nc6 10.dxc5 Nxe5 11.Nd4 Nf6 12.Bb5+ Nfd7! (Yudasin - Seirawan, Jacksonville 1990 Ue 50/156) 13.Qe2 a6 14.Ba4 Bxc5 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Bxc5 b5 17.Bd4 bxa4 18.Bxe5÷ Seirawan) 10.Qd2 ( 10.dxc5?! Bxc5 11.Bxc5 Qxc5 12.Qd4 Qa5 13.b4 Qb6! 14.Qxb6 axb6³ Oll - Tukmakov, USSR 1986 Ue 42/147) 10...Nc6 11.0-0-0 c4!? 12.f4 Qa6! Seirawan( 12...Qa5 13.f5 b5 14.Nxd5! b4 ( 14...Qxd2+ 15.Bxd2 exd5 16.Bg2 Nge7 17.Nc3÷; 14...Qxa2 15.Ndc3 Qa1+ 16.Nb1 Bb4÷ Nunn) 15.Nc7+! Qxc7 16.Nf4 c3÷ Nunn - Seirawan, Lugano 1983 Ue 35/173; ;
8.f4!? Be7 9.Bg2! Bxh4+ 10.Kf1 cxd4 ( 10...Be7 11.f5 Bh7 12.Nf4± Shirov - Nisipeanu, Las Vegas (m/2) 1999 Ue 76/117; 10...Nc6 11.f5!? exf5 12.Nf4 Nxd4 13.Ncxd5 Ne7 14.c3 Nxd5 15.Nxd5÷ R. Leyva - Borges Mateos, Cuba 1999 Ue 77/(111)) 11.Nxd4 Nc6 12.f5! (N. Vlassov - Guliev, Russia 1994 Ue 62/(120)) 12...Nxe5!?÷ Shipov, N. Vlassov] 8...Qb6 [ 8...Nc6?! 9.dxc5 Nxe5 10.Nf4± Timman - Karpov, Belfort 1988 Ue 45/145;
8...cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bb4 10.h5! Be4! ( 10...Bh7 11.Qd2 Nd7 12.a3 Ba5 13.b4 Bb6 14.f4² Kotronias - Speelman, New York 1990 Ue 50/(157)) 11.f3 Bh7 12.Bd3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Nd7 14.0-0-0 Bxc3 15.Qxc3 Rc8 16.Qe1! Nxe5 17.Bf4 Nc6 18.Nf5! Kf8 19.Bd6+ Nge7 20.Nxe7 Nxe7 21.Qe5 Kg8! 22.Bxe7 Qxe7 23.Rxd5² Timman - Seirawan, Tilburg 1990 Ue 50/157] 9.f4 [ 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.0-0-0 h5! ( 10...c4 11.f4± L. Couso - A. Eriksson, Sverige 1995) 11.Dxc5 ( 11.Nf4? cxd4!µ M. Yrjonen - V. Huuskonen, corr. 1994) 11...Bxc5 12.Bxc5 Qxc5 13.Nf4 Nge7= A. Sokolov - Karpov, Linares (m/9) 1987 Ue 43/157] 9...Nc6 10.f5 Bh7 11.Qd2 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 c4 13.Nf4 Qa6 14.fxe6 b5÷ [ 14...Nb4?! 15.exf7 Ne7 16.g5! ( 16.a3 Nxc2 17.Qf2 ( 17.g5?? Na1! 0 : 1 D. Prasad - Th. Ravi, India 1991 Ue 51/(131)) 17...Na1!? ( 17...b5÷ Thipsay) 18.Re1! Nb3+ 19.Kd1 b5÷ P. Spitz - M. Pacchiarini, corr. 1997; 16...Nxa2+ ( 16...Bxc2 17.a3 Bh7 18.Qh2 Nc2 19.Bg1 Na1 20.Bh3+ Kb8 21.Re1 Nb3+ 22.Kd1 Nf5 23.e6 Bxa3 24.g6 Bd6 25.Bxf5 Qa1+ 26.Nb1 M. Rodin - P. Buchnicek, Pardubice 1996) 17.Nxa2 ( 17.Kb1 Nxc3+ 18.Qxc3+- J. Bokar - E. Recoulat, Internet 1999) 17...Qxa218.Qc3 Nc6 ( 18...Be4 19.Bh3+ Kb8 20.Ne6+-) 19.Nxd5 b5 ( 19...Rxd5 20.Bxc4 Qa4 21.Qb3 Qa1+ 22.Kd2 Qa5+ 23.Ke2+- M. Neubauer - E.-M. Hakulinen, Parana 1993) 20.Kd2 Rxd5 21.Bh3+ Kb8 22.Ra1 b4 ( 22...Qxa1 23.Rxa1 Bb4 24.Bg2 Bxc3+ 25.bxc3+-) 23.Rxa2 bxc3+ 24.bxc3+- J. Percze - S. Grout, Internet 2002; 14...b5 15.exf7 Nge7 16.g5!? ( 16.Ne6 b4 17.Nc5 ( 17.Nxd8? Kxd8© #EF Timman - Seirawan, Hilversum (m/2) 1990 Ue 50/158) 17...bxc3 18.Nxa6 ( 18.Qxc3 Qxa2÷) 18...cxd2+ 19.Rxd2 Be4÷ 20.Rhh2 ( 20.Rg1 Ng6 21.h5 Nh4 22.Be2 Kb7) 20...Ng6!? 21.h5 Kb7; 16...b4 17.g6 bxc3 18.Qxc3 Bxg6 19.Nxg6 Nxg6 20.a3 Kb7 21.Be2 Ka8 22.Rdf1 Rb823.h5 Nge7 24.Bf3 Qb5 25.Rhg1© M. Chapman - P. Spiller, Melbourne 2002
Included also on this CD is a test your skill file from over 100 positions!
Not all the extra utilities work in this lite program but some as importing games and e-mail function do so this "reader" program does come very close to a real database program.
Conclusion: A very important reference work on the advance Caro-Kann!
Chess Informant CD issue 89
2003
Beograd
http://www.sahovski.com
Price GBP 18.00
This electronic version of Chess Informant is a interesting alternative who prefer to read all the latest Informator on there PC or notebook but I guess it is a matter of time that we can read all these game file on our hand palm so we don’t have to carry any heavy loaded laptop around with us .
This time I decide to use the latest Chess Informant reader Expert Lite to read these game files and seen my experiences with the C12 Openings book I only can say I am very impressed with this eye catching Lite program.
So if you ask me this CD wins on many fronts from the printed book,first of all with one click you have all the games and than I mean also the games between the lines!{And that are exactly 972 games!}
A other strong point from the CD are the included exercises which are brought as real self tests where the computer helps you to solve them.
It is even possible to play chess with the build in Crafty but my version only sticks to the Scandinavian defence with 3….Qd6 and that is quite irritating but all together this Chess Informant Expertlite and Informator 89 is an excellent combination and offers much more possibilities than other electronic versions that I ever had for review on my web site!
Conclusion: An excellent alternative for the printed Informator books!
King’s Indian defence by Alexander Kalinin
2004
Convekta Ltd
http://www.chessAssistant.com
sales@chessassistant.com
Price $26.00
System Requirements IBM compatible PC 64 Mb RAM,Hard Disk 200 MB of free disk space,Windows 2000/NT/ME/XP/2003
Several languages supported as English, German, French, Spanish and Italian
In February we reviewed modern chess openings French and Sicilian defence from Convekta Ltd the company who developed the wonderful database program Chess Assistant.
With the King’s Defence GM Alexander Kalinin has managed to create a new openings tool based up on a Chess Assistant light version where you shall find a large data base from exactly 51717 King’s Indian games and a extra master file from around 846 extensive commented grandmaster games!
Alexander Kalinin has included besides these databases a extra Cap database file with around 6.200.000 analysed King’s Indian positions!
All together the reader has a unbelievable amount of chess information that can be searched by position manoeuvres etc.
And don’t forget Modern chess openings incorporates a database with opening evaluations where around 100.000 opening positions have been evaluated by there editorial Convekta team.
Included is exercise file from over 50 positions to test your King’s Indian skills.
Conclusion: A awful heavy loaded openings CD!
Chess Magazines
British Chess Magazine No.5
Volume 124
May 2004
Price: £3.25
This BCM issue with a cover of the lovely Alexander Kosteniuk starts with the Reykjavik Rapid where Garry nearly lost from the 13 year old Magnus Carlsen and in the final nearly lost to his 1993 championship adversary, Nigel Short.
{There is a excellent eight page coverage with photo’s from Ian Rogers.}
Melody Amber,{the tournament from Joop van Oosterom},Richard Furness+, European Woman’s Championship, Congress Diary, Reviews and new books, 4 NCL-March Weekend, The student’s corner {With a detailed coverage on the classic game Czerniak – Capablanca}Chess Questions answered, Welsh Championship, Edinburgh Congress, Quotes and Queries etc.
Conclusion: A very enjoyable read!