Sub-titled “Two Dynamic Systems to Counter the Ruy Lopez”,
the main ‘Archangel’ part of the book (covering 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3
Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 b5 6 Bb3 Bb7) is by IM Panczyk, while GM
Emms has contributed the two chapters on the ‘New Archangel’
(6...Bc5) and the Møller variation (5...Bc5). There is a considerable
degree of overlap between these systems (which may have contributed to
the comment in the blurb that the New Archangel is “also known as
the Møller”).
The book has been typeset by Gambit Publications and laid out as a tree
of analysis within chapters, with some textual explanations. Panczyk and
Emms have assembled a welter of information about these interrelated systems
which will prove invaluable to those who play them, perhaps less so to
those thinking about taking them up.
Vienna Game by Gary Lane, Everyman, 144 pages, £14.99.
The Vienna Game is one of those openings with a long history which comes
into fashion from time to time, but has always been popular at club level.
1...e5 players seldom spend much time preparing against this opening when
the Ruy Lopez and others are more often met; so it has the advantage of
surprise more often than not. Another advantage is its variety, with both
tactical and strategic possibilities. It has had adherents at high levels
(Adams, Short, Spassky), though Kasparov has never given it his mark of
approval. As regards design, the book is well up to Everyman’s usual
standard, despite a gremlin creeping into the cover verso page accrediting
the book to Glenn Flear rather than the actual author. Gary Lane has produced
an up-to-date and well-organised volume, using the familiar Everyman game
by game format, and it is written in an easy-going, anecdotal style with
a good balance between textual commentary and lines of analysis.
Action Chess by Cecil Purdy, Thinker’s Press, 192 pages, £15.99.
This book is taken from a series of Cecil Purdy’s articles for Chess
World in the 1950s entitled The Openings in Ten Hours. As ever
Purdy is a lucid author with great insight into his material. The publishers
have added a contemporary running commentary beside Purdy’s text
on every page which is sometimes useful but occasionally annoying. It
also makes for quite a lot of white space. But Purdy’s original text
has been left alone, and this makes for a worthwhile and well-written
general guide to opening play.
The Art of the King’s Indian by Eduard Gufeld, Batsford, 221 pages,
£14.99.
Despite the title, this is not so much a pure openings or repertoire
book, but more a collection of annotated King’s Indian Defence games.
There are 83 in total, mainly recent, with 53 of them played by the author.
Grandmaster Gufeld is an acknowledged KID expert and the book is imbued
with his long experience of the opening, and close personal acquaintance
with many of the big name KID players. His style is endearingly egocentric
and anecdotal, but his thoughts, ideas and recommendations on the King’s
Indian are authoritative and expressed pungently. Incidentally Batsford
have upgraded their standard cover from its former unattractive black
and white livery to a vivid new rainbow design. All in all, an excellent
book, and one of the most readable openings primers for years.
The Chess Monthly, Volume 4, September 1882 - August 1883, Moravian
Chess, 382 pages, £23.50.
The September 1882 issue informed visitors to Hastings that they would
find the newly-established Chess Club at the Seaside Hotel on Friday afternoons.
There is further wrangling between Steinitz and both Zukertort and Mason
over proposed matches. The year starts with reflections of the great Vienna
tournament of 1882 and year ends with Zukertort’s win in the London
tournament of 1883.
Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, Volume 4, October 1885 - September 1886, Moravian
Chess, 190 pages, £19.99.
The fourth volume of the Brothers Muñoz’s estimable periodical.
During the period of this volume, the great Steinitz-Zukertort match was
unfolding in the USA. The magazine reflects the breathless rapture caused
by this long-awaited clash: “Extra – as we go to press the telegraph
informs us that the third game of the great match proved a victory for
Mr. Zukertort. Excitement increases. Hall filled to overflow.”
Helms describes how the first FIDE President, Dr. Rueb, “devoted
eight years of unselfish, altruistic endeavour to the establishment and
upbuilding of an official body which shall promote and regulate chess
interests throughout the world.” Elsewhere, ACB quoted Koltanowski’s
The Chess World about Pirc, who had just finished second at Hastings:
“Vlasimir Pirc is a pleasant young fellow, but rather shy (so the
girls at the New Year’s Eve dance at Hastings said)... his standing
grief at Hastings was that everybody insisted upon pronouncing his name
Peerk, whereas it should be pronounced Peerts”.
There was a lot of chess news in 1935: America celebrated its third successive
Olympiad success in Warsaw, and Reshevsky triumphed ahead of Capablanca
at Margate. The death of Nimzowitsch was mourned. And finally, Euwe became
world champion. Many photographs, most of which have reproduced rather
better than in previous volumes of this series.
Another ample helping of Victorian chess as published by Howard Staunton,
replete with games and numerous reports of chess association gatherings.
That of the London Chess Club was notable for the attendance of St Amant
as well as all the British notables, including Staunton, with the prospect
of another match between the top players of Britain and France being greeted
with cheering and applause. There is a brief obituary of Deschapelles.
Von der Lasa contributes a piece on “chess in Hamburgh and Altona.”
All in all, a vibrant and informative journal, packed with interest.
The Munich ‘Olympiad’ 1936, Edited by AJ Gillam, The Chess
Player, 126 pages, £12.00.
Tony Gillam has collected the game scores of the ‘Olympiad that
was not an Olympiad’: Munich 1936, which was not organised by FIDE
but by the German government to run alongside the 1936 Olympic Games.
The book is not concerned with the politics but confines itself to the
612 games and part-games, a few of which are annotated in Informator style.
It should be noted that this is by no means all of the games of the competition;
the book points out that 1680 were played. The editor intends to gather
in any games which are subsequently traced and publish them via their
web site.
GM-RAM by Rashid Ziyatdinov, Thinker’s Press, 151 pages, £14.95.
OUT OF PRINT
There was a rather lame joke popular amongst schoolboy chess-players
that someone should write a book entitled “How To Win At Chess”
with just three solitary words on a single page inside it: “Checkmate
your opponent.” This book comes close. It consists of 256 positions
and 59 classic games with no clues, hints, solutions or analysis –
not even who is to move. So the reader has to do all the work to find
out what is supposed to happen in each position and game. The author’s
opinion is that if all the positions and games are memorised, the reader
will have the ‘Random Access Memory’ (RAM) of a 2600 player.
Really?
Just in...
Batsford’s Modern Chess Openings, 14th ed, £19.99
Same content and price as the McKay edition as reviewed in BCM,
April 2000...
Grandmaster Chess School St Petersburg: Opposite-Coloured Bishop Endgames
by Evgeny Solozhenkin, Chessbase CD ROM: £18.50.
