A First Rate, Interactive Game Collection Review by Michael Ciamarra Test Your Chess (Ebook), by Zenon Franco, PGN and ChessBase formats, Everyman Chess 2014, $21.95 In a recent online post author, video commentator, FIDE Senior Trainer and coach, IM Andrew Martin noted "self-training is hard work, but can be fun." Martin's observation would precisely summarize the contents and objectives of GM Zenon Franco's Test Your Chess. Interactive chess books and interactive chess columns, that feature questions on positional assessments or tactical calculation placed at critical moments of an illustrative game, have been a perennial favorite with the chess student for many … [Read more...]
Book Reviews
2014 Book of the Year Round One
Let the Voting Begin by Mark Donlan ChessCafe.com 2014 Book of the Year Round One It is time to begin the first round of voting for the ChessCafe.com 2014 Book of the Year. Voting in this round will remain open until January 18, when the three highest vote-getters will advance to round two. Round two will then be open for voting from January 19 until February 1. The title then receiving the highest number of votes will be the ChessCafe.com 2014 Book of the Year. The winner will be announced February 2, 2015. You can vote for one of the titles listed below or nominate a title that you feel deserves to be on the list. The three highest vote-getters will advance to round two. Nominees … [Read more...]
The Year in Reviews 2014
The Year in Reviews 2014 by Mark Donlan Our last review of 2014 is a look back at some of the reviews that have appeared at ChessCafe.com during the past year. If you wish to look back even further, ChessCafe.com has more than 970 reviews in our Book Review Archives. ChessCafe.com members enjoy access to the Checkpoint column in which IM Jim Rizzitano reviews the newest opening books and more. Also, be sure to vote next week in the first round of the 2014 ChessCafe.com Book of the Year award! Certainly for players who do not fully grasp the meaning of terms such as skewer, pin, fork, discovered attack, and the like, Winning Chess is a wonderful resource to bring the budding player … [Read more...]
New In Chess 2014/6
Simply the Best Review by Mark Donlan New In Chess 2014/6, Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam (ed.), New In Chess 2014, Paperback, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 106pp. $12.99 (ChessCafe Price $10.49) Call me nostalgic, but I liked the old book-size format of New In Chess magazine. It was more portable, fit on the bookshelf, and was easier to store away by placing a full year of issues into an air-tight plastic bag. The new, larger magazine-size issues just wind up strewn randomly across my library. Nevertheless, while the format may have changed, the content is as excellent as ever. New In Chess remains the best chess magazine in print. It may also be the most expensive. A one-year subscription … [Read more...]
A Game of Queens
The Recipe for Chess Success Review by Brian Almeida A Game of Queens, Judit Polgar, Quality Chess 2014, Hardback, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 390pp. $34.95 (ChessCafe Price $29.84) A Game of Queens completes Judit Polgar’s trilogy about her thirty-year chess career. The first volume, How I Beat Fischer’s Record, covers the period from her early years until 1991, when she became the youngest ever grandmaster (at the time) at the age of 15 years, 4 months, and 28 days. The second volume, From GM to Top Ten, covers the period from her first tournament as a grandmaster in 1992 until 2000. This third volume covers the period from 2001 until the present day. It was during this time period … [Read more...]
ChessBase Magazine #162
Wow! Just Wow! Review by Brian Almeida ChessBase Magazine #162, Rainer Knaak (ed.), ChessBase 2014, DVD and printed booklet, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 26pp. $23.95 (ChessCafe Price $17.96) ChessBase Magazine is the multimedia publication from ChessBase that mixes videos, annotated games, training, and entertainment. It is published every two months and supplemented with the bi-monthly ChessBase Magazine Extra on alternating months. The centerpiece of Issue #162 is the Tromso Chess Olympiad, with annotations by many of the participating players, and videos by Daniel King and Rustam Kasimdzhanov, along with several hours of ChessBase TV videos featuring interviews with players, … [Read more...]
Chess Insider: Sochi 2014
Lowered Expectations Review by Michael McGuerty Chess Insider: Sochi 2014, Various Annotators, Chessdom 2014, PDF and PGN formats, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 72pp. $18.95 Chess Insider: Sochi 2014 is the Chessdom coverage of the 2014 Carlsen-Anand World Chess Championship match. It is delivered as a zipped download file comprised of twenty-five files: twelve PDF files, twelve PGN files, and one archived ChessBase file (cbv). The twelve PDF and PGN files correspond to the eleven games from the championship, along with a preview game by WGM Swaminathan Soumya in which she annotates the ninth round of the 2013 Anand-Carlsen championship. The inclusion of the one cbv file is odd because … [Read more...]
Carlsen: Move by Move
The Definition of Insanity Review by Michael McGuerty Carlsen: Move by Move, Cyrus Lakdawala, Everyman Chess 2014, Paperback, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 430pp. $29.95 (ChessCafe Price $25.57) They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, an expression that is often attributed to Albert Einstein and sometimes even Ben Franklin, but was probably never said by either. In my case it is reviewing a book by Cyrus Lakdawala and hoping for less colorful bombast and more sensible prose. I love the Move by Move game collection books, but Lakdawala is my least favorite among the authors; though he is the most prolific. Quite … [Read more...]
Anand: Move by Move
A Challenging New Level Review by Michael McGuerty Anand: Move by Move, Zenon Franco, Everyman Chess 2014, Paperback, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 376pp. $29.95 (ChessCafe Price $25.57) Zenon Franco is a grandmaster and chess trainer from Paraguay who now lives in Spain. He has represented Paraguay in seven Olympiads on top board, and twice won individual gold medals, at Lucerne in 1982 and Novi Sad in 1990. His most notable pupil is Francisco Vallejo Pons whom he trained from 1995 to 1999. In Anand: Move by Move Franco presents thirty-two very deeply annotated games in chronological order spanning Vishy Anand’s career from his first meeting with Karpov at Linares in 1991 to the 2014 … [Read more...]
Correspondence Chess Championships 1-X
Golden Age of CC Review by Brian Almeida The Games of the World Correspondence Chess Championships 1-X, edited by Tim Harding, Batsford 1987, Hardcover (large format with dust jacket), 246pp. $36.95 (ChessCafe Price $31.27) The precursor to today’s International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was the International Correspondence Chess Union (IFSB). It was the IFSB (Internationaler Fernschachbund), founded in 1928, that first discussed the creation of a World Correspondence Chess Championship in 1936, and none other than Alexander Alekhine was recruited to propose the idea at an IFSB conference. Among those present at the conference was Paul Keres, who along with Alekhine, also … [Read more...]
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