bookReview30.page

�The English Morphy� ? The Life and Games of Cecil De Vere First British Chess Champion ( 2001, Keverel Chess Books,130 pages, paperback, figurine algebraic, 12.99 English Pounds, www.keverelchess.co.uk) by Owen Hindle and Bob James is a fascinating look at the life of a strong master who has been forgotten for many years. The authors have not only collected 101 of De Vere�s games, but delved deeply into his life and present a detailed picture of a tragic figure.

The idea for the title of this book comes from Steinitz, who compared the young Cecil De Vere with Morphy. Indeed, though he lived only 29 years, De Vere had several impressive tournament performances to his credit. Besides winning the first British Championship in 1866, he also placed a very creditable fifth at Paris 1867 and equal third at Dundee 1867. All this despite having almost no book knowledge.

Unfortunately, around the time of De Vere�s greatest successes, he discovered he had tuberculosis which combined with depression and alcoholism caused him to pass away well before his time. But the story doesn�t end with his death. De Vere went by the name of Cecil Valentine Brown until the age of his majority. It was assumed during his life that De Vere simply made the change to have a more aristocratic sounding name , but co-author Bob James has another theory. While trying to locate De Vere�s grave in Torquay he stumbled across the headstone of William Cecil De Vere who was a member of a very prominent family in the region. He quickly realized that this wasn�t the De Vere he was looking for, as the birth and death dates didn�t match, but it did seem rather odd. Even odder De Vere was buried under the name Cecil Valentine Brown but twenty feet away. Strangely the obelisk, purchased after an appeal to the chess community almost ten years after De Vere�s death, was missing , almost as if a conscious effort were made to erase all mention of him. James makes an interesting stab at trying to explaining these puzzles.

If you like game collections and mysteries you will want to get this book.

New in Chess Yearbook #61 (2001, New in Chess - www.newinchess.com, paperback, figurine algebraic, 235 pages)

The latest edition of the New in Chess Yearbook series follows the customary format with reader feedback in the Forum, a insightful look at 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 by Sosonko and the meat of the book in the form of 35 Opening Surveys. Of course interest in the Survey�s depends on one�s repertoire. Sometimes you can really strike gold.

Like many players who open 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3 I have been looking for something with real teeth to combat the Tarrasch. The theory after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 is very well-developed. In particular the lines after 9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 h6 11.Be3 Re8 12.Qa4 Bd7 13.Rad1 often go 20-25 moves deep with White showing no advantage which I can attest to from direct personal experience. Therefore it was with great pleasure that I read the Survey on the Tarrasch by Dutch IM Jeroen Bosch in which he discussed the paradoxical 13.Rfd1. Moving the other Rook to d1 looks more natural, but by shifting the King Rook over White is able to capture on d5 by avoiding �Bh3 followed by �Bb4.

The key game is Lautier-Grischuk, Enghien-les-Bains 2001 which is very carefully annotated by Bosch, who is a well-known expert on the Tarrasch. His conclusion is that Black must find improvements.

Here is how this Survey netted me a free point.

Donaldson,J - Casadei,M D34
People's Open Berkeley 2002

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.0�0 e6 5.c4 Nf6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.d4 Be7 8.Nc3 0�0 9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 h6 11.Be3 Re8 12.Qa4 Bd7 13.Rfd1

13.Rad1 Nb4 (13�Na5 is a mistake here) 14.Qb3 a5 15.Nxd5? Nfxd5 16.Bxd5 Nxd5 17.Qxd5 Bh3 18.Qxd8 Raxd8 19.Rfe1 Bb4 wins the exchange as in Vaganian-Ivkov, SU-YU 1975.

13...Nb4?

Here this move, which was played instantly by Casadei, is a mistake. Instead the right idea is 13...Na5 14.Qc2 A) 14...Rc8 15.Nf5 Bb4 (15...Be6 16.Nxe7+ Rxe7 17.Bd4 Rd7 18.Rac1� Cvitan-Handoko, Zagreb 1985) 16.Bxd5; B) 14...Nc4 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 Nxe3 17.fxe3 threatening Qg6, Qb3, Bxb7 and Rf1. B1) 17...Qb6; B2) 17...Rc8?? 18.Qb3 Rf8 19.Ne6; B3) 17...Bf6 18.Bxb7! (18.Qb3 was played in Lautier-Grischuk, Enghien-les-Bains 2001.) 18...Rxe3 (18...Bg5 19.Nf5 Rb8 20.Bc6 Rc8 21.Rxd7 Qb6 22.Qc3 Bxe3+ 23.Kg2+-) 19.Bxa8 Qxa8 20.Rac1 Re8 21.Nf3 Bh3 22.Rd6+- Lautier; B4) 17...Bg5 18.e4 Qb6 19.Qb3 Qxb3 20.axb3 Bc8 is given by IM Bosch as Black's best with a slight pull for White.

14.Qb3 a5 15.Nxd5 Bc5? 16.Nxb4 axb4 17.Nc6 Qb6 18.Bxc5 Qxc5 19.Qxb4 Qxb4 20.Nxb4 Rxe2 21.b3 Bg4?! 22.h3 Bh5? 23.g4 Bg6 24.Bxb7 1�0

It pays to read the Yearbooks!

Secrets of Pawnless Endings (2002, Gambit - www.gambitbooks.com, paperback, figurine algebraic, 384 pages, $19.95) by Grandmaster John Nunn is an expanded edition of his groundbreaking 1994 book. This latest effort features a new, 50 plus page chapter on Six-Man Endings which reflects the advances that computers have made in the past eight years.

This is not the most practical book ever written. With the exception of Rook and Bishop versus Rook, which occurs fairly frequently, the reader is not likely to get any of the positions covered in this book in their practice. Having said this I can remember GM Walter Browne playing with two Bishops versus Knight against Robert Rowley at a Western States Open in Reno, and if memory serves me right he had the same obscure ending a year or so before. So you never know!

This book, which features meticulous computer-generated analysis, benefits immensely from the explanation of Dr. Nunn. In some cases the winning process is so long and obtuse that without the good Doctor�s guidance humankind wouldn�t have a clue as to what was going on. In a few cases even he is at a loss Turn to page 336 for the grand champion of difficulty , an ending of R+N vs. 2 Ns in which White to play wins in 243 moves with best play! Nunn writes about this ending; � This is a good candidate for the most difficult known win in chess. It seems almost impossible to explain such wins using general principles and in the end we may just have to admit that such positions can only be understood if you know the whole database, which effectively rules out human comprehension.� That�s a sobering thought.