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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, subjective, January 20, 2005
This review is from: Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 3 (Hardcover)
This is an excellent work!
You get Kasparov's opinion on the games of World Champions Spassky and Petrossian plus some other players from the same era (Leonid Stein, Lev Polugaevsky).
Do not be intimidated by some people's small-minded comments about some historical inaccuracies or analytical errors (most people who have never published any relevant analysis are just powering up their engines, find differences and without understanding anything claim "they" had "found many mistakes").
The point is: You buy this book to get Kasparov's very own, subjective interpretation of chess history, and nothing else. People who tell you that something is wrong with his perspective usually do not explain the one point: If he is so much wrong, why does he play so strongly then? It is all about what you want from a book. Reading "correct" computer analysis will not improve your game much, but learning about and understanding the perspective of one of the greatest players of chess ever might well do so.
If you are not interested in that, simply do not buy it.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A World Champion's perspective on the Pantheon, December 9, 2004
This review is from: Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 3 (Hardcover)
I've noted in other reviews that Garry Kasparov, the 13th World Champion, did not live up to the expectations of many learned and published titled chessplayers. Nevertheless his body of work on the great ones, and their peers of note, is monumental and in one sense long needed. Can anyone find a good biography on Vassily Smyslov, the 7th champion? Thanks to Kasparov, I now have a greater appreciation and understanding of his style, thus I can interpret his "My Best Games of Chess : 1935-1957" with a much clearer understanding of his principals. Through the volumes he provides a timeline of chess theory and practice (this is best studied in John Watson's Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy) by some of the giants of the times. In volume 3 I particularly liked his review on the life and sample games of Leonid Stein, one of the lesser known lost talents (he died prematurely) who clearly was Candidate strength for the World Title. But some of Kasparov's material has been seen before - his postings on the abilities and approaches to chess by his predecessors were seen years before on his late (and lamented) kasparovchess.com , so his thoughts on Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky are not particular new, only there are more games which he analyzed. On Petrosian I was disappointed that he did not do a better job of comparing Petrosian's style of play to Aron Nimzowitsch (author of My System and one of the leading chess theorists and a contemporary of J.R. Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine). Many chess authors identified and praised Spassky's 'universal style' but Kasparov is the first I've seen to actually discuss the phases of the 10th World Champion's game and actually look into the roots of his training --perhaps Spassky was the more pragmatic player (something often identified with Petrosian) however Spassky played what the board presented and not necessarily steer the positions to what he was 'confortable' with. Once again, better insight into a champion's play. Kasparov's opinions aren't not the only ones to read, but anything from a World Champion, past or present is always worth a look. Sadly, other World Champions have done over all a poor job by either not producing any works (Petrosian for example), poor works (Spassky) or underappreciated works (Botvinnik and Smyslov), or giving us a teaser of what he could do (Fischer - his "60 Memorable Games" has to be one of the most influential chess books in the game's history; in spite of his non-chess rantings, any chessbook Fischer writes about his own games would likely be a New York Times bestseller - Fiction or non-Fiction would be depending on how well the editors keep Bobby to the topic of chess and nothing else).
I recommend this book to any person interested in chess and can read notation to follow the games. I wish there was more on the history of his predecessors and peers (except Botvinnik, which he has a near obsequious chapter). Garry Kimovich isn't done playing chess, but I can't wait to see what his equivalent of "60 Memorable Games" will be to further cement his place on the pantheon when he passes on to The Ages.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another gem, January 7, 2005
This review is from: Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 3 (Hardcover)
Compared to the two earlier volumes this book is relatively thin, just a 'mere' 332 pages, but its contents are at least as interesting to a reader interested in modern chess. Apart from Petrosian and Spassky, Portisch and L. Stein are also discussed in subdivisions of approximately 45 pages each. (The games of Fischer are in Vol. 4!)
Apart from the contents, the book itself is of excellent quality. Nice quality white paper, the diagrams of the other page are almost not visible and certainly not disturbing. The binding is of fine quality; its possible to lay down the book opened on any page without having to worry about its back.
The quality of the analysis of the games is beyond my judgement. Being a very mediocre chess player I usually just skim the surface, rarely I go over each variation, but I presume they are also interesting to advanced players.
Kasparov remarks often are not completely objective and he likes it a bit too much to point out very explicitely omissions of previous annotators. To some this might be irritating, to others rather amusing. His views on the development of chess and particular ideas are very interesting, just as his anecdotes.
The chosen games are without exception very interesting. Kasparov's gives opinions on tactical matters (match strategy for instance), information about circumstances in which the games are played and he succeeds in bringing games of the past to live.
Maybe the fascination with chess and its past influenced me too much in judging this book but in my opinion its simply a gem.
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