Customer Reviews

Masters of the Chessboard

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

 

 

This book should not be out of print! Find a copy somehow, someway. This is Reti's magnum opus which has found its way onto nearly every master's "desert island" short-list. Reti analylizes the development of chess from the middle of the 19th century (Anderssen, Morphy & Steinitz) through his own time (tragically, Reti died at 40 in 1929). Using particularly instructive games, he shows each of the great player's contributions to chess theory and gives the reader an insight into their style of play. The book is a huge 435 pages (in my Dover edition) and comprises 70 often deeply annotated games. As befits its date of publication, it is written in English Descriptive Notation. The quality of printing is rather poor -- many of the diagrams are dark and difficult to make out at a glance. There are also numerous translation errors as well. The German chess term for the Exchange (winning a Rook for Bishop or Knight) is Die Qualitat (umlaut over the a). In MOTCB,! the exchange is referred to as "the quality" on several occasions, a literal translation that does not make any chess sense. Despite these problems, this is a keeper. Buy it. Study it. Reread it every few years as your chess skills improve and wonder at everything you didn't really understand the first time through. It's that good.

Richard Reti shows the evolution of chess by analyzing games from great players from the past. In doing so, he also provides the reader with basic ideas on how to handle the opening, approach the development of pieces and confidently enter the middlegame. The contrast between the hypermoderns and classicists is also of interest and, in my opinion, a landmark in chess is represented by this book.
The biographical notes are also interesting from the chess culture point of view. I love this book and consider worth having it in my personal library. Why 4 stars instead of 5? Because of the descriptive notation...

This is a chess book that every collector should own as part of their chess library. It is one of the all-time classics. It was published by Dover and runs 436 pages in Descriptive notation. (If this book was ever republished in algebraic notation I would rate it 7 stars!!).

It basically contains a sampling of master games from many of the greatest masters of all-time; Anderssen, Morphy, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Lasker, Schlechter, Pillsbury, Maroczy, Marshall, Rubenstein, Spielmann, Nimzowitsch, Vidmar, Tartakower, Capablanca, Bogoljubow, Alekhine, Grunfeld, Euwe, Saemisch, Colle, and Torre.

Each chapter focuses on a different master in the order described above. There is a biographical sketch of each master at the beginning of each chapter as well. It focuses on a particular masters achievements and some of the unique ideas and methods that master brought to the game.

There are a total of 70 very well annotated games.

This book is not only a great games collection, but a virtual textbook on how to play the game. It thoroughly discussed many different opening systems, middle game strategies, and endgame topics.

One thing I noticed was how many combinations originating from these games are used in so many tactics books such as 1001 winning chess combinations, or combination challenge. I have used those training books in the past - and now I know that they come from real games and who played them!

This book has become very hard to find. My advice is this - if you can find this book in a used book store somewhere, don't hesitate. Grab the book, pay for it and get out of there fast before someone else finds the book. You will not regret buying this book.

I rated it "only" 4 stars for a couple of reasons - 1)it is in descriptive notation (this book makes it worthwhile learning DN if you don't already know it) 2)Reti died before all of the chapters could be finished. Some of the later chapters in the book are not as thorough and interesting as the earlier ones. Some of the biographical details are left out.

Even with the limitations mentioned above, there are few chess books as fun and instructive. Based upon the level of annotations in this book, players rated between 1,100 - 1,600 USCF would probably benefit the most. Players outside of that rating range would still enjoy playing over the games, but would not gain as much insight from the notes.

This is one of the most interesting training books on chess I've read. This books walks you through a history of chess theory from the mid 1850's to the late 1920's, teaching you the ideas while having you go through a selection of games explaining them.

Almost all of the games are fantastic and the ideas are timeless. Reti is probably the greatest chess annotator of all time. This makes for a truly great 2nd book on chess (about the level of "My System") for the desciplined reader. It can be too easy in the book however to miss subtle points that the games bring out, and since Reti died while writing it the book never reaches the climax. A strong recommendation for a classic

This review is just to highlight to potential purchasers that the 2008 Ishi Press reprint is still in descriptive notation. This is not what I expected, so I hope others will buy (or not) better informed.

The book is worth five stars on its merits though, although I don't have time for a proper review.

Update: It seems a figurine algebraic reprint is coming - Masters of the Chessboard

Richard Réti produces a penetrating thumbnail sketch of each of the great masters who contributed decisively to the progress of chess thinking from the days of Morphy and Anderssen up to the time of Capablanca, Alekhine, Nimzowitsch and the hypermoderns, amongst whom Réti numbered himself. Widely regarded as one of the most stimulating books ever written on chess, its strategies and personalities, Masters of the Chess Board has both educated and enchanted generations of chess enthusiasts. Richard Réti -one of the leaders of the hypermodern school of chess which rose to prominence in the 1920's - was a formidable over the board grandmaster as shown by his victories at the splendid tournaments of Kaschau 1918, Gothenburg 1920 and Teplitz Schonau 1922. His victims included Capablanca, Alekhine and Nimzowitsch, while his elegant destruction of Bogolyubov deservedly won the beauty prize at New York 1924.

This book is Reti's masterpiece and I consider it one of the finest chess books ever written. Reti died, in 1929 at the age of forty, just before its publication. In it he chronicles the development of chess with sketches of the game's greatest practicioners. In doing so, he analyzes some games played by these masters.

The analysis has imperfections by today's computer aided standards, but this is not primarily an instructional book. Rather it is a work of literature wherein a great mind shares his love of chess with beautiful prose.

Those seeking instruction of high quality from a contermporary of Reti might consider Grandmaster Aron Nimzovitch's "My System". It is entertaining and a classic on positional chess. And it is written in a lively and unique style.

Like his preceding book, Modern Ideas in Chess (1924), Reti's Masters of the Chessboard (pub. 1930) is a classic of 20th century chess literature that is still rewarding and instructive reading today. It should continue to remain required reading for students of the game. That Reti died young (before he could complete this book) is one of the great tragedies. But what he did write is golden - namely, perceptive chess biographies of the greats, from Anderssen and Morphy to Reti himself and Alekhine. He provides each of his subjects with a shrewd selection of sparklingly annotated and truly representative games. I've never read a chess book that is so effective in eliciting greater enthusiasm for its subject matter. Reti unerringly underscores the development of key chess concepts and ideas as exemplified in the contributions made by each of his masters -- particularly the slow but critical progress from purely combinative attacks towards an understanding of positional values. Throughout, the text remains a model of clarity and exposition. It is surprisingly easy to understand, even when explaining some profound concepts, for Reti never resorts to dumbing-down the instruction, as many others have done. The publishers are to be commended for bringing back the Dover edition in a new format. The use of the old descriptive notation did not bother me at all, as I was well acquainted with it. But it would have been worthwhile to learn it just to be able to enjoy this book and others in the Hardinge Simpole Chess Classic Series, such as the tournament books annnotated by Alexander Alekhine.

Richard Reti shows the evolution of chess by analyzing games from great players from the past. In doing so, he also provides the reader with basic ideas on how to handle the opening, approach the development of pieces and confidently enter the middlegame. The contrast between the hypermoderns and classicists is also of interest and, in my opinion, a landmark in chess is represented by this book.

The biographical notes are also interesting from the chess culture point of view. I love this book and consider worth having it in my personal library. Why 4 stars instead of 5? Because of the descriptive notation...

This is a readable book, but serious players have to take theanalysis with a touch of salt. The book will give you some idea of thedevelopment of the game. Other treatments that do this are Reti's 'New Ideas in Chess' and Euwe and Nunn's 'Development of Chess Style'. 'Masters of the Chessboard' was published circa 1930 and the raison d'etre for its publication was Reti's adverse reaction to writings of one Gutenmayer. To give one example of Reti's suspect analysis take his annotation to the immortal game (Anderson - Kieseritsky,1851), published in 'New Ideas in Chess'. This has been carefully demolished in Hubner's article 'The Immortal Game' published in the American Chess Journal (No.3). 20 pages of detailed analysis reveal the truth of the game in a way broad generalizations cannot. 'Masters of the Chessboard' won't radically improve your strength if you're already over 1500 USCF. But to reiterate, it's areadable book and charts the development of some ideas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century