King's Gambit: second competition winner

The winner of our second competition for a copy of King's Gambit by Paul Hoffman is:

... Hsin Jen from Singapore.


Congratulations to Hsin Jen, and commiserations to the other entrants. I'll try and recover our review copy and run a third competition!

Competition 2: win another copy of King's Gambit

This is your second chance to win a copy of Paul Hoffman's

KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME

Simply answer this question:

Which chess playing artist would Paul invite to a dinner party?

Check out the concluding part of our podcast interview for a rather generous hint!

Answers by Wednesday to chesstales AT 21thoughts DOT com. The winner will be drawn at random from the correct replies. Please remember to include your address in the email.

King's Gambit competition winner

With the help of a glamorous assistant and her lucky 50p pieces, we randomly selected a winner for the competition to win a copy of Paul Hoffman's "King's Gambit: A Son, A Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game".

The answer was the Sicilian Dragon.

Despite, having correct entries from as far afield as Buenos Aires, Kentucky, Singapore and India, our winner (based on the sequence of tossed coins) comes from Alnwick (just 30 miles up the road and home to delectable duchesses) . So, congratulations to Rob McEwan, and commiserations and thanks for entering to everyone else.

King's Gambit: the review

We've had a week of the "King's Gambit: A Son, A Father and the World's Most Dangerous Game" here on Chess Tales.


When the book came through, I arranged for our contributor Martin Seeber to take a look and share his thoughts:

"We’re going to write a review said Roger, a review about a book from America. A book about chess from the land of Bobby Fischer. America.

When you read it you’ll realise that its not like other books.

Since I was a child I have loved to listen to stories and tell them too. Well Paul Hoffman you’re a great storyteller and a clever biographer. And the story, well its chess and that’s our favourite. Like a set of beautiful short tales, all interwoven together, Kasparov storming out in defeat, Karpov trying to deny his losses, genius and madness, coaches and pupils, almost undercover in Moscow, simultaneous exhibitions, epic battles between the two Ks. It’s a wonderful game so good you want to keep it all for yourself and to quite honest Mr Hoffman’s done such a brilliant job that a few more millions will join the global chess community.

I felt very touched by his references to his own game development, only one player can be world champion but many of us take part and many of us dream of being better than we are. I am sure Paul is being modest for if he played like he writes he would be cheered out of the chess hall.

Sharing your life and intimate thoughts with others is the key to any art and Paul has let us in to his personal world. My father is 82 and still has a big role in my life but I’d find it difficult to tell thousands of people about our thoughts. Paul Hoffman’s book is filled with courage and insight.

The game of chess is as modern as the latest computer and as ancient as civilization. Play it with friends, inside, outside , as a sport, pull up your chair on a winter’s night, sit on your dad’s knee, show your granddaughter the moves, imagine it all the young and the old, handicapped who play without disability, and there in the great chess libraries around the world there’s a book to inspire us all and on its cover we can read the name Paul Hoffman. Okay Paul I’m taking the King bishop’s pawn and of course without hesitation the book." Martin Seeber

Our first competition to win a copy finishes today (so hurry up with your entries). We'll have a second competition starting tomorrow.

Paul Hoffman interview: concluding parts

The concluding parts of a fascinating interview with best selling author Paul Hoffman


Part 4: on sex, insanity, Russia, the Dragon, and Kasparov's openings (1.1MB .mp3)

Part 5: North American vs. European chess culture (1.0MB .mp3)

Part 6: on playing chess and being remembered (1.2MB .mp3)

Part 7: 5 chess players for dinner (882KB .mp3)


You should also check out Paul's blog.

Competition: win a copy of King's Gambit

This is your first chance to win a copy of Paul Hoffman's

KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME


Simply answer this question:

Which 'fire-breathing' opening did Gary Kasparov use to take the lead in his 1995 World Championship match with Viswanathan Anand?

Answers by Saturday to chesstales AT 21thoughts DOT com. The winner will be drawn at random from the correct replies. Please remember to include your address in the email.

Look out for further chances to win a copy later this week on Chess Tales.

Paul Hoffman interview

I was really fortunate last week to grab a 'transatlantic' interview with best-selling author Paul Hoffman about his latest book,

" King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game ".

The interview is our first podcast on Chess Tales:

Part 1: on chess anecdotes (1.8MB .mp3)
Part 2: on Lautier, Kramnik and playing Kasparov (1.5MB .mp3)
Part 3: chess head-banging and stage-diving! (900KB .mp3)

Look out tomorrow for parts 4-7.

Paul's book is released today. We'll be publishing a review tomorrow, and running competitions throughout the week to win copies, so keep your eyes peeled.

You should also check out Paul's blog.

Book of the week

Can you spare a couple of hours a day for a week?

Then our next Chess Tales 'book of the week' might be just the thing for you. It's the latest offering from International Master Gary Lane.

Gary is a profilic author, famous for his opening repertoire works and chess help columns. He also beat yours truly in an indecently small number of moves (but I won't hold that against him).

His new book, "Improve your chess in 7 days", is a break from the opening treatises and, judging from the title, is the perfect chess book for our modern hectic lifestyles.

From the synopsis, it's:

"... packed with practical tips, hints on how to improve, learn from the champions and find out how to beat them - in just a week. With one short chapter for each day of the week, the book is ideal for social chess players and includes a sprinkling of chess cartoons to keep you smiling as you read: Day 1 - So You Want to be Good? Day 2 - Understanding the Openings; Day 3 - Strategy versus Tactics; Day 4 - Creating the Attack; Day 5 - Avoiding Blunders; Day 6 - Mastering the Ending; and, Day 7 - The Art of Swindling. With comments and advice after each move, this is as clear a guide to improving your chess as you will ever need."

It's currently on offer (30% off) on Amazon:

Speelman's Best Games

On Friday I confessed to being rather ignorant with regard to Jon Speelman's games. Fortunately, it seems there are plenty of people out there who are not, and that not only does he play fascinating chess, but he also writes tremendously.

When I posted my list of 'must have books' over on Chess Forums, a number of readers were quick to suggest that Speelman's work Best Chess Games, 1970-80 should be on the there

"Speelman's book is great, it 'tells you a story': when playing through his games, you feel as you were really there, living the drama." Chamaco, Chess Forums

It seems his seductive style extends to his own games' collection, Jon Speelman's Best Games, as well:

"This book is hugely instructive from the practical player's point of view, because it gives insights into how chess games are really decided at the highest level. None of your crystal-clear strategic crushes here, consistent from first move to last. Speelman is breathtakingly candid about his thought processes and the sometimes apparently random factors that make the difference. A study of his games is bound to make anyone's play more resilient and resourceful - as well as being great fun and, occasionally, awe-inspiring." TD Welsh, Amazon Review

Botvinnik book update

source: ChessBase.de

The autographed book by Mikhail Botvinnik finished on eBay on Sunday evening.

It was a popular auction with some frantic bidding in the last 20 minutes that doubled the final price to £77.

I'm really pleased with the way it went: I've had the pleasure of having Botvinnik's autograph on my bookshelf for a year, and made a decent profit on the deal. Whilst, the buyer has managed to pick up a wonderful book at what is still a very good price. I'm also reassured to know that the book is going to a 'good chess home' and to a real fan of Botvinnik.

This week I'm going to auction one of the most unusual but nonetheless fascinating chess books ever published. I'll tell you more later, but for now I'll give you a clue: the book, written by one of the strongest players of the 20th Century, only contains one game of chess. Can you guess which book it is?

Botvinnik's autograph

I've just listed an exceptionally rare book on eBay: a first (english) edition of Mikhail Botvinnk's Championship Chess.

It's Botvinnik's first book and he reportedly spent 3 years writing it. It covers the 1941 match-tournament for the championship of the USSR: the 3 years' dedication is evident in the depth of his annotations to the games.

I'd intended to list the copy a while ago; I'd spent a lot on it, but knew its value. However, as I prepared the listing I noticed there was a 'scribble' on one of the inner pages below a dedication to his brother who'd been killed in the Battle of Leningrad.

At first I thought the 'scribble' was a previous owner testing his biro, but then it struck me: maybe my rare book was actually signed by Botvinnik. Thankfully, the Internet quickly gave me the answer, and sure enough my 'scribble' matched the few examples of Botvinnik's signature that are available. My rare book suddenly became exceptional.

As for the tournament itself, Botvinnik won the six player (4 games against each opponent) event from a magnificent field of Keres, Smyslov, Bondarevsky, Boleslavsky and Lilienthal.



Here's a sparkling brevity from the 8th round:

I Boleslavsky - A Lilienthal, 12th USSR Ch. Leningrad / Moscow 1941

1 e4 e5; 2 Nf3 d5; 3 Nxe5 Qe7; 4 d4 f6; 5 Nd3 de; 6 Nf4 Qf7; 7 Nd2! Bf5; 8 g4 Bg6; 9 Bc4 Qd7; 10 Qe2 Qxd4; 11 Ne6 Qb6; 12 Nxe4 Nd7; 13 Bf4 Ne5; 14 0-0-0 Bf7; 15 N4g5 fg; 16 Bxe5 Bxe6; 17 Bxc7!! 1-0

Bronstein and the King's Indian

With my eBay auction of a super book, "The World Chess Championship 1951", about to finish, it's a good opportunity to talk again about David Bronstein, who tied that 1951 match with Mikhail Botvinnik.

Full of enthusiasm, Bronstein was a great tactician who played adventurous attacking chess. He had deep views about the game and contributed some of our finest chess literature.

He was responsible for re-introducing the King's Gambit to top level play, but the opening he will always be most associated with is the King's Indian, where he contributed not only tactical, but also a wealth of new positional and strategic ideas.

This game against Pachman from 1946 showed a new way for Black to fight against the fianchetto variation, with Bronstein using a number of tactical shots to realise his goals in first the centre, then the queenside and finally also the kingside of the board (like the dutch football team of the 70's, this is 'total chess'):

Ludek Pachman - David Bronstein, Prague vs. Moscow 1946
(notes abridged from "Tactics in the King's Indian" by Gennady Nesis)

1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 d6; 3 Nc3 e5; 4 Nf3 Nbd7; 5 g3 g6; 6 Bg2 Bg7; 7 0-0 0-0; 8 b3 Re8; 9 e4 ed; 10 Nxd4 Nc5; 11 Re1

After 11 f3 Black would get an excellent game with 11 ... c6 and 12 ... d5! Also bad is 11 Qc2 because of 11 ... Nfxe4; 12 Nxe4 Nxe4; 13 Bxe4 Bxd4.

11 ... a5; 12 Bb2 a4!; 13 Rc1 c6; 14 Ba1 ab; 15 ab Qb6; 16 h3 Nfd7! 17 Rb1 Nf8; 18 Kh2 h5!

White was planning to strengthen his position in the centre with 19 f4. But Bronstein is alert to his opponent's intentions: after 19 f4 he is ready to start a fight for the initiative on the kingside with 19 ... h4! 20 g4 Nfe6!, when the f-pawn also becomes a weakness.

Now the fireworks begin (RC):

19 Re2 h4!; 20 Rd2



20 ... Rxa1!; 21 Rxa1 Bxd4; 22 Rxd4 Nxb3; 23 Rxd6

The idea of this strong riposte is that on 23 ... Nxa1 there follows 24 Nd5! and 25 Nf6+. But, once again, Bronstein has foreseen everything.

23 ... Qxf2!

Now it is clear how important it was to advance the pawn to h4. Owing to this pawn it is now not possible to play 24 Qxb3 because of 24 ... hg+ 25 Kh1 Bxh3! 26 Rg1 Bxg2+ 27 Rxg2 Qf1+ 28 Rg1 Qxh3 mate!

24 Ra2 Qxg3+; 25 Kh1 Qxc3; 26 Ra3 Bxh3; 27 Rxb3 Bxg2+; 28 Kxg2 Qxc4; 29 Rd4 Qe6; 30 Rxb7 Ra8!

Black inflicts a blow on the enemy king from the queenside.

31 Qc2 h3+! 0-1

White has no satisfactory defence. On 32 Kg1 there follows 32 ... Qe5! 33 Rd1 Ra3! and then ... Ne6-f4.

How they used to open

Staunton's "The Laws and Practice of Chess" (see eBay listing) is split into three 'books': the first deals with the laws and a guide to playing the game, and the second two books to 19th Century opening theory.

Amazingly, the entire second book (50+ pages) is devoted to the King's Bishop Opening (1 e4 e5; 2 Bc4).

The final book, some 361 pages, covers the theory of all the other openings. Our question for today is to guess how many of those pages are devoted to the King's Gambit:

A) 90 pages
B) 120 pages
or
C) 150 pages?


I'll post the regular Friday chess puzzle before I leave for Hawick tomorrow.

Chess listings on eBay

I've put 3 more books up for auction on eBay, this includes excellent editions of Reuben Fine's "Basic Chess Endings" and Howard Staunton's classic "Laws and Practice of Chess". The star item in the lot though is a very rare first edition of "The World Chess Championship 1951" by William Winter and RG Wade.

The 1951 Championship match was a fluctuating battle between Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein, with some fabulous chess, that ended in a 12-12 tie. There is some speculation that Bronstein threw the penultimate game under orders from the Kremlin not to beat the champion.

Match chess player with chapter

On Sunday I challenged you to correctly match a set of famous chess players with their profile chapter titles from "The Delights of Chess" by Assiac.

The correct matches are:

Youthful veteran - Paul Keres
Paradise regained - Mikhail Botvinnik
Warbling world-beater - Vassily Smyslov
Veteran prodigy - Samuel Reshevsky
He conquered a nation for chess - Dr. Max Euwe
Never a dull game - David Bronstein
Genius is never satisfied - Mikhail Tal

Congratulations to Ryan Emmett for getting the most correct answers.

eBay chess update

A quick update on the eBay listings that ended today:

Réti's Best Games at £21.50 sold for close to expectations, but the buyers picked up excellent bargains with Leningrad '63 going for £3.15 and The Delights of Chess for just £5.50.

I'll be putting three more super books on next week: The World Chess Championship 1951 first edition by Winter and Wade, a 1922 edition of the Laws and Practice of Chess by Howard Staunton, and an immaculate copy of Reuben Fine's Basic Chess Endings.

I'll keep you in the loop.

The Delights of Chess

The bulk of the book "The Delights of Chess" by Assiac (see eBay listing) is taken up with fascinating written portraits and anecdotes about a number of chess masters. The portraits, written in the late 50's and mainly based on personal encounters, feature expected stars such as Botvinnik, Reshevsky, Gligoric, Tal, Smyslov, and Keres; greats of yester-year including Lasker and Euwe; the upper echelons of English chess such as C.H.O.D. Alexander, Leonard Barden, Harry Golombek and an emerging Jonathan Penrose; a pair of German players (reflecting the author's background) Unizicker and Uhlmann; and a very surprising inclusion, the young American William Lombardy.

As well as being a Grandmaster, William Lombardy was also a catholic priest. He was a fine player, he won the World Junior title in 1958, but is perhaps best known as Fischer's second and the man instrumental for ensuring that Fischer actually turned up for his 1972 World Title match with Spassky in Reykjavik. Lombardy's own account of the events around the match is a fascinating read.

The chapter titles in "The Delights of Chess" are abstract yet descriptive of the subject player. Lombardy's chapter is entitled "Solid young man", not just a reference to his style of play!

Our teaser today is can you match the following seven chapter titles with the correct player?

Chapters:

Youthful veteran
Paradise regained
Warbling world-beater
Veteran prodigy
He conquered a nation for chess
Never a dull game
Genius is never satisfied

Players (jumbled order): David Bronstein, Vassily Smyslov, Samuel Reshevsky, Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Botvinnik, Dr. Max Euwe, Paul Keres

Good luck!

Check out "The Delights of Chess" on eBay.

Antique Chess Books on eBay

I've listed 3 wonderful 'antique' chess books (all first editions) on eBay today:

The USSR Chess Championship Leningrad 1963, won by Stein ahead of a field that included Spassky, Korchnoi, Bronstein, Polugayevsky, Geller, Taimanov, Furman, Cholmov. One of the nice 'quirks' about this book is that includes a description of the benefits of algebraic notation.

The Delights of Chess by Assiac. Published in 1960 this is a collection of annotated games, essays and anecdotes about the world of chess, players and tournaments throughout the late 1950s. It is written by Heinrich Fraenkel, author of the famous Assiac column in the New Statesman.

And finally, the pièce de résistance, Reti's Best Games, chosen and annotated by Golombek. One of the finest games collections ever written: 70 games, and much more, played by the great Hypermodern who died tragically young from Scarlet Fever.

Best endgame guide

I've sung the praises of Averbakh's Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge more than a few times on Chess Tales, but have been reprimanded by one reader for not mentioning Karsten Muller's Fundamental Chess Endings.



The subtitle includes the word 'Encyclopedia' which usually makes me wary, but I have to say the reviews are outstanding and the blurb sounds enticing: firstly it's accessible to beginners (and experts!), providing tuition, principles, and practical play guides as well as reference, and secondly, it benefits from computer endgame tables and analysis to ensure the variations are sound.

Let me know your thoughts if you have a copy. Thanks!

Soviet School update

The Soviet School of Chess sold on eBay. I'd hoped the book would raise more; the French buyer has picked up a wonderful bargain.




The market for 'antique' chess books on eBay is hard to judge, although seems a lot quieter now than a year or two back. I've sold some great chess books for more than £50 (around $100) in the past; we'll see how the Botvinnik autographed book does, it's definitely a buyers market at the moment.

Have any of you Chess Tales readers had any experience of selling on eBay?