Looks at Books / Tournament Books
thought than that into the position: “I must confess that I omitted to ask my queen how she was actually ‘feeling’ and moved her for a concrete reason. White’s next plan, as dictated by the position is 15. Rad1 …” and he gave a line. Some world champs were somewhat less
nasty, although you get the feeling Dr. Emanuel Lasker was politely saying, “Reti, you dope!” After FOUR moves, we get this comment on the game Jan Willem te Kol- ste-Richard Reti at Baden-Baden, 1925:
Steinitz comments on the move a6:
“Black clearly cannot afford this loss of time, which enables the adversary to block the queen bishop. Castles is the proper move. If White then plays f5, Black may answer Na5, followed by c6 and d5.” Then, later on, also from this position,
the advice is followed and after 7. f5 Na5, there is the note: “7. ... a6, which Anderssen used to play in similar positions, is, we believe, stronger, as Black has nothing [now] better than to exchange the bishop and the open queen file will add to White’s advan- tage.” There’s just no pleasing some people! Humor is also entertaining and was there
from the get-go. Howard Staunton, in the very first tournament book in London 1851 laments in one position that he couldn’t see how either player could save the game. Bent Larsen, San Antonio 1972, couldn’t
resist the dry comment after an opponent of Ken Smith’s had not played the Sicilian against the Texas master: “Better is 1. ... c5 which wins a pawn.” The shot at Smith’s devotion to the “Smith-Morra” (1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3) was very Larsen— funny, but not malicious. Some annotators, however, can get pretty
angry. Alekhine comes immediately to mind. To quote from my own book, Learn Chess from the Greats, “A memorable instance involved Alekhine, who, when reaching the diagrammed position in his match book after 14. ... Rac8 took time out to excoriate prior commentators to his successful 1937 return match with Euwe.” The world champion quoted a commen-
tator’s superficial analysis of Alekhine’s 15. Qe2: “The White queen does not feel comfortable when staying on the same file as the black rook.”
1924. It was a textbook on the Queen’s Gambit and the Ruy Lopez and your teacher was about to become world champion. Fol- lowing the notes from “a” to “aa” and further was enough to drive you crazy at times. Thankfully, Russell Enterprises has put
out a series of converting descriptive to alge- braic versions of some of these great books. I was thrilled to see New York 1924 among them. It has notes right with the moves and lots of diagrams! Also, for a purist such as myself, Hanon Russell made a wonderful decision: he didn’t clutter up the book with Rybka analysis. That way, you get a much better feel for the whole tournament and the times it was played in. In the Russell production of Miguel Najdorf’s Zurich 1953, they give you a web address to go and see what Rybka said about that tournament, if you are so inclined. Thank you! Years ago, I obtained a copy of Najdorf’s
Reti gave a long introduction to this
game, pontificating on the big picture for the “mistake” on White’s part: “Without getting any compensation in return, White, by capturing away from the center, deval- ues his pawns ... He should play 4. bxc3. Already from this point of view Black has a clearly prescribed way to win ... it is clear that Black’s pawn majority on the king’s flank leads to an easy win.” Lasker is having none of this: “Reti calls
this move a positional error. That is at least debatable. But what he then says runs con- trary to all proportion. ‘The game will show how by modern chess technique a minute but clear positional advantage incurred in the opening can be easily converted into a win.’ Into a win? No, this proportion is not the right one. Into initiative, into a promising game; such an assertion would have to be conceded, but no more ... he was very far from having a winning game.” Drama is also there: Capablanca losing
for the first time in years at New York, 1924; the reigning world champion Max Euwe committing an oversight at Nottingham that cost him first place; the excite ment about Harry Nelson Pillsbury in 1895; the Fischer comeback in the 2nd Piatagorsky Cup. All the great tournament books make
you feel like you’re there at the tourna- ment. You meet the players through their biographies. You find out what went into making the tournament. You learn about all the little stories associated with the play. You can see and feel the clash of personalities. You see the development of opening theory. You get to know the anno- tator really well. It is those annotations that are the central
Alekhine was seething. He put more
point for chess players. A good many from my generation remember flipping back and forth to study Alekhine’s notes in New York
book in Spanish. Being familiar with Bron- stein’s book, I was curious to compare them. Both are great books by themselves. I always gave the edge to Najdorf overall, but Bron- stein’s explanations of many positions were incredibly helpful in under standing grand- master chess. Soltis, in the introduction, compares the two in terms of their conflicts. That, in itself, is part of the entertainment value of owning both. There is the human element as well that is in both books. Having studied the Najdorf-Samuel Reshevsky match for the “Championship of the Western World,” the Najdorf comments on the Nimzo- Indians in the book and his references to the Reshevsky match are fascinating. This publishing venture also has
released New York 1927 (Alekhine), Not- tingham 1936 (Alekhine), St. Petersburg 1909 (Lasker), Vienna 1922 (Evans), and Tal-Botvinnik, 1960 (Mikhail Tal). Do yourself a favor. Start out with this
paperback tournament book series and capture chess history and some really ter- rific chess lessons from the best players in chess history. If you have ever thought of being a collector of limited editions, go to Caissa Editions online. For either group—the dilettante or the aficionado—you owe it to yourself to get the tournament book San Luis 2005 (by Alik Gershon and Igor Nor). This is a book done in the tradition of great tournament books. It is beautifully produced, deeply annotated, free with game diagrams and analysis diagrams, lots of pictures and human interest. The USCF sells it at a discount online. Who knows? If people start buying great tournament books, it might encourage the further publication of such tomes and chess will be enriched by it.
Opposite page: New York 1924, just one of the many classic tournament books described within this article. It and some of the others are available at a member’s discount at
uscfsales.com; some can be found on sites such as
ebay.com and
abebooks.com.
www.uschess.org 13
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