bookReviews18

Everyman Chess deserves credit for continuing the tradition of publishing high quality game collections. Its predecessor, Pergamon, produced the classic two volume work on Tigran Petrosian and Cadogan, Shirov�s Fire on Board. Everyman�s latest offering is The Magic of Mikhail Tal (2000, 224 pages, figuring algebraic, paperback, $23.95) by GM Joe Gallagher takes up where the monumental The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal left off, focusing on the period 1975-92.

Of all the World Champions, probably only Bobby Fischer has had more books devoted to him than Mikhail Tal. It�s not surprising that this should be the case, for the wizard of Riga had a sharp style that was well appreciated by chess fans everywhere. Gallagher, whose enthusiasm and admiration for Tal, is present throughout this book, offers the reader 34 very heavily annotated games from the later stages of Tal�s career. The final stage of Tal�s career has been covered in Informant style monographs from the former Soviet empire, but this is the first proper treatment combining plenty of prose with concrete variations.

This book doesn�t deal exclusively with the period 1975-92. Gallagher does a very good job of summing up the first part of Tal�s career in his introduction before heading into the meat of the book. Some chess fans may have the mistaken impression that Tal�s career reached its apex when he became World Champion in 1960 and that after his defeat the following year by Botvinnik, it was a steady spiral downhill. In fact, a good case could be made that Tal was a stronger player in 1980 than he was twenty years previous. That year, he became only the third player in history to break through the 2700 barrier after Fischer and Karpov. It seems pretty clear that Tal certainly had a better, all around understanding of the game in 1980, but of course, his health, which was never good, had worsened considerably over the two decades. One could also argue that it was a more difficult time to try to become World Champion with Karpov at the top and Korchnoi at the peak of his powers.

What makes this book enjoyable to read are not only the games, which are blessed with a lot of words to make them accessible to a wide range of players, but also the many stories that Gallagher shares. For example, he relates a little anecdote about the Subotica Interzonal, where Tal finished fourth place, just half a point from qualification. �The highlight of the closing banquet came when Tal, accompanied by Nigel Short and Daniel King on guitar, gave a rendition of �When the Saints��. Afterwards he said, �Bobby taught me that one in Bled.��

How many other World Champions could have the following story told about them? Shortly after winning 50,000 Canadian dollars, Tal paid a visit to Atlantic City and Gallagher relates �There were rumors that afterward Tal blew most of his prize-money in the casino. However, Lev Albert tells a slightly different story. A few days after Saint John, Tal visited Steve Doyle ( a US Chess Federation official) at a New Jersey chess club to give a simultaneous exhibition. Later, they went to the casino in Atlantic City, but only after Doyle had persuaded Tal to lock up the cash and cheques he was carrying in a safety deposit box. He cajoled Tal into limiting his traveling stash into $500. Once at the casino, Tal went straight to the roulette wheel and put the entire $500 on black. He won. Doyle suggested dinner. Tal left the $1,000 on black. He won again. After winning four in a row on black, he switched to red, but despite Doyle�s pleadings to leave, he kept betting the house. Two more spins and Tal had amassed $32,000. Tal let it ride again. He lost. Without changing his demeanor, he stood up and quietly headed to dinner with Doyle.�

The Magic of Mikhail Tal is a worthy successor to the Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. This is a book that belongs in every chess players library. Highly recommended.

If game collections are a relatively rare bird these days, books on tournaments and matches are even rarer. It�s not surprising, considering the speed at which information passes around the globe these days. Many tournaments have their own web sites and after the event is finished, you can make your own mini-book by taking the daily commentary from the official site, Kasparov.com, Chess Today and many other respected on-line sources. The bar for tournament and match books has been raised and it�s understandable that publishers are hesitant to produce a work on an event that appeared several months before. It really only makes sense if the book has something special to add to our understanding.

The Brain Games World Chess Championship (Everyman Chess, January 20001, 128 pages, figurine algebraic, paperback, $14.95) with commentary by Raymond Keene and background by Don Morris, is not likely to be remembered as one of the definitive books on a championship match. Roughly, the first third of the book is devoted to a description of the Brain Games network and short biographies of the World Champions.

The heart of the book is the annotations to the fifteen games of the match. There are some interesting observations by GM Keene. For example, in a preface to game two, entitled �Is The Gruenfeld Passed Its Sell:By Date?� he points out that the Gruenfeld has done horribly in World Championship matches with White scoring +16 -3 in the nineteen decisive games played with this opening. Furthermore, that Black has won only one Gruenfeld since 1950 (Kasparov against Karpov in 1987), and that victory only came about when White blundered horribly in a very good position.

One novelty that Keene has introduced in his annotations is the complete absence of any chess punctuation. There are no ! or ? much less !? or ?!. Absolutely none! The notes to the games are not bad, but they don�t add anything to what we knew the day after the games were played.

The Brain Games World Chess Championship includes some very nice color pictures of Kramnik and Kasparov as well as some photos of various celebrities that attended the match. If you like such things, you might want to get the book for the pictures. Alternatively, if by some small chance you were stationed on a base in Antarctica last October and didn�t have Internet access, this book could bring you up to date quickly. If neither is the case, I can�t recommend this book, as you can find much better annotations for free on the Internet. Not Recommended.

Mark Crowther is one of the heroes of chess. No, he is not a Grandmaster rated over 2600 FIDE. Mark has earned the thanks of chess players all over the world by producing the free on-line magazine The Week in Chess, which has been running for over seven years. Who better qualified, then, to write a book about chess on the Internet?

Chess on the Net (Everyman, June 2001, 127 pages, paperback, $15.95) by Mark Crowther is not the first book written on this subject as Sarah Hurst wrote Chess on the Web in 1999. This is, however, the most up-to-date and useful book I have seen. Crowther divides his book into seven chapters starting with An Introduction to the Net followed by Essential Knowledge, Playing on the Net, News and Events, Commercial Chess Sites, General Chess Interest, and an Index of Chess Sites. The book concludes with a helpful Glossary which won�t offer anything new to 14 year old computer whizzes, but should be most helpful for more mature users.

Crowther is pretty much at ground zero for developments on the Internet. He not only knows what has happened, but has a good feel for which way trends are developing. Chess players already have a wealth of opportunities open to them and things only look to get better. If you are new to computers and want to learn more about chess on the Internet, this is a great book.

Chess on the Net starts with the basics (What is the Internet?, History of the Internet, Why Use the Internet?, How to get up and Running, Modems, Software Required, Attachments-A Warning, Practice Safe Downloading, etc.) and goes from there. There is plenty of concrete information about where various chess web sites are located, but what I feel makes this book especially valuable is where Crowther shares his personal observations about matters that are not hard and fast. For example, in the section Commercial Chess Sites under �Are your personal details being sent to a secure server?�, He talks about the pros and cons of buying things sight unseen over the Internet from various commercial chess sites and individuals.

If you spend any time on the Internet looking for chess information, playing games or buying products, Chess on the Net is must reading. Highly Recommended.