New York 1924 [Paperback]

Alexander Alekhine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2009

A Truly Extraordinary Tournament One of the most remarkable and famous chess tournaments ever took place in New York City in March and April 1924. It had a narrative that is still striking today: Three world champions undisputed world champions, mind you fulfilling their destiny. The stunning performance of the 55-year-old former world champion Emanuel Lasker. The seemingly invincible reigning José Capablanca suffering his first loss in eight years. And all 110 tournament games deeply annotated by future world champion Alexander Alekhine. The tournament book that Alekhine produced became the stuff of legend. He provides real analysis, and with words, not just moves. He imbues the book with personality, on the one hand ruthlessly objective, even with his own mistakes, on the other, candidly subjective. This is a modern 21st Century Edition of Alekhine s classic, using figurine algebraic notation, adding many more diagrams, but preserving the original, masterful text and annotations, including Alekhine s fascinating overview of the opening theory at that time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alexander Alekhine, the 4th world chess champion, was born in Moscow in 1892. He rose quickly through the ranks of the chess world and by 1922 he ranked among the top three or four in the world. He became world champion in 1927, defeating Jose Capablanca in a match in Buenos Aires. As a chess writer, his books included the tournament books of New York 1924 and Nottingham 1936, both considered classics. He briefly lost the title to the Dutchman Max Euwe in 1935, but won it back in 1937. He died in Portugal in 1946 while still holding the title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Russell Enterprises, Inc (January 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888690488
• ISBN-13: 978-1888690484
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #481,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long overdue update of classic tournament book, February 3, 2009

By 

Derek Grimmell (Clinton, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New York 1924 (Paperback)

Older editions continued to use English notation, which has fallen into disuse and which many players today cannot even understand. This edition translates Alekhine's great tournament book into algebraic notation for modern players. So far I have not found a flaw in the transcription.

The production values are great. Nice tight binding, heavy paper cover, bright white paper, double-column format, enough margin to make the part of the text near the binding easily visible without creasing the book.

The tournament itself had 11 players in a double round-robin, with 3 World Champions, 3 who played for the title, and 5 other strong players. 7 of the top 10 players in the world at the time took part. The games are high-quality and fascinating, partly because in the age before opening analysis that ran 25 moves deep, these players reach a wider variety of positions with more options than seen in many modern tournaments.

Alekhine's annotations and text are, naturally, highly instructive and insightful. He mixes textual comments and variations naturally and easily. He delves into variations 5 or 7 moves deep when looking at highly tactical positions, and makes verbal comments about the nature of the position in maneuvering games. Interestingly, the computer software Rybka 3.0 agrees with all the evaluations checked except one, where a clear _computer move_ changes the evaluation from a +3 win to a +4 win. Alekhine's judgment holds up to the best computer analysis.

A summary of the openings used in the tournament caps the book. Many of the comments, especially for the Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit, remain highly relevant today, and explain issues that today's books take for granted and may leave unexplained.

Overall, a great game collection and the best until Bronstein's Zurich 1953.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Kindle version., April 6, 2010

By 

John Kato (Honolulu, Hawaii USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: New York 1924 (Kindle Edition)

I already have an older descriptive and more recent figurine algebraic paper versions and the Kindle version is pretty good. It is clear and understandable. The formatting does not seem to be a problem here. It is fairly easy to go to different chapters. For a Kindle book, this is as good as it gets.

I already like the book and found the notes to be very good and still relevant. Compared with the Dover reprints, it is easier to go through the notes with the Kindle version. But compared with the newer figurine algebraic version, the Kindle version, is for this old chess player not as intuitive as an old fashioned book. Although it is easy to go from chapter to chapter (round to round), it is not as easy to go to an individual game as it is in the paper versions.

A serious student of the game will find the focus of going through the games most useful. But the player more focused on a more casual approach will find this restricting. This does not bother me as I like having chess books taking up as little space as a Kindle.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alekhine on Lasker's Brilliance, July 21, 2009

By 

Chess Fan (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New York 1924 (Paperback)

This is an historic tournament the book communicates the atmosphere well.

Best of all for me is going through Emanuel Lasker's phenomenal games he demonstrates how to win at chess and how to hold tough draws like against his namesake Edward Lasker, all annotated by Alekhine who was at this time trying to understand the chess of Capablanca and Lasker o bring his own chess to a new level.

I am lucky enough to have an 80 year old first edition but this is great book made easy to read.