My Great Predecessors, Part 1. World Champion Garry Kasparov analyzes the style and play of the first four recognized champions: Wilhelm Steinitz (1886-1894), Emanuel Lasker (1894-1921), Jose Capablanca (1921-1927) and Alexander Alekhine (1927-1935 and 1937-1946). This is the first part of Kasparov's major three-part work on the definitive history of the World Chess Championship which will undoubtedly be the major chess work of recent times. I'm still reading volume 1 of Kasparov's My Great Predecessors. I'd better speed up with Volume 1 because My Great Predecessors, volume two is now out! Part two features champions Max Euwe (1935-1937), Mikhail Botvinnik (1946-1957, 1958-1961 and 1961-1963), Vassily Smyslov (1957-1958) and Mikhail Tal (1960-1961). Here are all 148 of the games in the first volume, and here are all of the games in volume 2.
I Play against Pieces. Svetozar Gligoric, the great Yugoslavia grandmaster, annotates 130 of his best games with great clarity and logic. Gligorich used to write the Best Game section in Chess Life. His book on selected chess masterpieces is one of the prizes of my library. Here in English, his best games, a volume we have anticipated for decades. Here are the games in the book.
Andy Soltis's Bobby Fischer rediscovered. Soltis takes a critical look at some of the games in Fischer's book, which ends in 1967, and then adds a good number from later events right right through Fischer's 1992 return match against Spassky. 100 games, all right here!
England's first grandmaster, Tony Miles (1955-2001), was also one of England's most charismatic players. He died all too young, but thanks in part to a book, It's only me compiled by Geoff Lawton, he will be long remembered. Here are the games in the book.
Gambit Publications continues to produce the best chess books that we have seen in decades. One of the best of this lot is Igor Stohl's Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces. Here is a collection of 80 games from the period 1993-2000, all played by top GMs and all analyzed in a rigorous but instructive style. Each game features enough opening discussion to aid your understanding. And each game includes sufficient analysis to amplify your understanding of the game. At the end of each chapter is a summary, explaining in simple terms many of the lessons to be gleaned from the game. Here are all of the games that appear in the book.
One of our Message Board readers posted a fantastic review of Irving Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move. Having completed the book, he is ready to tackle Chernev's The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. As a result of these efforts, this reader has seen his rating hit 1400 and it will undoubtedly climb quickly from there. It's another piece of the proof that you will gain at least 1 point for every master game you carefully review. If I'm right, you can pick your rating so long as you're willing to work at it. To make your job a bit easier, here are all of the games in Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move and here are all of the games in The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played!
The Hedgehog. Sigh... the book that I should have written. I used the Hedgehog to win the US and North American championships, and now my opponents are going to absurd lengths to keep me from entering the structure. Mihai Suba has done a good job here. 100 games in thematic chapters, but much more too. Not for beginners, but a keeper for the intermediate and advanced player. Here are the games in Suba's book.
Chess master, chess journalist, and chess composer Richard Reti participated in most of the great tournaments of the 1920s until his early death from Scarlett fever in 1929. He leaves us with a lifetime worth of wonderful games and, more important perhaps, a range of fabulous compositions and an opening (The Reti) that continues to attract interest at the highest levels. Here are all of the games in Golombek's Richard Reti's Best Games (Nunn revised the new 1997 alegraic edition).
The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Tal. Alekhine may have been the best. Tal remains my favorite. He won the world title in 1960 from Botvinnik, only to relinquish the title in the 1961 re-match. This guy knows tactics!
The games from "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal"
Tal-Botvinnik, 1960, Mikhail Tal. This is, perhaps, the best chess book ever written. The games are wonderful. Tal's notes are full of energy and enthusiasm. All of the games are from the 1960 World Championship match in which the younger Tal defeated the long standing champion.
Here are the games from Tal - Botvinnik, 1960. A convincing win for the tactical Tal. Here is the crosstable from the match.
Five time Russian champion Rashid Nezhmetdinov sustained his standing atop the world of chess by attacking... always attacking. As the story goes, he defeated Mikhail Tal so many times that Tal hired him as his trainer. In 2000, Thinkers' Press published Russian Correspondence master Alex Piskin's Super Nezh: Chess Assassin, a collection of 100 well annotated games from this Russian champion previously little known in the west. The book is full of surprises (Nezh invented the poisoned pawn variation of the Najdorf!) and many ferocious attacks. Unfortunately, the book is now out of print, but it shows up used at an affordable price from time-to-time. Here are all of the games in the book
Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953, David Bronstein, JimMarfia (Translator). And this is, perhaps, the best tournament book ever written. Fantastic notes from a super-strong post-war tournament.
Here are the games of Zurich, 1953. Smyslov qualifies as Botvinnik's next challenger. Bronstein, Keres, and Reshevsky share second place. Here is the crosstable.
A true classic about Bobby Fischer, the 1965 account by Frank Brady: Profile of a Prodigy: The Life and Games of Bobby Fischer. Brady's book predated Fischer's classic My 60 Memorable Games by four years. The first 100 pages are an excellent, highly readable narrative about Fischer's life and accomplishments. The second half focuses briefly on 75 Fischer games, including many that subsequently appeared with more extensive notes in Fischer's book. Here are all of the games in Brady's Profile of a Prodigy.
Fire on Board: Shirov's Best Games, Alexei Shirov. A complex, challenging book, but beginners will find much to adore here. Shirov has a penchant for wild, attacking chess, and there's much of that here. He also includes a special section on memorable endgames.
The games in Fire on Board
My Best Games of Chess: 1908-1937, Alexander Alekhine. Was Alekhine the strongest player ever? Perhaps. And these are his best games, including his best championship match games against Capablanca, Euwe, and Bogoljubow! Two volumes bound as one. And here are all of the games in the book.
100 Selected Games, Mikhail Botvinnik. At Chess is Fun, you will find many of M. Botvinnik's World Championship games. Here are his favorites, with wonderful annotations. Don't miss his first brilliancy prize against Tartakover at Nottingham.
The games from "100 Selected Games"
Vasily Smyslov reigned as World Champion from 1957-1958, defeating Botvinnik but losing the title in a re-match. He may have held the world title for only a year, but for more than 60 years, Smyslov ranked as one of the world's top grandmasters. I provide here all of the games in his wonderful book, 125 Selected Games.
Jan Timman is likely to be remembered as one of the strongest players, with Keres, Bronstein, and Kortchnoi, never to become World Chess Champion. His fighting style has yielded victories at many top tournaments in the 1970s and 1980s. His selected games includes 80 of his best games since 1983, including fine wins at Linares, Wijk aan Zee, and Tilburg. Here are all 80 of the games in the book.
Uncompromising Chess, By Alexander Beliavsky. Among the leading grandmasters for more than 20 years, Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexander Beliavsky became World Junior champion in 1973 and often won the USSR championship. He may be best known as Kasparov's trainer in the early 1990s. His book contains 70 wonderful games that live up to the book's title, and many insights into the hard work required to sustain grandmaster strength. Here are all of the games in the book
The early 1980s witnessed the emergence of a crop of talented British players, Miles, Short, Nunn, and Speelman. Speelman's rating reached the top 5 in the world, no easy feat, the product of hard work, a complex style, and a continuing willinginess to complicate. In 1997, Speelman produced a fine book of his best games. It includes a number of games from his youth, as well as later contests against the finest players in the world. The book is very well annotated and, for our benefit, includes the time used on most moves. Its very instructive not only to see great chess, but also to observe the time budgeted for each move. In so many games, young players blitz through the whole game while masters know that there's simply no way to recover from an early inaccuracy. Here are all of the games in Speelman's book.
The Chess Analyst, Jon Edwards. I admit that my book doesn't really belong in this list of chess greats, but I hope that you give this book a shot. It's NOT for beginners, but I put a lot of tender loving care into this. The link takes you a special page that has all of the games available for free!
The games in "The Chess Analyst"
Do you have a strong preference for the bishop or the knight? Modern players know that the bishop excels in the open games while the knight is preferred in closed positions. Chigorin was an advocate for the knights. Steinitz was among the first to reveal the science of the two bishops.
These are some of the issues in Steve Mayer's Bishop v Knight: The verdict. His 17 chapters have titles like: "Increase the speed of your knights" and "The Sacrifice for Active Bishops."
Obviously, "the verdict" depends upon the position, but Mayer gives us 77 very interesting games.
In 1998, English IM Andrew Kinsman produced a highly readable book on an important opening, the Spanish Exchange. After the standard opening moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6, Fischer, Timman, Shirov and others have helped to champion a line that rewards understanding, not just rote memorization. Kinsman provides 60 games and, more important, a thematic introduction that summarizes the main ideas. Most important, of course, is that the endgame often reached in this line is highly favorable to white because black is unable to create a passed pawn, the result of the exchange on move 4! Here are all of the games in the book including the positions examined in the introduction.
In 1965, Vladimir Vukovic authored perhaps the premier manual on tactics, The Art of Attack in Chess. More than just a presentation on how to attack a castled king, he classifies attacks and focuses upon grandmaster games to illustrate his points. He provides a special section on the games of Capablanca and Alekhine, a real treat for those who have not yet seen these games. The book is available in a new edition, which fortunately makes it available to the next generation of chess players. Here are all of the games and positions in the book
How to Become a Deadly Chess Tactician. David Lemoir shows that the key factors in becoming a deadly tactician are motivation, imagination, and calculation. Motivation is having the willingness to sacrifice and consider tactical ideas during play. Imagination is being aware of tactical concepts that lead to ideas which other players might miss. Calculation is being able to analyse and calculate effectively. This user-friendly and humorous book contains many outstanding examples of seized opportunities, together with guidance on how to spot surprising tactics and handle positions of material imbalance. Thoughout, there are exercises for readers to tackle.
In the late 1990s, IM Victor Charushin published a neat 5 volume series on tactical themes. Over time, I hope to introduce each of the books in this series. Volume three, Mitrofanovic's Deflection, has an imposing title but a neat idea. In these examples, a piece is sacrificed seemingly for nothing whatever. From the first composition, a study of Mitrofanov's, through real life uses of deflection, the book, and indeed, all the books in the series, provide a quick way to learn. To make your job a bit easier, I present all of the games in the book as well as Mitrofanov's key composition.
"In order to improve your game," said the great Capablanca, "you must study the endgame before anything else; for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middlegame and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame." There is no doubt that Capa was right, and how better to study the endgame than to study his. Originally printed in 1978, Dover has re-printed Irving Chernev's Capablanca's Best Chess Endings.
Here are the 60 complete games in Chernev's book as well as my notes to game #60. Keep in mind as you play through these games that Capablanca was often more concerned about where his pieces belonged than what move to play next. 'tis useful advice!
One of many books I purchased at the Amateur Team was Garry Kasparov's Kasparov against the World, a day to day account of his 1999 internet match against the world. One book, one game. Kasparov suggests that it may be the greatest game ever played. It's an exciting game and did much to promote chess world-wide. But I choose to think not so much that the game was spectacular (which it was) but rather that the game permitted Garry to discover the great joy of correspondence chess.
In many respects, this game was the ultimate correspondence game. More time to think about each move, and here, the ability to consult (in the case of the world, a huge world-wide following with assistance from a dedicated team of young IMs) and to use computers.
I offer not only the game itself with some of my comments, but also all of the games referenced in the book as well as a collection of the games that subsequently explored the novelty introduced by the world on move ten. I note by the way that the price at Amazon is quite high. I paid much less and it is possible that, what had been a collectors item is now available again at its original $25 price.
Kasparov,G (2851) - The World [B52]
Kasparov vs The World Internet MSN (1), 21.06.1999
The best way to improve your chess tactics? Practice, practice, practice. For years, before every tournament, I used to review the positions in Reinfeld's books just to sharpen my tactical focus.
One of those old standards, 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate offers just that, 1001 positions (with solutions) that will help to improve your ability through a continuing series of thematically linked positions.
The book is divided into 6 chapters, and I have provided ALL of the positions in the book according to the chapter in which they appear. Note that copyright restrictions require that I not provide the solutions. For those you can persevere, buy the book, or plug the positions into a computer. Don't be afraid to buy the book, but I hope that you persevere.
Chapter 1: Queen Sacrifices
Chapter 2: Checkmate without the Queen
Chapter 3: Storming the Castled position
Chapter 4: Harrying the King
Chapter 5: Discovered Check and Double Check
Chapters 6-8: Pawn promotion; A variety of motifs; Composed Problems
