Customer Reviews

My 60 Memorable Games

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First I would like to state this is not the infamous 1995 Batsford release that infuriated Bobby Fischer. This 2009 copy puts all that scandal in the past and lets a new generation enjoy this great book in the language spoken by most players algerbraic notation. The previous alterations in the 1995 edition have been omitted making this a faithful reproduction of a great work. Mostly grammatical errors and misspellings have been corrected. I happen to own this book and compared it to with the alterations stated by Mr. Winter in his article Fischer's Fury and this new issue holds true. Only one alteration was made that is the game Fischer - Tal Candidates Tournament 1959. Fischer in his original book gives (50.....Ba1 when Bobby could have won with 51. Rc8+) instead the correct move made actually in the game 50....Kc7. Fischer in a interview for a chess magazine states at the last minute before the book hit the printing press he caught the error, he attached a note but fell off. Making this an updated copy.

Before reading this book I disdained studying any Fischer games because I believed he couldn't have been a good player for dropping out of competitive chess. Reading this book completely changed my opinion now I consider him my favorite chess player of all time. What makes this game collection so good it was written by Fischer himself. No chess writer can give you a better insight than the man who actually played the games. Fischer's commentary to his games is refreshing bringing his games to life with humor, brutal honesty and humbleness often stating where he made mistakes and could have played better. It shows Bobby's genius to remember the emotional and phycological ups and downs to his games played years before henceforth the title. You also cant beat the annotations they come strait from the mind of one of history's greatest chess artist. You wont be bored here Fisher gives a healthy amount of notes usually at key moments in the games as opposed to other chess writers who leave the reader confused with an extreme amount of notes with no value. Fischer's games are absolutley beautiful I doubt there are many readers who will disagree. This is a must have for any chess reader with any amount of good taste.

Hm...

When I first decided on aquiring this literary masterpiece, I was quite under the impression that there would be a higher annotation:move ratio. I was wrong, but perhaps that is a good thing.

There is a plethora of chess enlightenment within the pages. Knowledge isn't spoon-fed to you, as in many lower-level books, but there are excellent annotations which let us peek into the mind of a chess legend. A chess legend whom, if you are reading this page, you probably adore.

The games are ones which Bobby Fischer considers memorable, so therefore they must be pretty great, right? They are!

Still, as I mentioned, the annotations aren't spoon-fed to you, so you won't be getting anything out of simply playing over the moves really quickly and glancing at the annotations. You actually have to sit in front of Fischer's opponent and contemplate the moves through Fischer's eyes.

C.S.Purdy once said,"If the student forces himself to examine all moves that smite, however absurd they may look at first glance, he is on the way to becoming a master of tactics."

I quote him, because, a lot of Fischer's moves come out of nowhere. When going over Bobby's games in endeavor to guess which move comes next, calculating the bizarre moves is beneficial.

It's an excellent book if you are a dedicated chess player. Casual chess players won't get nearly as much out of it. In other words, if chess is your hobby, you won't get as much out of it. If chess is your life, then stop reading customer reviews, and just go ahead and purchase the book!

This book was previously out of print and very difficult to find for many years. The annotations are by Fischer himself and are deeply instructive and entertaining. I play through the games, covering the moves with a card, and try to guess Fischer's next move. If you do this, all phases of your game will improve - the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. This book is easily one of the best chess books ever printed. If you are serious about chess, you simply must own this classic.

Fischer's 60 memorable games is a classic in chess literature. This version contains Fischer's original words, which were altered by the publisher in the previous edition. Modern chess students will appreciate the conversion to algebraic notation.

Two things made this book particularly enjoyable to me. First, the games appear in chronological order, which gives an interesting insight into Fischer's progress as a chess player through the ten year period that the book covers. Since the book starts with games played when Fischer was just fourteen, it covers a key period in his chess development, and we see through the games his amazing journey towards world-championship strength.

The second thing that makes this book so enjoyable is its candor. The games are flavored with details that few annotators bother to include. He avoids a blunder because his opponent has grown unusually still while Fischer is thinking, prompting the latter to look deeper into the position. He considers accepting a draw in one game, but declines because another player, Tal, is watching. The draw would have put Tal in a comfortable lead for first place in the tournament, and Fischer does not want to "give [him] the satisfaction."

Also unusual is that the book includes a few losses for Fischer and a number of draws. It shows that Fischer, even before he had proved himself as world champion was not afraid to face his failures, even in the public eye. Whether his moments of humility in the book are genuine or affected, his willingness to highlight his vulnerabilities indicates a rare character strength worthy of note.

I have had his book since it was first published! This is great because it is in modern notation and it is a true version of Bobby Fischer's notation on his games. He wrote this during his break from Chess just before he came back in 1970 and crushed everybody in his way to becoming World Champion. That is what you are getting, his honest chess thoughts on this favourite games and what he was thinking during the games. You will keep learning from this book all the way form beginner until you become a Grandmaster, for I have met many and they all call this book a classic and one they still read and study and learn from even today. So for us less than Grandmaster or Master level chess players we will definately learn a lot from studying this book and using Botvinnik's method make believe you are playing one side and spend two hours on each game writing down your annotations and then comparing them with Bobby's notes. I would also advise using your favourite chess engine to analyze the games with, I use Rybka and StockFish with Deep Fritz and it helps in making me understand any moves played, annotations or moves I would make that aren't mentioned and I can see the chessic reason why for all of the above! I notice that when I do this his games and notes become part of my chess knowledge and I see more when I play my own games using new found chess lessons I am getting from Bobby Fischer! My only regret is he never wrote another book to cover his games form 1970 to 1972 but Kasparov did that for us and others have too! I hope this helps you learn from the genius Bobby Fischer World Champion!

I owned the original issue many years ago and then owned a reissue a few years later. With both in tatters (because of constant use), I opted for this recent reissue. I have no doubt that the previous issue from Batsford (which I did not own) was a travesty. But they have corrected it with this copy, save for the change in notation. Besides that, the size of the book seems to be the same size as the original publication. No need to spend money on a used, tattered original. This will do ya just fine.

The product description says - " including the astounding "Game of the Century," played when he was only 15 years old!" This statement is incorrect. Firstly, Fischer was 13 years old when he played Donald Byrne. Secondly, the game is not included in this book. Perhaps the writer is getting confused with Fischer's 1963/64 US Championship game against Robert Byrne.

I'm just a low rated tournament player who was away from the game for many years earning a living. I owned this book in the early 70s, and thought highly of it then.

Now as a retiree, I have time to study chess and am even more impressed with the insights Fisher had. He could create things out of nothing, and without computer help.

This book won't get outdated for a long time.

My 60 memorable games is a must-have for any serious chess player. Period. After reading this book, Bobby Fischer's style of playing chess deeply influenced mine. My opening repertoires nearly matched his! When you are reading this book for the first time, I would recommend covering the notation with a card, guessing the best move in this position. After going through them all. Just read them for fun!

I was very happy with the quality of this book. Very impressive. This edition faithfully reproduces the original except for the algabraric notation. This is my first "games collection" book but I certainly feel it was worth the money and I enjoy going over the games and the commentary.