bookReview125

Chess Stars Book Reviews by IM John Donaldson

The Bulgarian publishing house Chess Stars is best known for its Opening for White according to Kramnik 1.Nf3 and Opening for White according to Anand 1.e4 series, both authored by former World Champion Alexander Khalifman, but it also publishes games collections, tournament books and works devoted to specific openings. Here we will examine three of Chess Stars latest game collection offerings. Note this reviewer is not an expert on either of the players covered in these books, accordingly they are examined from the layman's perspective rather than a specialist's.

Jose Raul Capablanca: Volume 1 Games 1901-1924 and Jose Raul Capablanca: Volume 2 Games 1925-1939. are enlarged second editions and published in 2004, which are respectively 366 and 360 pages. They both feature crosstables of major events, player and opening indexes and at least one and usually several diagrams per game. All the games ( 351 in volume 1 and 356 in volume 2) are annotated in figurine algebraic notation by a team consisting of GM Alexander Khalifman, GM Leonid Yudasin, IM Vladimir Ivanov, IM Vladimir Shushpanov, Alexander Shashin and Oleg Biriukov.

A few words about the annotations. They are language less. That is the commentary is without prose - only variations, symbols and references to other games are given. Note also that the game count is slightly lower than the total given as the authors have noted when the game score was unavailable and included it in the numbering sequence. The annotations draw from past sources and also feature original material. Sometimes the comments are attributed to previous annotators but often it is not clear precisely who is responsible for a variation or evaluation. It's not possible in a review of this length to present a detailed examination of the annotations given throughout these two volumes, but in general I was favorably impressed by what I saw. While many books have been devoted to Capablanca I am aware of no other published works that are so comprehensive in their attempt to comment on all of Capa's most important encounters.

This is not the book for you if you are looking for a Capablanca bibliography. Edward Winter's work, published by McFarland in 1989 is the standard. This is also not the book if you want a selection of games with prose commentary. Here, Capablanca's Best Games by Harry Golombek and edited by John Nunn ( Batsford - 1997 for the American edition) would be the best choice. There are others books that offer a more complete collection of Capablanca's games, but typically with few annotated. Jose Raul Capablanca: Volume 1 Games 1901-1924 and Jose Raul Capablanca: Volume 2 Games 1925-1939 are both attractively produced paperbacks. The font size for the games is very readable and the moves are given in bold to clearly separate the variations. The layout is clean and generous.

Prospective buyer of these volumes may wish to think about their motivation for buying these books. They are unquestionably useful reference tools but it will take a motivated student of the game to go through pages and pages of annotated games with no words to liven things up. Those who are use to studying on their computer might prefer a CD. Convekta ( Chess Assistant) has a CD based on an earlier version of this book and ChessBase has a new CD on Capablanca. All this said Jose Raul Capablanca: Volume 1 Games 1901-1924 and Jose Raul Capablanca: Volume 2 Games 1925-1939 are useful books for the right person and at $24 apiece represent good value in relation to the material offered.

Bogoljubow - The Fate of a Chess Player ( Chess Stars 2004, paperback, 280 pages, figurine algebraic, $26) by IM Sergei Soloviov offers 211 of the late World Championship contender's games with language less annotations. Many of the comments made about the Capablanca books are pertinent here as well but there are also some differences. One, this time it is a one person job. Two, there is a substantial amount of prose - usually given at the start of each chapter - interspersed throughout the book where Soloviov comments on Bogoljubows's career and puts things in perspective. The English in some earlier books by Chess Stars was somewhat problematic but here that is not an issue. Bogoljubow - The Fate of a Chess Player reads smoothly.

Unlike Capablanca, "Bogo" has not been as well covered. Previous books by Spence, Brinckmann, Petrovic, and Charushin all added to our knowledge about one of Alekhine's chief challengers, but Bogoljubow - The Fate of a Chess Player is now the standard.book on the subject. The only larger work I am aware of is the CD by Victor Charushin. If you are interested in a book on the games and career of Efim Bogoljubow, Bogoljubow - The Fate of a Chess Player is recommended.

The website for Chess Stars ( http://www.chess-stars.com) is based in Bulgaria. They have a new distributor in USA - Books From Europe ([email protected]) which maintains a stock of all their titles in Boston. All purchases are shipped within one working day. American customers receive their orders by Media Mail from Boston, while customers from Europe are serviced by non priority mail from their warehouse in Bulgaria. Parcels for the rest of the world are sent usually by Global Priority mail.