Customer Reviews

Smyslov's 125 Selected Games

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

 

 

I have this book. I am a Life-Master at the game. I teach chess for a living.

Smyslov is one of the greatest players who ever lived. His craft as an annotator sets himself in a class maybe all by himself. (How many other writers have held the World Championship?)

Simply put this is one of the best books in my library. I have over 2000 chess books, (not counting pamphlets) and this is easily in the Top 100, maybe even the Top 10.

Want to improve your game? Want to study tactics? Positional chess? Endings? It is all in here, 125 of the best annotated games you will ever see. While Smyslov lacks the ability to touch the lowest rating classes like Chernev, anyone who studies these games carefully could not help but improve. Smyslov here probably spent much more time writing this book than you will ever spend reading it ... and it shows.

According to his great rival Botvinnik, Smyslov was the world's best player from 1953 to 1957, although he held the title for only the last of those years. He also kept up great strength when most players have retired. This collection shows why. Smyslov outplayed a string of strong players with masterpiece games. His endgame skill was unsurpassed, and he also had an extremely sharp eye for combinations that took even the best opponents completely by surprise.

His love of music explains the title of Smyslov's autobiography, V poiskakh harmonii (1979) - "in search of harmony". An enlarged and modified English version is 125 Selected Games (1983).