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Garry Kasparov on Fischer: Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 4 (My Great Predecessors)

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Editorial Reviews:

This book brings together the two greatest names in the history of chess. The author, Garry Kasparov, is the world number one, and by common consent, the greatest player ever. The subject of the book, Bobby Fischer, is the only American to have become world champion and is probably the greatest natural talent the world has ever seen.

In the period between 1955 and 1972, Fischer, more or less single-handedly, took on the might of the Soviet Chess Empire and won. During this time Fischer scored astonishing successes, the likes of which had not been seen before. These included 11/11 in the 1963/64 U.S. Championship and match victories (en route to the World Championship) by the score of 6-0 against two of the strongest players in the world, Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen. The climax of Fischer’s campaign was his unforgettable match win in Reykjavik in 1972 against Boris Spassky.

However, Fischer is not only remembered for his achievements over-the-board, he is almost equally well-known for his temperamental behavior away from the board. He made extreme demands of all those around him, including tournament organizers. When these demands were not met he often refused to play. The 1972 match against Spassky required the intervention of no less than Henry Kissinger to smooth things over. In 1975, when he was due to defend his title against Anatoly Karpov, Fischer was completely unable to agree terms with FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and was defaulted. After this, he more or less gave up chess, playing only once, a “return” match against Spassky in 1992.

In this book, a must for all serious chess players, Kasparov deeply analyzes Fischer’s greatest games and assesses the legacy of this great American genius.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: Kasparov is just a lot of talk !
Comment: Plain & simple, Kasparov has super computers doing all the work on finding Fischer mistakes in this book. Computers are the steroids of chess. Todays players cannot be judged equally because of this. Fischer, and prior chess masters, had only their minds and that is why they will continue to be known as the greatest natural players of all time.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: good analysis but not really objective
Comment: Garry Kasparov put an enormous work on this volume with some high-class analysis. I guess I am not the only one that went directly to the Fischer-chapter! It becomes clear that Kasparov admires Fischer but by reasons of his own vanity he shows a rather critical approach. This is especially more obvious when compared with the volume on Karpov. Karpov is presented as an incredible genius and Kasparov suggests that he could have beaten Fischer. Whether this is so, can be doubted but we shall never know. Subconciously Kasparov sees himself as the truely biggest genius of them all, since he managed to beat Karpov!
Kasparovs opinion that Fischer plays uncertain in unclear positions and has a rather poor intuition can be questioned. Perfect play doesn’t exist and there are many examples of Fischer playing brilliantly in unclear positions. Apparently Kasparov is influenced very much by the old soviet anti-Fischer attitude. It looks as if Kasparov is looking for points to criticize Fischer, what he doesn’t do with Karpov.
Kasparovs comments on Fischer personal life are interesting but rather one-sided. It is true that Fischer had a very difficult childhood but it is also true that the soviet chess players – during the Cold War! – did everything in their powers to destabilize Fischer. Fischer was an easy target: he was alone, preoccupied with chess and limited defense mechanisms. To compete adult grandmasters who represent communist views on life, must gave added to Fischer paranoic tendencies. In this sence, it is surprising that Kasparov defend Fischer fight for better playing conditions but doesn’t defend him at the end of the Reshevsky match. Here the young Fischer was confronted with a different playing schedule because the sponsor wanted to visit her husband’s concert, Fischer lost and was condemmed by everyone while his behaviour is quite understandable. It would have been good if Kasparov would have defended Fischer on this occasion. How would he have reacted himself when this would have happened to him? He hardly pays any attention to Fischers behaviour towards the other chess players, which was highly appreciated by his colleagues.
Also Kasparovs statement that Fischer won in 1971-1972 because his opponents collapsed psychologically, can be doubted. He suggests that Fischer would not have been succesfull if his opponents would have stayed stable. This is an underestimation of Fischers power. Fischer devoted himself completely to playing chess, knew how to play against different opponents and put all his energy in to it. In this sence Kasparov is right. Maybe the truth is simpler: Confronted with such a powerful opponent and a few losses, Fischers opponents lost their self confidence. Well, of course… He tried to win, but so did his opponents, who were excellently prepared by the Soviet chess school themselves. It seems to me that Kasparovs attitude towards Fischer is infuened by the fact that Kasparov, brilliant as he was himself, never was able to achieve the superiority that Fischer achieved in his top years. When you read the book with this in mind, you will have a wonderful time with this interesting book that I myself enjoy very much too! (and my apologies to Reshevsky, Najdorf and Larsen.. I didn’t study them yet…)
Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Excellent five-volume set
Comment: This is Volume Four of the five-volume set of My Great Predecessors. I had to do a lot of shopping around to find each volume at a price I could afford, but if you are serious about developing an understanding of chess strategy, this set is an excellent resource. The books cover the history of great chessmasters, detailing many of their games. I don’t start at page one and read through them sequentially; rather, I look up a particular strategy and lay out the game on my chessboard to move through it. One game usually leads to another, and I can spend hours going through the volumes this way. [NOTE that this review is authored by my 19-year-old son.]

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Fischer Games on Kasparov Analize
Comment: This a excellent book, one of my favorites. I’m a lover of Ficher’s games. I recommend this book for all chess players.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Worth every penny
Comment: Kasparov is unduly critical at times, looking through the lens of over 30 years of hindsight and assisted by computer analysis.
Some of the variations he gives to justify his “corrections” of previously published assessments go to 15+ moves, with many subvariations, more than most mortals could possibly calculate at the board with the clock ticking.
I did enjoy his looking at the openings used at the time through the eyes of modern theory, often describing how and when a line evolved- better than scanning the columns in MCO.
He is best when he notes the psychological and competitive ideas that lead a player to choose one opening, or move, over another. The exception is the suggestion that some world class players felt “doom”, by the 1970’s, when matched against Robert the 11th. Fischer was just that much better!
He does a great job of describing the scenarios surrounding each game, and he offers paragraphs of prose to accompany his deep analysis.
What most impressed me is how well he shows that Fischer’s utter relentlessness, not just his famous “play for a win every time” approach, but also his staying in a “drawn” game for 80 moves, and playing into positions with only a theoretically slight plus, but then posing a series problems for his opponents to solve, often just wore his

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How to Crush Your Chess Opponents

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Editorial Reviews:

Simon Williams, one of Britain’s most dynamic and aggressive chess-players, has selected his favourite attacking games from the modern era, and annotated them with an infectious zeal that will inspire and instruct. He takes us inside the decision-making process, explaining how each stage in an attacking concept is formed, and shows how top players spot the signs that indicate it is time to stake everything on an all-out assault. We also get insights into the role of intuition and calculation in both attack and defence.

The players featured in this entertaining collection include: * Judit Polgar * Alexei Shirov * Veselin Topalov * Viswanathan Anand * Vasily Ivanchuk * Peter Svidler * Alexander Grishchuk * Magnus Carlsen *

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Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy

Editorial Reviews:

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: Don’t see the point
Comment: I don’t see the point of this book. Presents bunch of special cases to confirm that general rules are no good. But good players know when to deviate from rules anyway, and beginners need to know the rules first. So, who is this book for?

Also, this guy writes way too many books which always seems suspicious to me.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Very well written
Comment: I liked this book: it can give you clear ideas about a set of topics about strategy. The first part is built upon the discussion of the ideas given in “My System”, by Nimzowitsch, as seen from a modern master’s point of view. Despite of this other-source-dependence, the book if self-sustaining: you do not need to read Nimzowitsch’s book to understand J. Watson’s.
If you want to improve your strategic skills on chess, buy it (and read it!).
Customer Rating: Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5
Summary: Interesting, but what’s it for?
Comment: Take my comments here with a grain of salt. I’m an intermediate player and no more than that. I will never know as much about chess as Mr Watson. But I have this book, and others like me will buy it (as we probably are the target audience), so I’ll put in my two cents worth as to my impressions.

First of all, a lot of work has gone into this book. Mr Watson is very scholarly, and writes very well. My first impressions of this book were “amazing”, just like many of the reviews here. But the more I read, and the more I think, the more I have some concerns. So I will try to list them now:

1. Who is this aimed at? As an intermediate player, I am looking for chess books that “teach me”, that “help me to improve” or are just “fun to read”. But this book purports from the outset to be more of a summary of what is going on in modern chess.

2. Is Mr Watson qualified to summarize modern chess strategy? As a 1700 odd player, I don’t really understand a game that a 2000 player is playing. I have read and seen that the jump from IM to GM is enormous. I have serious doubts that anyone less than GM level can accurately describe how GM’s are applying strategy, let alone describe all the strategic advances since Nimzovich. In fact, I doubt that Mr Watson, as an IM, could fully explain strategy up to Nimzovich.

3. Why the lack of humility? What’s with an IM taking sides for and against ideas of GM’s? I think unless you had played at GM level you have no business presenting yourself as an expert who can decide which GM’s are right or wrong.

4. What’s with “rule independence” the main thesis of the book? So, the position and analysis that has been done on it (probably with a computer today) is more important than strategic rules. Well I think the ability to understand a position beyond rule application has probably always been key at GM level – there’s a reason why so few can get there. Does this help me, as an intermediate player, to learn though?

5. Is Nimzovich a decent starting point anyway? Some GM’s are very dismissive of “My System” – have a look at Kevin Sraggett GM’s book review on his web site.

While a ton of work has gone into this book, and I enjoy browsing from it, and can learn from it (as an intermediate player), I just don’t like the way Mr Watson presents himself as the expert who can summarize and provide the word to date on chess strategy. I think IM’s can and do write terrific books that teach us chess. But to summarize the state of all chess strategy knowledge? Come on! It would be like me writing a book on IM chess, which would be a total joke.

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