| Two recent books from Holland deserve consideration. The latest edition of the New In Chess Yearbook series (#58, NIC http;//www.newinchess.com or in North America www.chessNIC.com, 2001, 234 pages, paperback, figurine algebraic, $23.90 PB, $33 HB, also available on disk) pays homage to Vladimir Kramnik�s masterful opening preparation for his match against Kasparov with surveys on the Exchange Grunfeld with Nf3, the QGA with an early dxc5 and the Nimzo-Indian. All told the reader gets 37 surveys in YB 58 , which cover a wide variety of openings following the usual NIC format: an introduction, one or two key heavily annotated games and lots of supplemental games with light notes. The openings are usually pretty topical (i.e. GM Gleizerov�s piece on the Catalan Accepted (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Nf3 Nc6 where he states his belief that White must abandon the speculative 6.0-0 for the safer 6.Qa4 planning to immediately recover the pawn) but also cover openings more likely to occur in amateur chess like 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.c3 Nf6 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 , a specialty of GM Sveshnikov. Would New in Chess Yearbooks help you? If you habitually play the London System (1.d4 2.Bf4) as White and the Dutch Stonewall and the French line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 (3.Nd2) 3�dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 as Black I think not. However, if you don�t duck modern opening theory this series can be most helpful in keeping you up to date in time effective fashion. I would consider it a must for players over 2200. One of the unsung heroes behind the NIC crew is master Rene Olthof. The editors of the Yearbook series are Grandmaster Genna Sosonko and Paul van der Sterren , but the day -in-day-out guy who really keeps things running is Rene who is truly one of Caissa�s most devoted servants. Rene rarely takes time off from his job, but he did in the winter of 1999 as his 40th birthday approached. Most of us look forward to that event with some trepidation, but not Rene who welcomed it! Why? Because he planned a big tournament in his hometown of Hertogenbosch in southern Holland. Rene got the local college King William to provide the venue, billeted the participants with local players, and found an excellent sponsor to provide the generous prize fund and travel costs of the players. And who was the sponsor? Rene! The names of chess patron�s like Piatigorsky, Rentero, and Statham are well-known to chess fans everywhere. They also happen to all be wealthy individuals. This is certainly not the case for Rene, who lives comfortably but simply. By saving up his money for ten years Rene realized his dream of holding an excellent tournament. Heading the list of participants was former World Championship Candidate Paul van der Sterren, Australia�s number one Ian Rogers, and the ever aggressive Dutch Grandmaster Friso Nijboer. The GMs showed why they were top seeds, occupying the top three spots, but colorful and original players like Dutch IM Gerard Welling and German theoretician Stefan Bucker provided plenty of entertainment for the many Dutch chess fans who followed the action. In the past tournament books were relatively common, but lately, in the increasingly fast-paced world of international chess, they are becoming an endangered species. Therefore it was very nice to see the appearance of a beautiful hardback book devoted to this event. Rene has an eye for detail and it is seen in Torernooiboek voor de Toekomst (2000, 176 pages, figurine algebraic, hardback, 16 Euros from New in Chess - about 13 dollars). This book features everything you could hope for from a tournament book with many annotated games from the participants, player biographies, lots of photos, a history of chess in Den Bosch , a special problem competition held to commemorate Rene�s turning 40, etc. The prose is in Dutch, English and German depending on who the annotator is. Torernooiboek voor de Toekomst is well produced with a spacious two column layout. It�s sturdily bound and the off-white (sort of mauve ) paper produces an interesting effect that suggests that this is an ageless book produced by a true lover of the royal game. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to chessplayers of all stripes. |