Customer Reviews

Kramnik: My Life & games

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a fantastic book and for once i have to disagree with Goldsby about a book . This book is divided into 2 parts,the first by damsky and the second by kramnik. The first part i admit doesnt have much anotations, but has alot of games. The second part is by kramnik, it has his best games FULLY! analysed. It is a phenomanal book and even the young 13 year old GM who drew to kasparov rated this book as one of his favourites. If your looking for a games collection book this is for you. However you must understand if you are looking for an agrresive repetoir as white i recommend shirovs book fire on baard as that deals more with e4 then nf3/d4 or c4. However as black the two books are much the same both players play the botvinnik, the meran and sveshnikov (which is in fashioin currently, most probably due to kramniks addtions to the opening.) DO not make a mistake andnot buy this book as i almost did, or you'll be jeoulous of the next person who does!

If you would like to see a book of some of the games of a great player, you may be interested in this book. But a few words of warning first.

#1.) This book came out BEFORE Kramnik won the chess World Championship, so already it is a little dated.

#2.) This is some of the dryest text you may ever see in your life. (Few, if any good stories.) In fact, if you suffer from insomnia, this may be a good book for you. I also get the impression that Kramnik either accepted factually that he was very talented, or he is one of the most conceited individuals on the face of the earth.

#3.) Many of the Soviet books are "ghost-written" by other chess players - trainers, analysts and such. I get the impression that this is what happened here. (A few of the errors in analysis are too basic to have been perpetrated by Kramnik. Indeed, I. Damsky is probably responsible for the majority of this book.)

Having given the above harsh criticisms, you may get the idea that I hate this book. This is simply not the case. I am a Master who makes a great part of his living from teaching chess. I consider it my responsibility to give as an honest review of every chess book as I possibly can. I also feel it my duty to reflect what many of my students and contacts on the Internet have told me about this book.

If you are looking for a book with some of the best annotations by a top player available, this would be a good book for you to choose. (Many of the annotations are gleaned from magazines where Kramnik had a direct hand in reviewing the games.)

What this book lacks in great stories, and perhaps quality, it makes up for in quantity. You get almost 200 deeply annotated games by the current World Champion. You will get one of the most COMPLETE chess educations available in one book by carefully studying ALL of these games. (And I estimate it would take the average player nearly two years to do this!)

Warning: Most of these games are highly technical. Many of my students decribed them as "dry and boring." (In the style of Capablanca and Karpov.) The average player may not have the skill to appreciate just how hard it is to play like this. Careful study of these games will definitely improve your chess.

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I have a lot of game-collections/biography chess books in my library, considering the best ones Life & Games of Mikhail Tal and I Play Against Pieces by Svetozar Gligoric but, belive it or not, this Kramnik one is the worst I have encountered with. Every game is tipically anotated as quick fix for some second rate chess magazine, without any wish for explaining itself or its background to the reader. And authors own biography is just short of unexistent, although it is known that he had a rich life chesswise, before going on top (working in famous Botvinnik chess school, playing junior games against famous oponents of today etc.) Its a shame, and I hope that updated version would be much frendlier and filled with important games played in last five years, and with extended biography.

This is a very good book; obviously, there are very few people who have the credentials to offer criticism of the quality of Kramnik's analysis. My beef with this book is the obvious sucking up to Kramnik by Damsky. He spews all sorts of praise on Kramnik, as if he is the biggest genius and best human being the world has ever known. Some flattery is probably expected; Kramnik is, after all, one of the strongest players in history. However, Damsky goes way overboard, and it takes away from the overall quality of the book. If you can get past his fawning praise (and you should), then you will learn from Kramnik's annotations. But Damsky's sucking up is hard to ignore.

Kramnik's games are so beautiful and his annotations so insightful that I am forced to award his book five stars. Be warned, however, you will learn next to nothing of his childhood from the text. For those of us interested in the human side of chess, this is a major fault.

Kramnik has defeated Kasparov in their 16-game match a few months ago.

I thought that this simple fact would enlighten potential purchasers.

This book is entitle "My Life And Games"

I think everyone who buys this book has to understand the title its not just a book of openings. This book the world champion is telling you more about himself. If you dont like the book its kinda of your own fault. Kramnik is very straight forward about his book. The 80 games that are listed in the book are much more simplier to read than any of kaasparov's books of openings. this is because the moves are listed up and down and are better spaced out! Chess books can be boring but if you want to learn how to play chess read and look at his GAMES. I THINK your wasting your time reading the othr books. If you wanna learn how to play chess you should only get books by kramnik and fischer. It's because the moves are easier to read because its spaced out better and easier on the "eyes"
Kramnik went 80 games without a loss. kasparov has never acomplished that goal ever.

When Kramnik defends his world title next january. If he beats or ties kasparov to retain his title. I think he will make a brand new book of openings. This man beat the most powerful computer ever made "Deep Fritz7". It is better than deep blue by 2 times. Deep blue beat kasparov. The people who true want to understand how to play chess openings. I STRESS you only get KRAMNIK or BOBBY FISCHER'S book. The other books are JUNK AND NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO READ!!!