Chess Kaleidoscope (Pergamon Russian Chess Series) [Paperback]

A. Karpov (Author), Y. Gik (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Pergamon Pr; 1st edition (September 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 008026896X
• ISBN-13: 978-0080268965
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,742,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Chess kaleidoscope, January 2, 2001

By 

Eugene Quah Ter-Neng (Tanjong Bungah, Penang Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chess Kaleidoscope (Pergamon Russian Chess) (Hardcover)

Quite an interesting book. I especially loved the totally outdated section on computer chess. I'm a software engineer and I have been following the development of chess playing software for a few years. Its rather amusing to read the naive predictions(from the 80s) of how computers will never beat a grandmaster. Now computers are thrashing grandmasters by the dozen and even Kasparov is not spared. Well to give Karpov credit at least one of his predictions came true : chess software can now play 5 - 6 piece endgames perfectly.

The first part of this book is just a bunch of chess puzzles(some really interesting ones) with annotations by Karpov (and co-authour Gik). Once in a while Karpov throws in some endgame wisdom such as triangulation(losing the tempo) and the rule of the square which might be of interest to the beginner.

The editon I got was printed in a monotyped font and looks like it came out fresh from a typewriter. But I guess the effect was on purpose because the book is written as a set of letters and Karpov may want the book to look letter-like.

There is a section (letter) about the best games from the World Championships.(from Steinitz until Karpov)There is also a letter on Karpov's best games and a story on how he met his co-author Gik.

Overall an interesting book to read (like a trivia book) but quite useless for serious study. As its title suggest it gives you a kaleidoscopic survey of diferrent areas of chess interest. Three stars because the book suddenly ends went things begin to become interesting. Could be better if there is more content. The book was translated from Russian so I can't comment on Karpov's writing style. If you are looking for a book to improve your chess look somewhere else.

2.0 out of 5 stars Ditto, May 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Chess Kaleidoscope (Pergamon Russian Chess Series) (Paperback)

I agree completely with the other reviewer, and have nothing to add of value, other than to say that this book is disappointing compared to my initital expectation that Karpov was going to be taching a kind if chess course in this book.