Customer Reviews

My 60 Memorable Games

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Readers should be aware that there have been several editions of this book. In its original form, in descriptive notation and with Fischer's own annotations, it was very well received indeed, earning high praise from many top players and chess writers. It was also voted the best chess book in any category by the readers of the British Chess Magazine, and I'm sure by others.

Unfortunately, when it was later re-edited and issued in an algebraic edition, something happened to Fischer's original annotations. The editors apparently 'revised' them, and the effect was - as Fischer vehemently complained in a recent radio interview - to make him look like "a patzer." He claims that the new annotations are riddled with errors and could never have come from his hand.

Since 'My 60 Memorable Games' is as about important to students of chess as Shakespeare's plays are to students of literature, it would be nice to be able to tell readers to avoid the mutilated algebraic edition and to make sure they get a reprint of the earlier and untampered-with edition of the book. Unhappily neither edition appears to be available. Both have been allowed to go out of print and remain out of print.

One is left wondering just who is keeping this masterpiece off the market. And why...?

The original edition of Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games is a masterpiece and it has been mutilated in the algebraic version. There are thousands upon thousands of changes. There are misspellings and grammatical errors, not to mention changes in analysis. For instance, at the end of game 48 Fischer wrote "with mate to follow shortly" and in the new edition it says "with mate in a few moves" even though there isn't a forced mate in a few moves. They also changed the spelling of "gell" to "jell." Why would they change Fischer's original analysis and misspell words in the new edition? There's also a part of a sentence changed from "White has" to "White's has" which is a grammatical error. The only reason I can think of for why they changed his analysis and grammar is to make him look stupid. In addition, Bobby Fischer doesn't receive any money for the new edition and it is also in complete violation of his contract. Get the original if you can find it but don't get the new edition, unless you want to compare the two and see how Fischer's book has been butchered.

This is the one classic that is as relevant in the present as it was when it was written. Although the opennings might be a little dated, this is the most scrutinized book ever published. For over twenty five years, in Chess Life and Review players thinking they m,ight have caught the great Bobby Fischer in an error in analysis. Fischer quickly owned up to three errors. Two were typo and a third was a genuine error. It was not until 1978 that a 13 year old prodigy named Garry Weinstein (who later changed his last name to Kasparov) found a mistake in the game he had with Botvinnik; making it four mistakes.

This is the book most (not just the most frequent stated) chess book reviewers and chess masters would take to a desert island if they could take only one book. Despite the book's age, this book is still very relevant as to how to handle a middle game from an openning and converting a win from a slight advantage.

This book is not just a classic but the definitive example of chess scholarship.

If you have a library and have any pride in it, you have to have this book. If there ever was a must have, it is this book.

Fischer avoids the traps that diminish so many other games collections. For a start, he includes a handful of losses (the book's called My 60 Memorable Games, not My 60 Greatest Games). He describes not only his thinking during (and sometimes after) the game, but also the mist of emotions that swirled about him as the game unfolded. He gives fair due to his opponents' good play and is critical of his own mistakes, even in those games where he won convincingly. It's this mix of hard analysis and honest reporting that make this book my most prized chess possession. That and the sheer quality of the games. My only caveat: if you're new to chess, be careful about modelling your play on the games in this book. Fischer walked a knife edge - so often, his convincing wins were only one false move away from becoming crushing losses. It's an exciting but demanding path to follow.

I was lucky enough to buy the first edition several years ago. All of the later editions up to now were grievously altered in order to 'improve' on Fishcer's game commentary, or for various other questionable reasons. Years later using the power of super computers, Fischer's original analyses were ultimately proven correct in almost every case.

This is the only reasonably priced edition that prints what Fishcer actually wrote (the only other one at any price being the first edition)! This one was painstakingly copied to be exact in every word to the other.

But in any of its editions (and there are some which are cheaper), there is hardly a more desirable chess book.

Ishi Press (April,2009) ISBN-10: 0923891587 ISBN-13: 978-0923891589

No offense to the previous reviewer who badmouthed this book, but you really mised the boat on this one. This is one the greatest chess books ever. Fischer's annotations are hard-hitting and incisive. He zeroes in on precisely which variations are important and does not try to blow you away with how smart he is. It is hard to explain this book, how wonderful it is. It grips you and allows you into the world of chess, as exemplified in one of its greatest players ever. From Larry Evans beautiful summaries preceding each game which provide you wtih guideposts to look for, to the excellent layout and production, this book has a magical quality to it. I have a Faber & Faber softocver, which is far superior to the Simon and Schuster copies I have sometimes boughta nd re-sold. The Faber version's paper is whiter and better, and the book has that strong but floppy character of the best paperbacks. This quality is superior to the American editions I have owned. I highly recommend the Faber edition. You don't get the picture of Fischer on the cover, but you get a better book. Get this book and keep it forever!

The best stuff - not only for masters and experts, but for amateur lovers of the game too. So clean are the games - you can just sit over a board and play the moves and get a true feel of what it is like to be a chess genius. Whenever I find myself in a slump, I go over a game - like the instructional gem with Trifunovich, for example, and I get my "Chess Mind" back. Truly a remarkable book.

My copy is falling apart, I've had it since 1972. The best ever!

Bobby Fischer, perhaps the greatest Chess Player of the modern era, explains his most memorable wins, losses and draws. The calculations are there and so are the emotions. This a great book to review for fun or to study. His treatment of the Sicilian from white and black is a delight. Get this book! Tell the publisher to reprint it! Larry Evans introduces each game and that is half the fun. The other half is playing through the games by a former world champion. I only wish he were playing and writing more!

Bobby Fischer is without question a chess genius.

As a person, Fischer is an enigma. He is a very high genius who as a young man exploded on the chess scene like a supernova. He won the US Chess Championships at the age of 14, an amazing feat by itself but only the beginning.

He is best known for his winning the World Championship from Boris Spassky in the 1970's. While many know this they do not know how amazing that feat really was.

International Chess is not the easiest forum to play in. In the 1970's and before it was dominated by the Russians. That is still true to some extent today, but not like it was back in the 1970's. Winning Chess tournaments where there were so many Russians involved was difficult especially because to put it nicely, the Russians would work as a team to help their designated leaders win. To put it not so nicely, they would help each other so that they would create the result that they wanted. Agreed upon draws after only a few moves were common. Collaboration on adjourned games was common.

Bobby Fischer's accomplishment in winning the world championship in this setting is a testament to his brilliance and his perseverance. Bobby played to win .... always! A planned draw just wasn't in his nature.

As an individual, Bobby Fischer beat them on his own, and he has never really been given the credit he deserved.

That having been said, Bobby Fischer has always been something of a recluse and for that reason the world has been robbed of his genius as he has dropped from the scene and arisen only occasionally to world notice.

He replayed Spassky and ran afoul of US immigration and has had legal problems since then. Recently he turned up in Japan and last I heard was granted citizenship and asylum in Iceland, where ironically he originally played Spassky back in the 70's.

All this is to say that this book represents Fischer's brilliance and unfortunately there are few other sources in which to find it in terms of his analysis and commentary.

Other reviews refer to the reprints which have altered the original and so the discerning buyer should make sure he is getting an original. Unfortunately, they usually are not cheap.

It is truly a gem and valuable for it's insight into chess as well as the rarity of its existence and being hard to find.

Say what you will about Fischer's social qualities, there has never been his match in Chess, and when you understand what he accomplished, how passionate he was (and is) about Chess and how difficult his accomplishments were, you have to just give him a tremendous amount of credit.

Despite his life long problems with mental illness (paranoid delusions being his constant companion), Bobby Fischer at the chessboard was an innovative theorist, a crisp calculator, and a deadly strategist. This book came before his victory over Spassky in the famous 1972 World Championship match, but Fischer had achieved everything to be won in chess but the World Championship prior to that time.

This collection of games is one of the most interesting and instructive that could be gleaned from the early career of any one player. In his US Championship game with Donald Byrne, it is difficult to follow the win even at the moment Byrne resigns ... even when given the forced moves to follow! LOL That is possibly one of the most deep tactical positions to ever grace top level competition.

The narratives around the games are written in an interesting, friendly, playful manner. That is because the book was actually ghost written by Larry Evans, a top US Grandmaster at that time, and a career chess writer. There really wasn't a friendly or playful bone in Fischer's body. The man was a wretch, but OH, could he play a great game of chess!

I studied these games closely as a rising B player, and I'm convinced that this study helped me make the move from B to A rating range (along with an outstanding but now hard to find book by Al Horowitz called "Point Count Chess"). I highly recommend it both as an instructional aid, and just for the entertainment of following along with some fascinating games.