Customer Reviews

Bobby Fischer Rediscovered (Batsford Chess Book)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

It has been over 35 years since Fischer published his "60 Memorable Games," ... not counting Nunn's travesty ... or other poor attempts to revise it. And there has not been a single really good - NEW - book on Fischer in over 15 years! (Most of the better books on Fischer are unfortunately OUT OF PRINT - and nearly impossible to obtain.)

The general rumor {in advance} was that Soltis was going to analyze all the same games that Fischer did in his Magnum Opus, and then add 40 more to round things off to an even 100. The first five games in the Fischer book are: vs. Sherwin, (N.J. Open, 1957); vs. Larsen, (Portoroz IZ, 1958); vs. Petrosian, (same tourn); vs. Pilnik, (Mar del Plata, 1959); and vs. Rossetto. (Also Mar del Plata, '59.) The first 5 games in the Soltis book are vs. D. Byrne, (Rosenwald, NY 1956 - The "Game of The Century."); Di Camillo, (NY, 1956); vs. Bernstein, (U.S. Champ, NY; 1957-58); vs. Sherwin, (same); and then the Fischer - Larsen game. So it is obvious this is NOT just Soltis's turn at re-doing the Fischer book.

First, Soltis is a well-known chess-player and columnist. He has written many chess books. He has an outstanding reputation in the chess community. My students tell me that he is one of the most accessible and easy to understand authors around today. (The Reinfeld or Chernev of modern times.)

The book is thoughtfully crafted; the annotations are (mostly) precise. There are 100 games here that were chosen for their content, and then they were thoroughly annotated. (There are many games the average chess fan will not have seen before.) NO fan of Bobby Fischer (or Soltis) should miss this book. Any aspiring student will certainly learn a lot about the game by a very careful study of the material that is presented here. And there is quite a bit of thoughtful and new biographical material presented here by Soltis.

Having said that, I must vent my frustrations about the things that I saw that I did not like. Soltis definitely uses TOO MANY question marks ... often he uses a sledge hammer when a lighter tool would have sufficed. (The "Modern School" of annotating.) Many times, the question marks only raise issues that the author does not even bother to explain. (This can be very frustrating to the student who wants to know why the move was bad.) And how can we measure games that were played nearly 50 years ago by the standards of today's modern opening theory? (I also don't think Soltis uses a computer to analyze chess games.)

Soltis also has not spent the time on some of the games that he could. If anyone is curious, see the game Fischer - Portisch, Stockholm Interzonal, 1962. (Game # 28, page # 86.) I think this is one of Fischer's best games, and one of the greatest R+P endings ever played!! (I have been saying this for close to 25 years. A curious person could use any search engine and find my annotations of this game on the Internet.) Soltis comes close to butchering this classic contest.

But all hair-splitting aside, this is a very good book about one of the greatest players who ever lived. Just about ANY aspiring chess student will want to add this book to his library. Any student who gets this book ... and applies himself or herself ... will definitely learn (and enjoy!) a great deal about the Royal Game we all love.

If you are looking for a book that easily show you Fischer's greatest games and contributions to chess... this book is a excellent option.

The book combines very nicely stories about Fischer with his amazing games. The games are not deeply analyzed as they are in other books ("M60MG" or "Kasparov on Fischer"). Instead, Soltis mainly analyzes (providing a few lines) the most critical moves or those that, by the time that the games were played, were a Fischer's novelty. Sometimes, brief but interesting anecdotes or historical references are provided before each game. Also, Soltis quotes some Fischer's comments extracted from the articles that Fischer wrote for Chess Life (and of course from M60MG).

In the book, Soltis points out some Fischer's chess contributions. Also, Soltis provides very interesting comments about Fischer's style. For example, Soltis highlights that Fischer developed a materialistic approach (he used to accept pawns sacrificed by his opponents, keep the pawn and win the ending) in order to defeat the Russian School (during the 50's, Russians used to sacrifice material to take the initiative).

You shouldn't buy this book if you are looking for a book that very deeply analyzes each Fischer's game. But, you should buy this book if you are looking for a book that easily show you many relevant aspects about Fischer (anecdotes, contributions, famous games, etc).

Soltis presents 100 games chronologically spanning Fischer's career, from his evergreen game against Donald Byrne in 1956 to a memorable win with white against Spassky from their 1992 rematch. This collection covers the important years leading up to Fischer's first match with Spassky--select games from Monte Carlo '67, Skopje '67, Sousse Interzonal '67, Netanya '68, Vinkovci '68, Rovinj-Zagreb '70, Buenos Aires '70, Siegen '70, Palma de Mallorca '70, Candidates Matches. It also includes six games from both of his matches with Spassky.

I've always enjoyed Soltis' column in Chess Life. He brings a similar treatment to BFR--establishing historical context for a game, insight into players' motivations, milestone moves (those which dictate the games direction or outcome) and germane variations of sufficient number and depth when needed. Game threads are not lost as in some texts due to copious analyses. Only on a few occassions did I feel coverage was inadequate (Tukmakov(80)[22..Bxe4] and Spassky(100)[17..Bxa1]).

Since it is unlikely Fischer and Evans will collaborate (posthumously) on "Another 60 Memorable Games", these 100 notable games will have to do.

GM Andy Soltis is pretty good on game collections mixed with history, and this is no exception. There are some up-to-date insights on many of the famous games as well as some lesser-known gems.

The annotations aren't especially deep, but they don't bog down in masses of variations either. Soltis also points out certain "themes" in Fischer's play, e.g. "you've gotta give squares to take squares".

If you enjoy the games (not...necessarily the opinions...) of Bobby Fischer- get this book and find yourself pleasantly engaged in interesting and exciting games and ideas. Soltis mends his annotations with Fischer's old Chess Life comments as well as interesting quirks of individuals and historic play/innovation sidelines. Quite frankly; for those whom enjoy annotated games and still maintain that 1970s Fischer nostalgia...this book is just great. That said, purchase and enjoy.

I have always admired Fischer's razor sharp play, positional understanding, tactical abilities, and his indominable will to win. His style has always enchanted me and this book displays it in 100 games. This book doesn't bogg down in masses of variations, but it gives just enough to keep the game and notes to it interesting and enjoyable to read. Some of the games he includes I had never seen before, which is a bonus. It was also interesting to read about some of Soltis' personal anecdotes when he met Fischer in the 60's at the introduction of the book, and before each game he gives a short lead in that gives some interesting insights and humorous anecdotes.
The only thing I can criticize is a few times he gives a ! or ? to a move and doesn't follow it with a note even when it isn't so obvious what made the move good or bad, and occasionally (although rarely) he makes some minor oversights. But on the whole the book is very well writen and researched. It is definately a must own if you are a Fischer fan like me, and even if you aren't it is a great book anyways!

As Fischer's "My 60 memorable games" only cover up the 1967, but the period making him a legend is the period 1970 to 1972, in fact some of the greatest games also produced in this period, e. g. the most exciting game I have ever seen, that is the first game of the semi-final candidate match with Larsen, that game whenever I play it again and again, it still make my heart beating!! Especially when Larsen's Queen and Rook on the second and third rank, preparing for mate, on the otherhand, Fischer's Queen is caught by Larsen rook, then comes one the greatest move of all time ( from my own point of view ), Bc5!!! That suddenly solved all the problems!!! One must think that, this is not just finding on the board at that moment. Fischer had already seen it 5 or even 7 moves before, combined with all the possible variations, who can say ( Kasparov says ) that Fischer is not excelling in complicated positions??? Also Wade's complete collection of Fischer's games were out of print for a long long time, I think one should needs Soltis book to fill the gap. I do not agree some of the readers said that Soltis' job is just to fill to one hundred games. What I complain is why Soltis does not annotate more games. I think one hundred games of Fischer to his chess fans are not enough. I hope in the future, someone should publish all the games of Fischer with annotations. Of course, one need not annotat all games in details, but at least to lay out all the games and then annotate those games which are instructive and important.

I see that this book gets 5 stars. I have read through this book briefly and must say that I want to like this book - I really do, but from the Fischer Interviews found at bobbyfischer.net I must say that I can't trust it's content. Bobby Fischer can't stand Andy Soltis, so why would he write a book about him? Maybe just to make money off of Fischer's good name.