Storming The Barricades
by Larry Christiansen, 2000, Gambit Publications, softcover, 176 pp., $19.95

This is one of the more interesting books I've read in a long time. GM Larry Christiansen has been a tournament workhorse for decades. He writes about his discovery of chess as a child and his steady rise to the top with many anecdotes about the life of a chess pro.

In the late 1970s, he went on a simul tour across the USA sponsored by Church's Fried Chicken. Anyone who defeated him was awarded a full bucket of chicken: "A simul at the Marshall Chess Club in New York where I faced at least ten chicken-crazed USCF Masters, and a fair number of Experts, must have depopulated a couple of chicken farms!" At another place, the organizer could not be found until a few minutes before the start of the simul. He had spent the previous two days in jail!

But the bulk of the text is a cornucopia of examples, advice, and illustrations of attacking themes: ripping apart the king position ("I am talking about violent, usually sacrificial methods of exposing and then mating the target king"), the king hunt ("Chasing down the exile is often a very difficult task and certain principles must be taken into account"), seizing opportunities, how not to attack, and creating & exploiting weaknesses ("The patient art of first creating, and then exploiting, a weakness is a critical skill for attack-minded players"). In the final chapter, Larry analyzes his 11 favourite attacking games from the 1990s.

Players of all skill levels, from beginner to grandmaster, can probably benefit from studying this outstanding book. Christiansen writes well and is able to explain his concepts to a broad audience. The example games come from his own tournament experiences, as well as from the play of top-notch grandmasters, such as Shirov, Tal, Short, etc. Surely one of the favourites for Book of the Year.

Reviewed by Stephen Leary.

*****

30 April 2000

Starting Out in Chess
by Byron Jacobs, 1999, Everyman Chess, softcover, 128 pp., $12.95

This book is intended for people who have little or no knowledge of the game of chess. It begins by leading the initiate through the basic rules of the game: the movement of each piece, check, checkmate, en passant, staelmate, etc.

The tactical section explains forks, pins, skewers, and how to counter them as well. There is plenty of helpful advice: keep a close eye on undefended pieces, check the position for threats before each move, and consider the final position of a tactical sequence, as your opponent may have a sting in the tail.

The chapter on opening play covers familiar territory: don't move the queen around early in the game, knights before bishops, castle your king into safety, activate your forces quickly.

The final chapter covers the world chess championship, ratings and titles, chess on the Internet, and playing with computers.

There are many exercizes throughout the book so the initiate can work out each of the concepts for himself.

Overall, a nice starter book for beginners. The pages on the world championship include the names of a few of the top players, such as Kasparov, Karpov, and Anand. This is a nice touch that prevents the book from being too sterile and puts a bit of a human face on the game, which I imagine is important and helpful for novices.

Reviewed by Stephen Leary.

*****

26 March 2000

Chess World Championships
by James H. Gelo
2000 (2nd Edition), McFarland & Co., softcover, algebraic notation, 838 pp., $25.00

Gelo's reference work contains all games played in world championship competition from 1834-1998. This includes important games played before the "official" world championship began, such as Labourdonnais vs McDonnell, Saint-Amant vs Staunton, London 1851, and matches contested by Morphy and Anderssen. The games end with Karpov vs Anand 1998.

Algebraic notation is used, which is especially nice for the older games, which are usually given in the outdated descriptive notation in most books. Each game is accompanied by a diagram at a crucial moment of the battle. The diagrams are clear and the pieces are standard. Included are a bibliography of books and magazines consulted, and a detailed opening classification.

I find myself picking this book up and thumbing through it repetitively. It works well for a general overview of the development of chess over the past 150 years. I can discover at a glance what openings were played, how long the games lasted, who played whom, and when. What's not to like? I have no answer.

I spot checked a number of games at random against the scores given in the ChessBase Big Database 2000. In the game Lasker-Capablanca 1921, 10th match game, Gelo has 41. Ne3 while ChessBase give 41. Nc3, no problems arise with the score either way. In Petrosian-Botvinnik 1963, 3rd match game, Gelo gives 21... Rfb8 while ChessBase has 21... Rab8; then Gelo give 26... Rab8 while ChessBase has 26... Rfb8. And Gelo gives 52. Kg1 while ChessBase has 52. Kg2. Those were the only differences in the games I checked. The point of my little survey is to merely note that their are some minor discrepancies between a few game scores in Gelo and ChessBase, not to assign blame to either one.

There is no detailed analysis in this book, not even a "!" or "?". The book already tops 800 pages as is; any significant analysis would double its size. The book is a compilation of the game scores themselves, and little else. There is nothing here in the way of commentary, "atmosphere," or biographies of the players. The reader will need other books for those kinds of details.

One would have thought that in this day of computer databases a book like this would be unnecessary or pointless, but I see that this is not the case. Databases are fine for compiling statistics and annotating games, but a reference book which brings together all the games and results of the world championship matches still is a valuable addition to the library of chess book aficionados.

Reviewed by Stephen Leary.

*****

12 March 2000

The Alekhine Defense Playbook
by Rev. Tim Sawyer
2000 Pickard & Son, softcover, 160 pp., $21.95

The opening which came to be known as "Alekhine's Defense" was played by Alexander Alekhine in a tournament in Budapest in 1921. It thereby became popular and Alekhine's name has been attached to it ever since, although he himself rarely trotted it out in tournament competition.

The Alekhine has never really caught on in grandmaster play, although some world champions have sprung it occasionally. The feeling seems to be that black grants white too much space and mobility with not quite enough counterchances. The opening is far less popular than other choices, such as the Sicilian, French, Caro-Kan, etc., but it is certainly playable and can give white fits if he is not adequately prepared. It is a good choice for players looking for a viable defence that is just a bit off the beaten track.

The Rev. Tim Sawyer has written The Alekhine Defense Playbook with the average club and weekend swiss player in mind. "My point in this chess opening repertoire book is to provide you with one good move, hopefully the best move, against all the best and most popular choices that your opponent might try," the author writes. To that end, the book is divided into ten chapters, each featuring a key game for each recommended line.

Chapter One examines 1. e4 Nf6 2. d3. Chapter Two covers 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. (moves other than 3. e5). Chapter Three picks up with the 3. e5 variation which wasn't covered in chapter two. Chapter Four explains 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. c5. Chapter Five unravels the mysteries of 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Bc4. Chapter Six surveys the Exchange Variation: 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5.ed6. Chapter Seven explicates the Four Pawns Attack: 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4. Chapter Eight covers 10. d5 in the Four Pawns Attack, which was left out of the previous chapter. Chapter Nine counters white's Modern Variation with the Flohr Variation: 1. e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 c6. And Chapter Ten covers 6. 0-0, which was left out of the previous chapter. This is a repertoire book and does not attempt to be comprehensive, leaving out, for example, variations in which black fianchettoes his king bishop.

When an opening book is written by a non GM or IM, such as this one, the reader naturally wonders about the evaluations and judgments propagated by the author. Can they be trusted? Sawyer is a master-strength player whose research method utilizes the latest computer and internet resources. He has played the Alekhine over 1,000 times and has analysed the pertinent variations with several computer programs. Traditional research hasn't been forgotten, as he makes reference to books by Graham Burgess.

The Playbook is generally thorough in its coverage of likely white moves and the author seems to have done a fair amount of original research, commenting on important variations still unsolved.

There seems to be a heavy reliance on games played at blitz levels on the internet, although there are grandmaster games sprinkled in as well. One can well forgive an author for relying on internet blitz chess to research openings grandmasters hardly ever play. Sawyer included many internet games in his previous book for the same publisher, the well-regarded The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Keybook II. But one cannot refrain from wondering about the value of games played at blitz speed, subsequent computer analysis notwithstanding.

The Alekhine, as mentioned previously, is not seen all that often in grandmaster play. This can only mean the best players don't believe they can gain an edge or at least comfortable equality or effective counterplay with it. Yet on every page of the Playbook, I find a relentless "black stands clearly better" or "black has a slight advantage" symbol assuring me I just can't go wrong. The worst black can do, apparently, is a grudging "equality" when no concrete advantage can be found. I don't see an edge for white claimed anywhere in the entire book (despite the presence of "white is better" symbols listed in the opening directory). If white does happen to win a game, it is because black erred somehow after the opening phase had ended.

If I were searching for a book to defeat the Alekhine as white, I wouldn't choose this one. This is a book written from black's point of view, and like all opening books written for one side or the other, objectivity is not at a premium. For its intended audience, I think it is worthwhile for the comprehensiveness of its recommendations, all of which seem to have been given careful thought. It is quite handy for finding answers to likely white moves in the chosen lines. The average player with the Alekhine in his quiver is sure to find some useful arrows here. A companion CD is also available.

Reviewed by Stephen Leary.