| Some forty years ago Hanon Russell stumbled across a copy of Tal�s book on his first match with Botvinnik while strolling along the Left Bank in Paris. He read it, fell in love with Tal�s annotations and ability to offer an insider�s view, and translated the work into English. Several decades later the book is still in print having gone through many editions. Now it looks like Russell has published another World Championship book that will be a winner. Topalov-Kramnik,, 2006 World Chess Championship On The Edge in Elista ( Russell Enterprises Inc. 2007 - www.chesscafe.com, 220 pages, paperback, figurine algebraic, $29.95) by Veselin Topalov and Zhivko Ginchev is two books in one with Topalov responsible for the annotations and Ginchev the background material � principally �toiletgate�. The former FIDE World Champion is not known as a writer � in fact Topalov writes in the introduction, �I don�t like annotating chess games very much.� Maybe he doesn�t but Topalov is a brilliant annotator! The eleven match games and subsequent playoffs are all analyzed in depth with detailed variations and lots of prose. Topalov is frank and doesn�t hide what he is thinking. In his notes to game 4 after Black�s 22nd move he writes: �Here my opponent offered a draw, the second surprise in two moves! After the game he said the position was dead even, so he did not want to waste time, as he wanted to watch a Champions� League soccer match. According to Bareev�s evaluation White has a pleasant advantage and this is also the opinion of all the computer engines I consulted. And now that we know that even Fritz10, by no means the best computer program, is clearly better than Kramnik, I would say my opponent�s assessment of the position as a dead draw is quite wrong. And there is another ethical question: whether it is right to offer a draw with the black pieces when leading +2 in the score and in an inferior position. But I guess we should not look for moral values in people that do not have them.� Touch�! It would be very interesting to have Kramnik�s take on this. While I found Topalov�s notes to be worthy of a world champion and of interest to all chess players I�m not so sure about Ginchev�s contribution. If you like alleged conspiracies and intrigues you will likely enjoy his writing, but I for one have had enough of �toiletgate�. Opening books come and go but a good game collection lives forever. Victor Bologan: Selected Games 1985-2004 (Russell Enterprises Inc. 2007 - www.chesscafe.com, 236 pages, paperback, figurine algebraic, $29.95) is such a book. Victor Bologan of Moldova is a strong grandmaster, who is often rated around 2700 - just outside the world�s top ten. He is known for his dynamic style and fighting spirit. A good game collection not only has well-annotated games using words as well as variations, but also offers biographical material that gives some insight into what sort of person the player and how he developed. Pictures, crosstables and indexes complete the picture and Bologan�s book has it all plus a foreword by Garry Kasparov who notes how rare it is to see such a book in this day of �Informant style notes�. To add to the total package Bologan has included valuable lessons at the end of each game. Highly Recommended |