I love studying annotated (with words and variations) master games and game collections are a big part of my small but growing chess library. Here's some that I have (I haven't delved into a some of them yet).
My fav's so far are;
1. Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by Tal
2. Tal vs Botvinnik 1960 by Tal
3. Kasparov's greatest games vol 1 by Igor Stohl
4. Mammoth book of the world's greatest games by Burgess, Nunn, etc
5. Anatoly Karpov-My best games, by Karpov
Ones I have but haven't gotten into yet:
6. Botvinnik 100 selected games by Botvinnik
7. Zurich 1953 tournament by Bronstein
8. Immortal games of Capablanca by Reinfield
9. On top of the Chess World: 1995 world Championship Kasparov vs Anand by Christiansen and others
On the get soon list:
-Petrosian vs The Elite
-Why Lasker Matters
-Paul Morphy: A modern perspective
So what are YOUR favorites? Any you want to recommend?
Originally posted by KorchA good book but alas not Bronstein.
My favorite definitely is Zurich 1953 tournament by Bronstein.
Zurich '53 is an excellent book covering a tournament.
Edged out very slightly by Hastings 1895.
Single Players Collections.
Tartakowers Best Games.
Best Games of Paul Keres.
Alekhines Best games (Vol i & Vol 11)
Morphy's Best Games.
Tarraschs Best Games (by Reinfeld & Tarrasch)
The latter is full of quite brilliant and instructive games of chess.
Tarrasch often said in his notes that the path he has taken in a particuliar
game may not be the best. But it is the most instructive.
A great chess player who suffers from having a bad P.R.
Petrosian's best games of chess,1946-1963 by Peter Clarke.
If you play the sicilian have a look at Sicilian Love by Polugaevsky.Years ago I bought it for a friend's birthday and he absolutely adores it.I suspect he even build a secret shrine for it in his basement 😉
Btw,GP,what do you mean by 'alas not Bronstein'?Did they only use his name?Who wrote it then?
http://textualities.net/tag/david-ionivich-bronstein/
Is my tribute to Bronstein.
It's not from Chandler Cornered this is another 'serious' site I write for.
Look for the section How much of ‘The Chess Struggle’ is his?
The anaysis was Bronstein - the rest was Vainstein.
Edit 1; I'm not happy with the way they have displayed my article
on that other site. They have let paragraphs flow into each other.
I've asked them to tidy it up but to no avail.
Originally posted by greenpawn34GP, that is a fantastic article. Very interesting, and makes me want to look more into the games of Bronstein. I like Grandmasters who truly loved the game. This seems like it is becoming hard to find. You mention he would play in all kinds of tournaments which is very cool. It reminds me of what I've read about Tal. You can tell that he also just loved the game (even snuck out of the hospital to go to a local chess club). Bronstein said that the analysis and technical ideas of the "1953 book" were his, so would you agree that the "meat and potatoes" or the chess substance was still his? I haven't gotten into the book yet besides the intro, but it seems that it was more co-written or ghost-written, which most books probably are anyway.
http://textualities.net/tag/david-ionivich-bronstein/
Is my tribute to Bronstein.
It's not from Chandler Cornered this is another 'serious' site I write for.
Look for the section [b]How much of ‘The Chess Struggle’ is his?
The anaysis was Bronstein - the rest was Vainstein.
Edit 1; I'm not happy with the way they have displayed my arti ...[text shortened]... y have let paragraphs flow into each other.
I've asked them to tidy it up but to no avail.[/b]
It is interesting about Botvinnik also, how he was saying goodbye to the title. There is something about Botvinnik I do like, his precise play and logic. He did contribute quite a bit to chess.
My top 5:
1. 500 Master Games of Chess. By Tartakower & Du Mont.
2. The Test of Time. By Kasparov.
3. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. By Tal.
4. My Best Games Vol 1 & 2. By Korchnoi.
5. Jon Speelman’s Best Games. By Speelman.
I should say that while the contents of the Tal book is excellent, the 1997 Cadogan edition is a disgrace. The book virtually falls apart in your hands. Ridiculous when it cost £18 when released. Check out the Amazon link below to see that this is not just my copy. So if your going to buy this book, better to search out another edition.
Originally posted by passedpawn22Well yes and no.
GP, that is a fantastic article. Very interesting, and makes me want to look more into the games of Bronstein. I like Grandmasters who truly loved the game. This seems like it is becoming hard to find. You mention he would play in all kinds of tournaments which is very cool. It reminds me of what I've read about Tal. You can tell that he also just ...[text shortened]... Botvinnik I do like, his precise play and logic. He did contribute quite a bit to chess.
The book would never have been written without Vainstein.
Certainly his name should be on the cover it was his idea,
he did all the spade work, he picked Bronstein's brain.
To be very honest the book never did nothing for me, though
I enjoyed reading it and it is a good book.
Okay, what about for beginners? Before last October I'd played maybe fifty games of chess in my life. Then I fell in love with the game when I started up on here. I've started studying just a couple of months ago, and normally play around 1300s on RHP. I like Tarrasch's Best Games - I play conservative, plus it's an older book so I'm not completely overwhelmed. I've gone through some Alekhine and Morphy, too. I like them because they are known attackers so it's a change from my style (so I can learn to be more aggressive when needed and so I have some experience when I play heavy attackers). I also have Tal, but I just got it recently used and I haven't started on it yet. I'm worried it will be over my head because he's more modern. Is 500 master games of chess too advanced for me, do you suppose? I imagine it would cover the last 130 years at least... And is it best to just study similar styles to your own, or, like I suspect, is it best to sort of bounce around and get a different perspective?
P
500 Master Games of Chess by Tartakower and DuMont. Amusing and instructive commentary, and the games are arranged by opening variations.
For the beginner, you can't beat Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irvning Chernev. This book will entertain you, and also teach you how to "think chess."