Fischer/Spassky

I bought this book in a second hand book store (just as an aside, this place was great. It wasn't geared toward chess -indeed, the selection of chess books was quite small- but any book you wanted to buy was 10% of the cover price, with a minimum of $1. Pretty cool.) This book, and some other chess book which I can't remember made up the entire chess section. I had never thought that reading a behind the scenes account of a chess match would be interesting and I bought it mainly out of curiosity (plus the fact that it was only $1), but as it turned out, I loved it.

Are there any other books that the RHP collective can recommend, similar to Fischer/Spassky?

Here is the book on Amazon, in case anyone is interested: http://www.amazon.com/Fischer-Spassky-Times-Report-Century/dp/0812903021

I have 5 on the match. Purdy's on this match is I think the best.
Though with so many good and exiciting games, backgrownd events and
the drama it would be hard for a writer not to come up trumps.

Purdy's turn of phrase and little bits of humour just edge it.

Gretaest pity is that Booby never did his own book on the match.
Even if he had brought it out 30 years after the event it would have
become a best seller. Alas...

Originally posted by greenpawn34
I have 5 on the match. Purdy's on this match is I think the best.
Though with so many good and exiciting games, backgrownd events and
the drama it would be hard for a writer not to come up trumps.

Purdy's turn of phrase and little bits of humour just edge it.

Gretaest pity is that Booby never did his own book on the match.
Even if he had brought it out 30 years after the event it would have
become a best seller. Alas...

He was really weird about money for sure. Did you see my post on the Fischer DNA testing where they exhumed his body because of a paternity lawsuit? They lost, kid wasn't his.

Of those five books, were there significant differences in analysis? Anyone much deeper than the others?

I was just mentioning on another thread a good book called chess scandals about the 1978 karpov korchnoi match. analysis by Tal no less but great comments from behind.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
I have 5 on the match. Purdy's on this match is I think the best.
Though with so many good and exiciting games, backgrownd events and
the drama it would be hard for a writer not to come up trumps.

Purdy's turn of phrase and little bits of humour just edge it.

Gretaest pity is that Booby never did his own book on the match.
Even if he had brought it out 30 years after the event it would have
become a best seller. Alas...

spassky is still alive and well.

Ah good old Booby Fischer 🙂

Originally posted by Habeascorp
I was just mentioning on another thread a good book called chess scandals about the 1978 karpov korchnoi match. analysis by Tal no less but great comments from behind.

What was the scandal? Never mind, I googed it, animosity when Korch defected, left family behind, mayhem ensues.

Originally posted by sonhouse
What was the scandal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_1978

^^^ Interesting article...

Anyway, the classic match book is supposed to be Tal-Botvinnik, 1960 by Tal. You could probably find it used on Amazon for like $10. More recently, Five Crowns by Yasser Seirawan is about Kasparov-Karpov, 1990 (I think). Out of print as far as I know, so probably hard to find. Lastly, From London to Elista by Evgeny Bareev (one of Kramnik's seconds) is about Kramnik's WCC victories against Kasparov, Leko, and Topalov. Recently released so probably pricey.

I've never actually read any of them, but from what I've gathered most players seem to hold those match books in particular high regard.

I actually read Tal-Botvinnik cover to cover, and it was really enjoyable. Right now, I am working on all of Zurich 53, but I am only on round 15.

Originally posted by tonytiger41
spassky is still alive and well.

Yeah, but he's lazy (enjoying life too much). I'd be amazed if he ever writes a book on the match. (But I'd be happy to have him prove me wrong.)

Spassky is reknown for being for being lazy and laid back.

Prior to the Fischer match Petrosian and some of his background team
wanted him to look at some Blacks v the QGD.

"Fischer will never play that." said Boris and went of to played tennis instead.

WHOOPS.

Rueben Fine's account of How Fischer won the World Championship
is...er.....interesting.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Spassky is reknown for being for being lazy and laid back.

Prior to the Fischer match Petrosian and some of his background team
wanted him to look at some Blacks v the QGD.

"Fischer will never play that." said Boris and went of to played tennis instead.

WHOOPS.

Rueben Fine's account of How Fischer won the World Championship
is...er.....interesting.

I wonder if lazy is "chess-ese" for "also likes other things in life like wine, women, and song". We could even probably insert instead "also loves God, mother, and home".

I've always had this vague feeling that Spassky was the most "normal" of all world champions, and I envy his ability to be good enough to become a world champion in something, but not be consumed by it.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
I have 5 on the match. Purdy's on this match is I think the best.

You're thinking of Purdy's "Extreme Chess" published by Thinkers' Press? It's hard to find now, and the prices are also "extreme". :'(

Originally posted by DivGradCurl
More recently, [b]Five Crowns by Yasser Seirawan is about Kasparov-Karpov, 1990 (I think). Out of print as far as I know, so probably hard to find.[/b]

One of those "good news and bad news" things.

The good news is that it's available from USCF Sales...
The bad news is that it's available from USCF Sales.

It's a bargain price and in stock, but I've heard the shipping charges are a bit high. And the design of the web site could be better. And who is the current vendor for the USCF Book & Equipment business? They don't come right out and tell you. The rumor I heard is that it's The House of Staunton (mailing address is in the same area), but you'd never know it from the web site.

http://www.king-cart.com/USCFSales/product_name=Five+Crowns+-+CB0012XX/exact_match=exact

http://uscfsales.com/Main/mainpage

Spassky is flat out a great guy, which probably worked to his detriment. I watched him field endless stupid questions like "What did it feel like to play Bobby Fischer" (seriously, as if Boris hadn't ever done anything of his own merit..) and still keep his sense of humor.
Spassky had a tremendous amount of natural talent, maybe more akin to Capablanca- he had other interests outside the game. It is frequently cited that he basically did no preparation for the Candidates leading up to Petrosian - Botvinnik and only in the cycle that he won did he do proper preparation.

He told me that if he could have played the match of his choice, he would have played Fischer circa 1960 when they were both young, creative players. He thought that the games from around then would have been much more enjoyable.