Customer Reviews

500 Master Games of Chess (Dover Chess)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I bought this book when searching for a collection of annotated master games, so that I could study and improve my own games.

This book is a treasure trove of fabulous chess games, carefully annotated by a grandmaster that was legendary in his time and by a chess editor that has a lot of experience under his belt. The annotations are very clear and concise, highlighting themes and individual combinatoral genius as it occurs. It is on par with the annotations made by Alekhine in his two volume set "My Best Games of Chess".

This book was written in the age of descriptive notation. So, you will not find algebraic notation in this book anywhere. It is easy enough to translate between the two, and readers who are willing to make the translation will be rewarded with the masterpiece of a game as they play through it. Of course, there are databases out there that have these games in algebraic notation, should the reader be put off by such activity.

This book is a 3-volume set bound into one cover, categorized into open games, semi-open games, and closed games. This makes this book not only a great value (can't beat the price with a stick!), but it makes finding specific TYPES of games easy. In addition, the table of contents goes one step further by stating the opening used in each game. Some of the openings have fallen out of vogue since the publication of this book, but they still provide an excellent study in classical chess.

This book is a great value, essentially giving the reader three books in one cover for the cost of less than one single volume. Sure, the notation is an old style system, but it's more than outweighed by the quality of the games, notations, and cost. This book is an absolute bargain.

Tartakower wrote a masterpiece to remain forever. 500 completely anotated games from the past is a treasure. Forget about the fact that computer programs can trash these games and think about those days when people actually played chess over the board. The collection of games is classified according to the openings and is presented impecably so that the reader can browse the book in specific sections. The players index also facilitates studying games from a particular master from the past. I very much enjoy using this book because one of the advices that I received from a very strong player long time ago is that I must emulate a classical player and understand his game completely to incorporate his ideas on my game 9Simple enough, I copied the openings repertoire of a very strong player and literally studied all of his games.) Dover produces excellent books and this one is no exception.

I played through darn near every game in this book, and if I missed a couple it wasn't because I meant to! I found Tartakower's annotations to be extremely helpful and fun to read. By the time you finish this great book, you'll have a complete openings course! They're all of course old variations, and I'm sure that if you used a computer (or are yourself a grandmaster) you'll probably find errors or that many lines are sub-optimal. However, I found some of the neglected lines absolutely inspiring, and I loved the selection of very exciting games, lots of beautiful combinations. If you want to see how the "Old Masters" played the game, I recommend this very entertaining and refreshing text!

Exhaustive and brilliant, "500 Master Games of Chess" is a landmark in Chess literature and is recognized as a classic among fans and practitioners of the game. First published in 1952, this Dover edition is an unaltered and unabridged reissue published in 1975. The book is divided into three sections: Open Games, Semi-Open Games, and Closed Games, the games being classified under the openings they were played in. International Grandmaster Saviely Tartakower and Chess editor and author J. du Mont have compiled some of the best games ever played in the game, the choices covering the 1600's to the 1930's. Here, one can enjoy and learn from the vast breadth of talent presented: Alekhine, Morphy, Capablanca, Lasker, Steinitz, and many others are well represented offering many facets of the sport at it's very best. Masterpieces fill the pages: Anderssen-Kieseritzky (London, 1851), the "Immortal Game"; Paulsen-Morphy (New York, 1857); Rotlewi-Rubinstein (Lodz, 1907); Alekhine-Book (Margate, 1938); and games from the dawn of Chess as we know it: Greco-N. (1622-1634); Bruhl-Philidor (London, 1787); Bowdler-Conway (London, 1788); and representative selections from historic matches ranging from the landmark la Bourdonnais-McDonnell clash to Alekhine-Euwe. The book is lavishly illustrated with diagrams and each important game is given extensive analysis by the editors. There are also games played by the masters at odds, blindfold, and simultaneous which are nicely included as an appendix.

I had the good fortune to come across a copy many years ago when I was first getting seriously into Chess and my wrinkled and browning possession has been with me ever since. Every serious player or lover of the game should have this treasure-trove in his library.

This is easily one of the 'great classics' of chess. Together with its companion volume, (100 Master Games); it makes a tremendous research and reference tool. It is also a very good teaching book. The authors go to great pains to describe and explain a lot of the processes that occur during a game of chess.

On my web page devoted to the best chess books ever written, I rate this as one of the "Ten Best Chess Books Ever Written."
(You should probably go there and read what I wrote about this book. I won't reproduce that here.)

If you have ever wondered how the older Masters played the game? Then this is the book for you to get. It contains over 150 years of the best chess played during that era. Just in sheer numbers, how many books offer FIVE HUNDRED annotated games??? How could you go wrong buying and studying this book? (There is always a demand for used copies of this book!)

Another question you should ask yourself: How long would it take you to (seriously) STUDY 500 MASTER games of Chess?

Here's why! Chess games have come a long way since the 19th century, and in my opinion recent GM games have most of its charm. But the games from this book are 50+ years old, and the players varied. We have Stenitz the defensive master, Blackburne and Anderssen's attacking games, Capablanca's simplicity, and Sultan Khan's positional masterpeices. Not to mention Lasker, Morphy, Botvinnik, Charousek, Pillsbury and a host of others. In essence it is a complete book, which includes the most well known games. And the most important reason why this book is good? Because it brings the art back into chess, playing the game for the love of it!! Will it improve your rating? Dunno! Will it improve your understanding and love of chess? Surely!!

This book is probably my favorite book in my collection.

Even though the material is quite dated, the games themselves are excellent for playing solitaire chess (i.e. trying to guess the next move before looking at it).

the annotations are understandible by average players as opposed to the worthless symbols encountered in more modern books.

I have found this book to be a good place to start when trying to learn a new opening. Many of the old original traps and tactics that early players fell into while opening systems were being developed and discovered are here.

The only downside is that the book contains games from about 1930 and earlier. Therefore, you will NOT find the latest theory on modern systems. But for the older classic openings this book is a real treasure trove.