I like reading other wishlists so I thought I'd post mine. Feel free to comment.
1. Zurich Tournament 1953, by Bronstein
2. Petrosian vs the Elite, by Ray Keene and Julian Simpole
3. Starting out: The Slav and Semi-slav, by Glenn Flear
4. Botvinnik 100 selected games, by Botvinnik
5. Why Lasker Matters, by Soltis
6. How life Imitates Chess, by Gary Kasparov
7. Kasparov's fighting chess 93-99, and 99-2005, by Karyoli and Aplin
8. Vishy Anand-My Career Dvd's, vol 1 and 2. Can anybody comment on these, are they any good?
9. The English Opening dvd by Nigel Davies (maybe)
10. I'd like a book of annotated Smyslov games, but not sure which one. They seem to be expensive also.
11. From London to Elista. This looks pretty interesting and has good reviews.
I'll probably add more to the list later :-)
Smyslov's games by Smyslov himself is good.
He fires into f7 and f2 about every 3rd game. You would think you
playing over some refined Morphy games.
Zurich '53 is a must have, but Bronstein did not write it.
The openings books and DVD's...score those off your list.
That advice is my Christmas gift to you. In 20 years time you
will be giving the same advice for Christmas to another player.
That it usually how long it takes to realise these things do more
harm than good, most are badly written, out of date and poitnless.
Listen to what the old masters say when asked how to improve.
It's endings, tactics or study the games of the great players.
None ever say get an opening book.
Originally posted by greenpawn34Thanks for the advice Greenpawn. The dvd's were not on my official list to family :-) so I will keep them off. I had mixed emotions about them anyway. I have been focusing my study on those three things: tactics, endings, and most of all going over master games (which is my favorite). I feel my opening play could use improvement so I just focus on a few main openings. I looked at that slav book in the store and thought it gave some good ideas. I try not to focus much on the opening and only have a couple repertoire books.
Smyslov's games by Smyslov himself is good.
He fires into f7 and f2 about every 3rd game. You would think you
playing over some refined Morphy games.
Zurich '53 is a must have, but Bronstein did not write it.
The openings books and DVD's...score those off your list.
That advice is my Christmas gift to you. In 20 years time you
will be givin ...[text shortened]... ings, tactics or study the games of the great players.
None ever say get an opening book.
Again, I love going over annotated master games. It's fun and relaxing and you get to learn the thinking process of great players for the entire game.
Thanks again! I will definitely heed the advice of you Masters!
Originally posted by passedpawn22Apparently, Bronstein stated in a 1993 magazine interview that a lot of the wording and expressions were written by his friend Boris Vainstein. However, Bronstein stated that the analysis, technical concepts, and views on his rivals were Bronstein's own work. This was mentioned in Edward Winter's book, Kings, Commoners and Knaves.
Also....what did you mean by this? Who is it written by?
Edit - But I don't really care about the partial ghostwriting. After reading Silman's glowing review of the book, how could you not want to own it? 🙂
Zurich 1953 is excellent. All the greats gather for a shot at the title. 🙂 There are some very good games in that one.
Petrosian VS The Elite looks very good. I haven't read much of it. I started with the Clarke book (no games are duplicated). THAT book is quite excellent.
Botvinnik 100 Selected Games A Classic
Why Lasker Matters I read that one page for page. It is an excellent annotated game collection. Lasker defines the word fighter. 🙂
I wanted a less expensive Smyslov book also. I bought Smyslov My Best Games Of Chess 1937-1957. I got it used on amazon.com. It wasn't too expensive. It does end rather early in his career, but there are some great games there.
From London to Elista is a great book. If you're at all interested in the psychological aspects of match play - and what goes on behind the scenes at World Championship matches - then this is for you. Even if you're not you end up with a book of 40+ deeply annotated games.
Not sure about the number two on your list - Raymondo's work is, shall we say, of variable quality. I don't know the book you list in particular but I've seen some of the Keene/Simpole collaborations and they seem to be incredibly expensive for what they are.
RE: Zurich 53.
I think Bronstein had to claim credit for it because the other guy was persona non grata with Soviet authorities at the time.
Originally posted by greenpawn34I have some history with Nigel Davies but I don't think it is particularly biased to point to the amount of product he's generating of late. He's becoming the new Keene/Schiller.
The openings books and DVD's...score those off your list.
That advice is my Christmas gift to you. In 20 years time you
will be giving the same advice for Christmas to another player.
That it usually how long it takes to realise these things do more
harm than good, most are badly written, out of date and poitnless.
You just know not everything he's producing is going to be a gem.