| Judit Polgar: The Princess of Chess (Batsford 2004, 288 pages, figurine algebraic, paperback, $22.95) by Tibor Karolyi is the first major book devoted to the strongest female player of all time. International Master Karolyi, who is well-known in the chess world as a theoretician and trainer (Peter Leko was his student) has known Judit for much of her life and his familiarity with the Polgar family and the ins-and-outs of Hungarian chess is evident throughout this book. The meat and potatoes of Judit Polgar: The Princess of Chess are 89 extremely well-annotated games and game fragments. Karolyi has not confined himself to collating available annotations from various sources but has also done extensive original work. There's a nice mixture of concrete analysis and prose explanation. There's also some interesting observations about the chess world from the author sprinkled throughout this book which nicely break up the sometimes heavy duty analysis. These observations are not only confined to Judit, her father's theories or sisters Zsofi and Zsuzsa. I found some of Karolyi's comments about the Hungarian chess scene to be particularly revealing. He explains why IM Peter Szekely, one of the top European talents as a teenager, never realized his potential. Karolyi discusses at length the curious situation in which chess in this small central European nation is seemingly flourishing (Polgar, Leko, Almasi, Berkes, Acs, etc.) but trainers are struggling to survive and open tournament prize funds are shrinking. Many top players are only able to squeeze out a living playing in various leagues. While the bulk of this book is devoted to Judit's play, Karolyi does deal with events away from the chess board including the Polgar families difficulties with the Hungarian chess authorities, the influence of Lev Psakhis as a trainer and Polgar's marriage to veterinarian Gusztav Font. He speculatives on the future prospects for Judit who has broken into the world's top ten but is still about a hundred rating points from the summit. There are a few things I would have liked to see in Judit Polgar: The Princess of Chess including some photographs and career tournament and match records. I suspect there absence can be directly related to the size of this book which is close to 300 very densely packed (two column layout) but readable pages. It looks like IM Karolyi simply ran out of room. Recommended Imagination in Chess: How to Think Creatively and Avoid Foolish Mistakes ((Batsford 2004, 286 pages, figurine algebraic, paperback, $22.95) by Georgian Correspondence Chess Master Paata Gaprindashvili is an interesting and original book. Picking it up at first glance it might seem just another puzzle book of exercises to solve, but it's more than that. The author states that he wants to deal with - " the process of thought, the evaluation and development of the brain's reflective activity." Each of the seven chapters (progressive thinking, reciprocal thinking, mental agility, etc.,) start with a few pages of introduction to the theme and then many exercises. The back of the book offers detailed solutions. I'm not sure if the authors thinking techniques will help all readers but there is no doubt that the positions he has chosen are quite challenging. Any ambitious student who goes through all 756 of them will undoubtedly experience an increase in their chess strength. The examples are not only well-chosen but many of them are not widely known, which is nice as you don't have to worry about knowing the solution in advance. Using original material sometimes leaves the author with problem that the material has not been thoroughly vetted for alternative solutions. In position number 6 from the game Mukhamedzianov-Pelts, Ryazan 1976 (ChessBase gives 1975) the solution is given as 1.h5! gxh5 2.Nh4! Rxh4 3.gxh4 Qa3 4.Qe2 Be7 5.Qxh5 Qc5 6.Rb3 Qa7 7.Rg3+ Kf8 8.Qxh6+ Ke8 9.Rg8+ Kd7 10.Qf4 Qa1 11.Qxf7 Qxe5 12.Qe8+ 1-0 but doesn't 1.Ng5 hxg5 2.Qf3 also work? Mukhametzianov,N - Pelts,R [E63] URS-chT Urozai Riazan, 1975 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d4 a6 8.h3 Rb8 9.a3 b5 10.cxb5 axb5 11.b4 Bd7 12.Bb2 Na7 13.e4 Nc8 14.e5 Ne8 15.Qe2 c6 16.d5 Nc7 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Ne4 Bxe4 19.Qxe4 d5 20.Qh4 Nb6 21.Bd4 Nc4 22.a4 bxa4 23.Rxa4 e6 24.Qf4 Nb5 25.Re1 Nxd4 26.Qxd4 Qb6 27.Qa1 Rfc8 28.Bf1 Bf8 29.Rb1 Qc6 30.Nd4 Qc7 31.Nf3 Qd7 32.Ra7 Qe8 33.Ra4 Rc7 34.Qa2 Bg7 35.Bxc4 Rxc4 36.Ra7 Bf8 37.Qd2 Rcxb4 38.Rxb4 Rxb4 39.Ng5 Be7 40.h4 h6 41.Nf3 Kg7 42.Qe3 Rc4 43.Qd2 Bc5 44.Ra2 Qb5 45.Rb2 Qa4 46.Kg2 Ba3 47.Rb7 Rc2 48.Qd4 Rc4 49.Qd2 Bb4 50.Qd3 Qa1 51.h5 gxh5 52.Nh4 Rxh4 53.gxh4 Qa3 54.Qe2 Be7 55.Qxh5 Qc5 56.Rb3 Qa7 57.Rg3+ Kf8 58.Qxh6+ Ke8 59.Rg8+ Kd7 60.Qf4 Qa1 61.Qxf7 Qxe5 62.Qe8+ 1-0 Recommended |