Customer Reviews

Learn from Bobby Fischer's Greatest Games

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

 

 

Way too many errors in this book both analytically and historically. The author doesn't seem to know that Max Euwe was once World Champion. He refers to him as a "contender for the world championship." Schiller also writes that Petrosian became world champion in 1966 and lost the title after three years. In fact, Petrosian defeated Botvinnik in 1963 and was world champion for six years. He was the only champ to successfully defend his title (in 1966) since Alekhine.

And the concluding paragraph for one game actually belongs to a game in another chapter.

A very sloppy production.

The author put Bobby Fischer's name on the cover to sell the book and didn't care about content. There is nothing worthwhile here.

Why doesn't Amazon have a zero star rating, or minus stars?

I have a chess library of close to 200 books, and I'm sure this is the most poorly put together book I've ever seen. It looks as though it had no editor or proof reader at all.

As just one egregious example, I'll address Game 12, The Case Of The Wrong Rook.

First of all, the chapter doesn't indicate who is White or Black. However, all chess publishing uses the convention of listing the player with the white pieces first, as the book properly does in other games. The problem here is that they list Fischer first, but in fact, he is Black in this game.

This mistake would be confusing enough, but the text goes on to treat the game as though Fischer is playing White, such as the following sentence after 7. e3: "This is not a particularly ambitious move. Bobby doesn't seem to be aiming for much in the opening."

It is so obviously wrong. The move was by Byrne, not Fischer. Aside from the fact that most serious chess players know this game well already, it becomes clear later in the game that Fischer is Black, but the writer/editor does not notice the discrepancy. Shortly thereafter, there is another major gaff. After the commentary at move 14. Rfd1, there is the following note: "The problem is that Fischer failed to consider the importance of the pin of the knight at c3 by the bishop at g7 ..."

This is the second instance in this game where Fischer is criticized for making a move Byrne made. If anyone was half awake during the editing, one would think they would start to wonder why this book about learning from Bobby Fischer was repeatedly criticizing his moves.

By move 15, the notes are properly praising Fischer's moves as Black. Still, the editor doesn't notice that he has switched the color of the players in the middle of the game.

It is beyond my comprehension how mistakes this gross could have gotten by. I stopped reading after about a third of the book, but it was riddled with typos, unclear language and other miscellaneous mistakes. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, most of Schiller's books that I've seen are filled with the same, although this is by far the worst. Only his books on the Tarrasch and Caro Kann are well done. The rest were churned out for a quick buck. This is tantamount to stealing the buyer's money.

I find it hard to believe that the few positive reviews on this book are not planted by Schiller and company. This book is absolutely awful. My specific criticisms here only scratch the surface. Let the serious chess student beware of any book by Schiller, or any chess book by Cardoza.

The back-cover blurb of LEARN FROM BOBBY FISCHER'S GREATEST GAMES made me wonder what publicist was now working for Cardoza Publishing. Eric Schiller, it states, is "widely considered one of the world's foremost chess analysts, writers, and teachers." This wideness seems to inhabit some dimension apart from the normal three; at least nobody has yet to see anything but negative verdicts on Schiller's work. Edward Winter has noted Schiller's "peerless record for factual howlers, even on the simplest of matters," Carsten Hansen summed up a Schiller book with "I don't have any words to express the degree of disgust I feel," Glenn Budzinski called another "a book that goes beyond bad," while GM Tony Miles assessed still another in merely two words: "Utter junk." SAVE YOUR MONEY. Buy a real book on Fischer's amazing career like Soltis's BOBBY FISCHER REDISCOVERED instead!

I bought the book as the title reminded me of a book that I planned to buy. Later, after bringing home the book, I realized that I confused it with the one from Elie Agur ("Bobby Fischer: His Approach").

After reading the first pages, I felt very disappointed as it was way below my expectation. I was not sure if it was for a beginner or what. But, even if you are a beginner, I would not recommend it.

To give you an illustration on how I felt, take the first "lesson" from Game #1. Learning from how Fischer won the game, these are the recommendations from the writer (page 21):

1. You want a pawn or two in the center of the board (e4, d4, e5, d5)
2. Your king must be castled to safety.
3. Your rooks should be able to see each other.
4. At least one rook should take up a position on an open line, preferably on the d-file or e-file.

Hello? Is this a general lesson of playing chess or what? I expect that the writer made a deep study on Fischer's specific style and unleashed the strategy or any pattern that the writer learnt during the process. From the title, I wanted to learn how Fischer was different with Tal, for example (or even with Alekhine, Karpov,...). But not a general 'tips' like you should complete your development before attacking your enemy..

For a general strategy of chess, we could pick a lot of far better, more organized, more structured books. "My System" by Aron Nimzowitsch, as an example, would be a great book for a general strategy of chess (not specifically to a specific style of a player).

"Attack with Mikhail Tal" written by Tal himself and Iakov Damsky is a good example on how a book can describe a specific style of a player and how we can learn from it.

In short: Not Recommended.

It was a disappointment to spend my dollars for the book.

As Alburt's book "Three days with Fischer...", this book tries to sell Fischer's name and games before everyone realizes it's good and very easy in this computerized age. The author tries to race with Keene to crank out one book every two months or so. At this rate, the analysis depth is as good as in 5 second-move games. If we enjoy the second-hand stories and/or some personal opinion, this book is a good investment. 5 USD is good enough for this redundant collection of Fischer's games, condering 30-50 USD for an original book by Fischer offered at this Borders/Amazon site.

I think Mr. Schiller does a decent job of presenting some of Bobby Fischer's great games to players who are generally just starting out and seeking inspiration from one of the greatest chess players in history.

However, as already mentioned by one of the reviewers, the book does have some flaws that detract from its overall quality. Script errors in the written analyses are constant distractions (makes some games hard to play out), and along with numerous spelling and grammar errors, gives the sense that the book was rushed to publication without any serious attempts at editing and consideration to readers. Though I agree and admit that errors sometimes do (though rarely) manage to sneak through the editing process, the fact that there are so many in this book (and some other titles by this author) makes you wonder about the sort of editors they have working for Cardoza Publishing.

That being said however, the book is useful in its prose, analysis, and commentary. Explanations with respect to how each game was played are relatively clear and concise, and generally instructive to novices who are making some concerted efforts in improving their own game. A caveat I would relay to anyone reading this book is to keep an open mind, both in interpreting the games and the commentary. Though advice given by master players are instructive and beneficial, one cannot generally treat all of it as gospel. Attentive observation, persistent questioning, and the independent formulation of your own views and opinions are just as important to improving one's own craft and approach to chess.

Overall, this book does have its place in terms of inspiring players to improve their own play at chess. However, being it is a book, the aforementioned flaws in the text are distracting, and degrade the overall presentation of the material in my opinion. I think many players would agree that the games of Bobby Fischer are to be cherished, and having them presented in this manner is disappointing and does not do them justice.

Negative reviews for this title appear to relate to the 2004 edition. Errors cited in earlier reviews have been corrected in the 2nd edition (2009). If the book goes to a 3rd edition, it would be nice to add an index to openings, accompanied with a key as to which color Fischer played for that opening. I find the selcection of games and analyses helpful. (by a casual player - trying to improve)

I've only played through three of these games, and I'm in the middle of the fourth one. Already, though, I can see why this book has gotten negative reviews. There isn't much in-depth analysis here, and it is true that it doesn't seem to have been edited very well. There are several printing errors placing pieces on the wrong squares, though not in the actual game so far, thank goodness.
I am enjoying playing through the games, however, and, for beginners, the advice and surface analysis may be useful. For the price (especially Amazon's discounted one), it is not too bad.

I wasn't aware of some of the historical errors in the book when I started reading it. Surely the mistatement about Euwe is a error. But the book isn't intended as a history book.

The value of the book is it illustrates common techniques that successful players use, like opening development, open files, etc illustrated in the games of Bobby Fischer. The narrative is easy to read, and there are at least one positional diagram per page.

If it weren't for the historical inaccuracies, I would give the book 5 stars.