Bobby Fischer: Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion [Paperback]

Lou Hays (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

A first-hand look at the games of the man recognized as the greatest chess player of all time. Bobby Fischer's geniusness raised the entire world's consciousness of chess and paved the way for multi-million dollar prizes. Includes 101 new games. Largest game collection ever assembled including 972 games and 1.043 listings.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Here is one inexpensive single volume, the student has the largest collection of games of the strongest player of all time. What could be better study material?" -- International Master John Donaldson, Inside Chess Magazine.

"One of the greatest chess books ever published. I would lhave titled it "Bobby Fischer, His games, His Openings, because the openings Fischer played are still valid today." -- Chess master Ken Smith, Chess Digest.

"The tournament and match tables, plus indeses of players, openings, ECO codes, and endgames make this an ideal Fischer sourcebook." -- Grandmaster Robert Byrne, chess columnist, New York Times.

About the Author

Lou Hays is author/editor/publisher of 21 books on chess. Tournament chess competitor for twenty years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hays Pub; 2nd edition (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880673991
• ISBN-13: 978-1880673997
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Chess

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You need little, if anything, else., April 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bobby Fischer: Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion (Paperback)

Bobby Fischer is beyond a doubt one of the greatest players in the history of the game. This book contains over 1000 of his games. There are no annotation or comments so around 4-6 games
are put into every page. Each game has 1 diagram, taken from some
stage in the game. I have found that the very best, and most effective way to get good in chess is to study games of the great players. I have studied Morphy, Casablanca and Fischer.
I suggest you play through every single one of these games, and try and understand what Bobby is doing. With every move try to make something of it, and try to predict what Bobby will do next. I have said there are no comments, but there are ! !! ? and
?? to indicate crucial moves. Good or bad. Take a special look at these moves before you play on and try to discover why it is so bad, or so good. The book is laid out like this, starting with 1955 and then going year by year ( 56,57,58 etz ). All the games of the 92 match with Spassky are also here. There is obviously where it ends. However, after that there is " last minute additions ". Mostly games from simuls that recently surfaced. In short, all of Bobby`s important tournament games are in here, including blitz. The games from the " unofficial blitz WC " in the early 70s are here, the manhatten chess club blitz tournament ( In which bobby scored 21,5/22) also in the early 70s before his title match. Many simul games are included here also. Also, the 3 little known games Bobby played against a computer program in 1977( 3-0 ). If you want to get good, don`t buy book after book on strategy,openings,tactics etz. Buy this book, the book on Morphy`s games and the one on Casablanca. But how do i then learn the openings??- easy. In going throught this book, and trying to understand every move, you will become very familiar with the Ruy Lopez, King`s Indian defence, Sicilian and some other openings. If you wanna invest time and energy, and as little cash as possible, into getting good in chess then get this book. If it doesn`t work out, you can always sell it used and cut your losses. What more can i say, cmon people. For 20 dollars and a lot of hard work you will be getting alot back.
I hope this has helped you decide.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is like three books in one, June 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bobby Fischer: Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion (Paperback)

This book includes all of Bobby Fischer's games from 1955, to the 1992 rematch with GM Boris Spassky. Not annotated, but well worth it. Has opening index, ending index, and eco code index. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive book. Unfortunately, not insightful nor user friendly., March 2, 2011

By 

R. Gonzalez "samsara" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bobby Fischer: Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion (Paperback)

Comprehensive:

I am a big fan of Fischer, the chess player, and it is a shame that his personal beliefs are something that his fans have to come to terms with. That beings said, this book has arguably every published game that Fischer played.

Not insightful:

The author's annotations are very brief and do not explain anything beyond the obvious. Some of the games have a cryptic "!" or "?" symbol with out any explanation of WHY the move deserves attention. So if the person is below intermediate strength, this book might be more frustrating than useful.

Not user friendly:

Be ready to squint your eyes. The physical presentation of this book is very inconvenient at best. The author did everything he could to compress this book into the smallest layout possible at the cost of creating eye strain, he even removed the "x" capture symbol to save space. Every game has a diagram that is literally about the size of a US quarter [see image]. Also, all the moves are typed in BOLD and the annotations are printed in plain text. It would have been much easier to read if the moves in plain text and the annotations in bold. Forty move games are crushed into a 4 by 1 rectangle which makes it difficult to read the moves off a table without losing your place.

Over all, this is a good book but could be better if it was user friendly.