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Chess related: Awesome Gift

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rockall
31-Dec-11, 11:30

Awesome Gift

Shortly before Christmas my son noticed a new book on my chess book shelf "Tal-Botvinnik 1960" by Mikhail
Tal, the book covering the games of their world championship match in 1960 when Tal upset Botvinnik.

Being a bright boy, he gave me the book on their return match as a present. "Return Match for the World
Chess Championship Bovinnik-Tal Moscow 1961."

What a pair of books! Usually the games are annotated by the players, but some of the annotations in second
book are by other GM's. The second book includes Botvinnik interviews and two variations of his private
opening notebook.

Both the books and the games are somewhat advanced for me, and I will miss some of the subtleties, but I
don't see how I can go wrong studying the games of two giants.

Now for father's day? I want to encourage this trend in gifts. It is much preferable to ties, socks, and the like.

I wonder if anyone else received or purchased a particularly good book recently that they would like to
recommend.

shamash
31-Dec-11, 13:26

The book of books

ELISTA DIARIES by Anatoly Karpov.

The former World Champion's annotations to the games of the Karpov-Kamsky 1996 match for the World Championship,
and his annotations to the games leading up to the match,
and, to selected match games involving all previous world champions.

Unlike other grandmasters who dash off annotations to their games, or over-rely on analytic engines, Anatoly Karpov always gives well-reasoned explanations of his strategies, plans, moves, and responses.

And this is the very best of All his books.

Entertaining, edifying, and useful for players at every level.

rockall
31-Dec-11, 13:36

Thanks Shamash!

Elista Diaries sounds excellent. I will provide my son with an appropriate hint as Father's day approaches.
Anyone want to add to the list? I also have a daughter, a niece, and nephew!

ketchuplover
31-Dec-11, 16:19

Do you have "From London to Elista" ? oh and happy 2012

rockall
31-Dec-11, 20:12

Deleted by rockall on 31-Dec-11, 20:12.

rockall
31-Dec-11, 20:13

Thanks Ketch!

Thanks. That looks like another terrific book. I like the way this is all shaping up -- a significant upgrade and
modernization of my chess library appears is a good idea. Now the question is whether my old-timer's brain can
keep-up as the modern books come flooding in on gift giving occasions.

rockall
31-Dec-11, 20:23

To all

Wishing you a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year.

blake78613
01-Jan-12, 09:57

I think a person could enjoy Tal's book about the 1960 match even if he didn't know how to play chess. It is just a great piece of journalism and one of my all time favorite books.

shamash
01-Jan-12, 16:50

Strategies of a tactician

It is always interesting to see how a predominantly tactical player
comes up with a strategic or positional basis for his choice
among various candidate moves.

The best at this is English Grandmaster John Nunn,
and the best of Nunn's annotated books
is JOHN NUNN'S BEST GAMES 1985-1993 by John Nunn.

shamash
13-Jan-12, 15:17

and now for something really valuable to read. . .

A top-ten Grandmaster
while giving chess lessons to a very bright pupil
decided to preserve his pupil's ideas, alongside his own;
and, having decided it was time to retire from competitive tournament and interzonal chess,
chose to expand their lessons by including annotations of his own games,
and sharing insights --
let us call them what they are --
competitive secrets --
taken from his strategic, tactical chess.

This has taken the form of a book.

It is so good I am not going to make it easy for my opponents here to find it --
it is especially useful for stimulating ideas in transforming a statically dead draw
into a dynamically won position,
with the GM's ideas of gaining initiative through creating objects to attack
( an idea with a heritage hailing back to Botvinnik and Znosko-Borovsky and to Lasker).

Highly recommended -- but you have to search for it.

rockall
13-Jan-12, 17:11

Puzzle for a bibliophile chess player

This sounds like an entertaining exercise. I will assume that the language of your post was carefully chosen to
provide hints that narrow the search.

fr1ar
13-Jan-12, 18:45

shamash, are you buying

the book for the first person that identifies it?

shamash
13-Jan-12, 18:49

no, Michael,

those are not hints to help your son, your daughter, your niece, your nephew -- or you -- to find it,
but reasons for recommending it to you in the first place.

blake78613
13-Jan-12, 22:22

Lessons With a Grandmaster by Boris Gulko and Dr. Joel R. Sneed

shamash
13-Jan-12, 23:38

Blake,

Like you, I enjoy and have grown from
CHESS PRAXIS by Aron Nimzovich,
DYNAMIC PAWN PLAY IN CHESS by Dražen Marović, and
BEATING THE FLANK OPENINGS by Vassilios Kotronias.

To that select pantheon I would add THE MIDDLEGAME by Euwe and Kramer.

Wonder if you have ever encountered in a game here
the pure hatred you felt staring back at you in your game against Bobby Fischer.

blake78613
14-Jan-12, 20:07

No, I don't believe I have ever encountered pure hatred at gameknot. Of course, since you are not in the physical presence of your opponent in an on-line game you really can't tell.

baronderkilt
16-Jan-12, 18:26

Well I once

had someone pick me out of all the zillion players here, to challenge to a game then mock my choice of opening. My poor Scotch/Goring complex. That is as close as I have come blake. It was very un-Zen, as BUSH the rock group says ... and so sometimes I sit and ponder ... was it indeed my lost brother, or some first date that did not turn out well. Or perhaps it was just some other lost wag encountered in the course of a lifetime, who tucked his tail and exited more quietly after his experience with the Third Best line of the Semi-Danish vs Bb4+. And life goes on. There must be a moral. Perhaps ... "Hey, its just a game" "... usually". }8-D
***
But the important thing is ... Shamash , positional guy Nunn yes. Another tho, GM Yasser Seirwan (a contender when GMs were GM's) ! I have to applaud the positional accumen of this gent, for finding a quiet b3 move while commentating Karpov, that Anatoly missed. A real stroke too. And Yass can be very funny too. You must see some of his video interviews if you have not. Cheers all.

Believe the game I refer to may have been a Saemisch KI, vs Kasparov I think. But it has been years since it was played and I do not have an idea how many. Not 20. But maybe over 10.

baronderkilt
16-Jan-12, 18:28

Duh ...

And I forget to mention, Yasser writes books. lol.

archduke_piccolo
26-Jan-12, 12:00

Speaking of Yasser Seirawan...

I read one of his books on openings (a fairly elementary treatment if I recall correctly) which began with a chapter of his ... erm ... formative years of handling openings. You know, the 1.h4... 2.Rh3 style of thing. A must for beginners, I thought, but entertaining even for old hands...

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