Chess World Title Contenders and Their Styles (Dover Chess) [Paperback]

Danny Kopec (Author), Craig Pritchett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Chess | Publication Date: April 23, 2002

A thoroughly annotated selection of the finest games played by the best young grandmasters of the 1980s. Presented by two international masters and former champions, players at every level will find inspiration and practical techniques. Player profiles include Gary Kasparov, Jan Timman, Walter Browne, Robert Hubner, Zoltan Ribli, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, others. 8 halftones. 108 figures.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; annotated edition edition (April 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 048642233X
• ISBN-13: 978-0486422336
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,753,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent games textbook, January 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Chess World Title Contenders and Their Styles (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

This book presents the best games of the 1970's from eight of the leading grandmasters of the time, including Jan Timman and Kasparov! Good biographical information included. This is a reprint of a 1980 publication in algebraic notation, and is actually a much better book than most of the new games collections that are currently being published these days.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have, July 18, 2004

By 

Randy (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Chess World Title Contenders and Their Styles (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

I absolutely love books like these. This book reminds me of Irving Chernev's "The Golden Dozen": Interesting bios of players, games chosen for their beautiful, original play, and no freakishly long, boring, mindnumbing analysis (a la 'John Nunn's Best Games')but just analysis in the right places where you can keep your mind on the whole game and not just parts of it. Everyone needs a book like this (game collections) because while your trying to learn all the nuances of a sharp new opening or how to win rook endings, this book will help to relieve all the science of chess and let you focus on the art as well. Also, some of the players in this book I had never heard of before or knew very little about personally or of their games, so now I can sort bridge the time period between Fischer and Kasparov's reign that I knew very little about. Plus its under 10 bucks and you get all of this!! Buy it!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Apple Pie slice of time: the 1980' s top competitors, December 13, 2006

By 

Bruce Bain "Romans 9:33/Remember Jackie Robinson" (Englewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Chess World Title Contenders and Their Styles (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

"Chess World Title Contenders and their Styles" --Kopec & Pritchett

The first time I bought a Danny Kopec chess book, my game improved immediately. He never analyses a chess game without revealing some little gem. For example, he will show a Sicilian Defense and discuss how the Maroczy Bind emerges and how it helps or hinders. [ He's got one in this book as well ] Kopec in my opinion is one of the better chess writers. He's not too complicated in his presentation.

The games of these "World Title Contenders" serve as excellent examples. For openings, Kopec shows ample games employing the Ruy Lopez opening, the Sicilian Defense, which is not surprising, since he has authored several books on the Sicilian variations..., Caro-Kann, Petroff, French, Dutch, Alekhine's Defense, King's Indian, Grunfeld Defense, Queen's Indian, and Nimzo Indian, and Queen's Gambit, Benoni, Pirc (pronounced "PEER-TZ"...according to Daoud Zupa).

There's an especially nice biography of WALTER BROWNE, of whom Kopec likes to observe:

"Browne is one of the few Western Grandmasters who as a chess professional has been successful in leading a 'normal family life'...etc." p. 67

The Brown biography is especially informative. Kopec tells how Browne spends his time, in day to day activities. (Brown is extremely active, both mentally and physically).

The final chapter, fittingly, covers Gary Kasparov (a favorite of mine, because he has intellectual depth.) With Kasparov's games, it begins with King's Indian Defense, Samisch Variation and Kasparov has Black. In Game 2, Kasparov with White plays Ruy Lopez, Bird's Variation. In game 7, Kasparov has Black playing a Gambit Benoni. There is a lot of material here worth study.

If there were any complaint at all, it might be something mild regarding the preponderance of Sicilian games. They are not a vast majority, but certainly more than any other offering; but this may be considered an advantage, considering that Kopec probably is more knowledgeable concerning the Sicilian than any other opening.

I often am surprised when publishers try a bit of price gouging, kicking an extra 7 or 8 bucks onto a title's list price, but not so here, which is generally the case with DOVER editions. The list price here is $9.95 and for the analysis given, they might as well be handing these books out for free.