CHESSBOOK REVIEWS


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

Wilhelminalaan 33 

7261 BP RUURLO 

The Netherlands.
John Elburg






                                                                                                     Chess Books


Chess Duels, 1893-1920: 260 games annotated by Alexander Alekhine

2017
Moravian Chess
http://www.moravian-chess.cz
448 pages
Price €32,95
ISBN 978-80-7189-012-6




The well known chess historian Vlastimil Fiala has managed to compile a wonderful chess book based on the original notes from Alekander Alekhine,covering not only a Hugh
collection of Alekhine his own games but also from his contemporaries of that time.
So the reader will find in this book unique annotated Alekhine games from players as Nimzowitsch,Capablanca,Salwe,Bogoljubow,Janowski etc.
Included is the following short game with light notes,but Alekhine his words after this game are more than interesting which gives the reader a rare inside view of Alekhine his mind and  thinking on the game of chess: Breyer,Gyula - Englund,Fritz [B01]
Scheveningen Scheveningen (8), 02.08.1913
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.b4 Qe5+ 5.Be2 c6 6.Nf3 Qc7 7.0-0 e5 8.Re1 Bd6 9.d4 Ne7 10.Nxe5 Bxb4 11.Bd2 Nd7 12.Nb5 cxb5 13.Bxb4 Nxe5 14.Bxb5+ Kf8 15.Rxe5 Be6 16.Qe2 Rd8 17.d5 Rxd5 18.Rxd5 Bxd5 19.Rd1 a6 20.Rxd5 axb5 21.Qxe7+ 1-0,And Alekhine writes:
Our foreign commentator concluded his notes to the game with the stereotyped phrase that Breyer conducted the attack’in Morphy style’.In my view,this type of statement demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the basic talent of one of the most gifted players of the last century.Yes ,Morphy sometimes played brilliantly {if by this one understands cheap effects,such as sacrificing the queen with a calculation of 2-3 moves.},he was largely able to do this only when playing an opponent with a very distant impression of the need for normal piece development,and in general with a rather poor understanding.
But when he met with players of his own class,it was no longer by such ‘rattles’that he achieved his wins.His strength {and in this  strength there is genuine beauty}consisted in his deeply considered positional play,largely of an aggressive character {cf.,for example, his matches with Anderssen and Harrwitz},and of course,not in ‘effects, capable of bringing indescribable joy only to beginners,or to those who right to old age have been unable to move with the corresponding degree of chess development.{Novoe Vremya 7.11.1913}
It is clear that Alekhine developed his unique skills by annotating games as we can see in this highly interested read!
Would like to end with the following famous blindfold simultaneous display in a military hospital in September 1916:
Alekhine,Alexander - Feldt,M
Alekhine blindfold sim +5-0=0 Tarnopol, 09.1916
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Ne4 f5 6.Ng5 Be7 7.N5f3 c6 8.Ne5 0-0 9.Ngf3 b6 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.0-0 Re8 12.c4 Nf6 13.Bf4 Nbd7 14.Qe2 c5 15.Nf7 Kxf7 16.Qxe6+ Kg6 17.g4 Be4 18.Nh4# 1-0.
In the book from Skinner and Verhoeven,they mention that the black player was Dr.Martin Fischer but as we know Alekhine was not so précis with his opponent names in simultaneous displays.
Conclusion: This is a classic masterpiece!   

                                          Chess DVD's    


Strike like the world champions
by  Oliver Reeh
2017
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 well known ChessBase author Oliver Reeh provides the reader with a impressive made over 9 hours and 30 minutes in interactive Fritstrainer video format based
on the winning play of our world champions, where the user is invited to enter the winning move yourself and that is if you ask me this is  ChessBase on it’s best!
Included are famous positions as Lasker – Bauer from 1889 where the great Lasker did sacrificed  his both bishops for a winning attack!
A similar attack occurred much earlier in Burn – Owen of the year  1884 but in that case the sacrifice by Owen was not correct and  the poor man lost in no time.
Included also is of course Fischer’s brilliant victory as a 13 year old boy over Donald Byrne in 1956,that time Donald Byrne was one of the strongest American chess players of that time.
Donald and his brother Ronald Byrne where John Collins first chess wonder children,and both had a I.Q,from a genius category.
All material is packed on two downloads, and available in two languages English and German!
Conclusion: This is ChessBase on it’s best!


The surprising Sicilian - Shock your opponent with an early ...Qb6
by  Andrew Martin

2017
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 well known IM Andrew Martin shows you how to play handle the aggressive set-up with
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Qb6! 
A fine example of this relatively unexplored weapon  is Nomin Erdene,Davaademberel (2448) - Loos,Roland (2316) [B40]
Zalakaros op 35th Zalakaros (7), 02.06.2016
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Na4 Qa5+ 7.c3 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 Nf6 9.Nc5 Nc6 10.Qe3 b6 11.Nd3 Bb7 12.Bd2 d5 13.c4 d4
14.Qe2 Qa4 15.b3 Qa3 16.f4 0-0 17.e5 Nd7 18.Bc1 Qe7 19.Bb2 a5 20.Qd2 Nc5 21.Nf2 f6 22.Bxd4 fxe5 23.Bxc5 Qxc5 24.Be2 Rad8 25.Qc3 Nd4
26.Bf3 Nxf3+ 27.gxf3 Rxf4 28.Rd1 Rxd1+ 29.Nxd1 Bxf3 30.Rf1 Re4+ 31.Kd2 Re2+ 32.Kc1 Qa3+ 33.Nb2 Qxa2 34.Nd3 Qa3+ 35.Kb1 Be4
36.Rd1 a4 37.c5 bxc5 0-1.
Various alternatives as 5.Nb5 a6 6.Be3 Qa5 7.N5c3 b5 8.Nd2 Qc7,5.Be3 Qxb2 6.Nd2 a6 7.Bd3,5.Na3 and 5.c3 are well explained by
the famous ChessBase author,all with highly instructive video files.
As we could see in our example with the moves 5.Nc3 Bc5 and 6.Na4 we reach related lines of the of the Lazy Man’s Sicilian.
Included is a extra database of over 90 entries where several of them are really  well analysed!
Video running time is a impressive  5 hours and 19 minutes!
Conclusion:This DVD offers you a lot of value for your money!  


ChessBase Magazine extra issue 182
March  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 amassing amount of 47.383 entries and all  played between December 2017 and February 2018.
A unbelievable amount of latest games!A fine example of play is the following Marshall game: Keser,Murat (1868) - Gunduz,Umut Erdem (2139) [C89]
TUR Cup Antalya (5), 30.01.2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Qf3 Bg4 16.Qg2 Qh5 17.Be3 Rad8 18.Nd2 f5 19.f4 Kh8 20.Bxd5 cxd5 21.Nb3 g5 22.Qf2 Bf3 23.Rf1 Be4 24.Nc5 Qh3 25.Ne6 gxf4 26.Nxf4 Qg4 27.Ng2 f4 28.Bxf4 Bxf4 29.Nxf4 h5 30.h4 Rf7 31.Kh2 Rdf8 32.Rg1 Rg8 33.Rae1 Qf5 34.Ref1 Qg4 35.Qe3 Rgf8 36.Qf2 Kh7 37.Qe1 Kh8 38.Nh3 Kg8 39.Ng5 Rf5 40.Rxf5 Qxf5 41.Nxe4 dxe4 42.Qe3 Kh7 43.Rg2 Kg7 44.Re2 Qg4 45.Qg5+ Qxg5 46.hxg5 Re8 47.g4 Kg6 48.gxh5+ Kxh5 49.Rg2 e3 50.Re2 Kg4 51.Kg2 Kf4 52.Kf1 Kf3 53.Rh2 Kg3 54.Rg2+ Kf3 55.Rh2 Kg3 56.Rg2+ Kf3 57.Rg1 b4 58.Ke1 bxc3 59.bxc3 Rb8 60.Rf1+ Ke4 61.Rf6 Kd3 62.Kf1 Rb1+ 63.Kg2 e2 64.Re6 e1Q 65.Rxe1 Rxe1 66.Kf3 Kxc3 67.d5 Re5 68.d6 Rxg5 69.Ke4 Kc4 0-1.
The smashing video games go to Adrian Mikhalchishin who is discussing a hot line in the Paulsen,the Swiss grandmaster Yannick Pelletier digs in the the Hedgehog and Georgios Souleidis goes for a useful contribution in  the theory of the Chigorin Defence.
Conclusion: There is no better way to keep abreast of latest developments!