500 Master Games of Chess (Dover Chess) [Paperback]

Dr. S. Tartakower (Author), J. du Mont (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1975 | Series: Dover Chess

Vast collection of great chess games from 1798 through 1938, with much hard-to-find material. Fully annotated, arranged by opening for easier study. 150 years of master play!

Product Details

• Paperback: 665 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (June 1, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486232085
• ISBN-13: 978-0486232089
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

109 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Five-Hundred classic games with light to moderate analysis, January 1, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: 500 Master Games of Chess (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

This is a massive work containing 500 complete master games played mostly during the 1800s on up to the 1930s.

Strong Points:

1. The games are played by strong players (masters).
2. The most important and most interesting games games prior to about 1940 were selected.
3. The games in the book are arranged by type of openining (if you want to focus on openings in a certain area, this is easy to do).
4. Lot of games for the money - 500!

Weak Points:

1. Not in Algebraic Notation.
2. No games after the 1930s (not up to date openings).
3. There are some errors in the analysis.
4. There is is typically not much depth to the analysis - it is very light at points.

I consider the stronger points to be more important though. This is a book belonging in every serious players chess library. If you are looking for games with more and deeper analysis I would recommend first and formost "Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" and "More Unbeatable Chess for Juniors" by Snyder, and secondly (only for experienced players) "Understanding Chess" by Nunn.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of My All-Time Favorites, July 7, 2006

By 

Blunderbuss23 (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 500 Master Games of Chess (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

I believe I have heard more people choose this book as the chess book they would prefer to get stuck with on a desert island than any other. Next to David Bronstein's book on Zurich 1953, I'd pick this one.

About the only "negatives" in this book are the same ones most people under the age of 50 complain about: 1) Descriptive notation. I figure it's worth it to spend 20 minutes learning DN, rather than look for an algebraic version at double the price. 2) Tartakover was unable to access a 21st-Century computer and come up with a ton of analysis, which would, of course, have lengthened the book by about 1,000 pages and tripled the price.

If you can put up with those problems, you should find this book and probably 50 other Dover chess books worth your while.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Collection of important games, January 27, 2005

By 

David Engle "Volunteer Chess Teacher" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 500 Master Games of Chess (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

500 MASTER GAMES OF CHESS contains a fantastic collection of lightly annotated games. The games are arranged by opening making it easy for you to concentrate on games using openings you are interested in studying.
The games are all older and the book are not in Algebraic Notation. Though, with this in mind this book is a must for any series student wanting access to some of the most theoretically important games over a wide period of chess history.