| Breaking Through: How the Polgars Sisters Changed the Game of Chess (Everyman Chess, www.everymanchess.com, 2005, 320 pages, hardback, figurine algebraic, $30) by Susan Polgar and Paul Truong is several books in one. There are biographies, games and combinations by each of the three sisters - Susan, Sofia and Judit, material on the family and a section on women's chess. Of course this is not the first book on these famous three sisters who have revolutionized chess. That distinction goes to Cathy Forbes who wrote The Polgar Sisters. Training or Genius? (Batsford) back in 1992. More recently Queen of the King's Game (Compchess 1997) on Susan and The Princess of Chess (Batsford 2004) on Judit have appeared but this is the first Cadillac production - hardback with lots of frame able photos - some of which are in color. One of the sections of the book I found most interesting was that on Sophia, the middle and sometimes forgotten sister. It's easy to be left out when younger sister Judit only happens to be the strongest women to ever play chess and older sister Zsuzsa is number two, but Sophia is quite a formidable player as well. Older readers of this review may recall that it was not always so easy to guess which sister would emerge strongest . Breaking Through: How the Polgars Sisters Changed the Game of Chess recounts her famous victory at Rome 1989 where she scored 8 1/2 from 9 for a performance rating of 2879! Readers get ten well-annotated games (covering 53 pages) and 16 combinations to become better acquainted with her play. An appendix at the end of the chapter gives 8 of her games from Rome without annotations (the game with GM Chernin appears in the annotated games section). The real highlight of this book has to be the chapter The Ultimate Breakthrough by Paul Truong which recounts Susan's amazing comeback to the game after a 8 year layoff and her role in leading the United States to the silver medals at the Chess Olympiad in Calvia in 2004. Some may criticize Mr. Truong for being more being more a hagiographer than a reporter, but the facts are really pretty incredible. Susan after a unheard of layoff turned in a 2622 performance while playing all 14 games in a pressure-packed atmosphere . Well done. Recommended |