Which grandmaster do you most
enjoy studying, and which collection of his games would
you recommend? I have a book
by chess afficionado Betty Roberts who asked this question to a number of the world's best players, and I noticed that the names cited most
often were
Nimzowitsch, Alekhine and Capablanca. Fischer and Tal were
mentioned a couple times as well. I bought Capablanca's Best Chess
Endings by Chernev several years ago, but have never worked through it. It
lwas a compelling buy to me at the time because (i) it is by
Chernev, who is better at making chess accessible to low
rated players like me, (ii) it focuses on the end game,
on which I continue to need work, and (iii) despite
the book's title, it includes 60 complete and
well-annotated games of Capa. Any other recommendations? Thanks.
For improvement: I think you already have an excellent resource in the Capablanca. His style is so lucid that you're bound to learn something, and he was especially strong in areas (positional play, endgame) where most of us could use help.
Also, I found this while looking for something else - it's an online book targeted at lower-level players covering the strong 1924 New York International chess tournament. (Em. Lasker won, beating out Capablanca and Alekhine). Someone put a huge amount of work into this thing, annotating every game:
http://www.chessbaseusa.com/NY1924/ny1924.htm
For entertainment: Bronstein - "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
I love playing through Bronstein games as a chess fan because he always traded in the strange and unexpected, and was willing to take some risks. You have to admire a man who sits down as white against Tal (one of the greatest combinative players ever) and plays a King's Gambit (Riga, 1968)...! 😲
Originally posted by GarnetNBlackIf you can get hold if, "The Life and Games of Mikail Tal" is an enjoyable read.
Which grandmaster do you most
enjoy studying, and which collection of his games would
you recommend? I have a book
by chess afficionado Betty Roberts who asked this question to a number of the world's best players, and I noticed th ...[text shortened]...
well-annotated games of Capa. Any other recommendations? Thanks.
Tal performs a self-interview throughout the book, so not only do you get some great annotated games, you also learn of the history behind them. Such as a game he played against Benko:
"Yes, of course! In the third cycle, when we sat down at the board Benko, who had earlier suspected me of hypnotising him, took out of his pocket a pair of dark glasses and put them on. This 'inovation', like any that the opponent knows about before hand, was met by a 'counter-stroke'. I had borrowed some enormous dark glasses from Petrosian, and following Benko I straight away put them on. Not only the spectators laughed, as well as the other participants and controllers, but also Benko himself. Unlike me, however, he did not remove his glasses until as late as the twentieth move, by which time his position was already hopeless."
You get the idea, good chess and some great stories - not sure if it is still in print though.
Originally posted by GarnetNBlackI also got hold of a "Fishcer's 60 memorable games" a book often mentioned (had it shipped over from the USA actually).
Hi, Laz,
Thanks for suggesting the Tal book; it seems like a lot of people are fans of his playing style.
GNB
Again nice book (but out of print). Most of the commentary is done by Larry Evans not Fischer himself, if I re-call correctly - not bad though. The games themselves are the books main selling point!
I am currently working through Bronstein's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".
Another good book and very instructive - Bronstein's style is to try and get you to think "properly" about the games...
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Originally posted by GarnetNBlackJust noticed the three volume set containing Botvinnik's games. I find anything annotated by Botvinnik to be extremely instructional. Years ago when I studied chess, the only other game collection I went over was Karpov's games.
Which grandmaster do you most
enjoy studying, and which collection of his games would
you recommend? I have a book
by chess afficionado Betty Roberts who asked this question to a number of the world's best players, and I noticed that the names cited most
often were
Nimzowitsch, Alekhine and Capablanca. Fischer and Tal were
mentioned a couple time ...[text shortened]... e, it includes 60 complete and
well-annotated games of Capa. Any other recommendations? Thanks.
Tiger