Customer Reviews

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (New in Chess)

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IM John Donaldson gave this gem his "unqualified recommendation," and said "it belongs in every chessplayer's library."

At chesscafe.com, Steve Goldberg called Sorcerer's Apprentice "a modern chess classic."

The Guardian gave this edition its 2009 "Chess Book of the Year Award," calling it "an unusual, personal, inspirational and endearing work that deserves a place on every chess player's bookshelf."

At chessvibes.com, Arne Moll calls it a "great book." According to Moll, "Bronstein was not only a fantastic chess player, but also a great chess explicator. The book is full of very useful and instructive explications."

One unique feature of this book is its chapter called "40 Combinations with Explanations." Bronstein presents a diagram of the critical moment of a high-level game, explains the dynamics behind the position, and details the thought process he used to arrive at his move selection. If you want to get stronger in chess, you could hardly do better than study each of the positions yourself for 20 minutes, write down your analysis, then compare it to Bronstein's. I love to do these "Stoyko exercises," and this book provides great material.

The heart of the book is Bronstein's analysis of 50 of his best games, played against greats like Botvinnik, Spassky, Tal and Fischer. Each one is interesting and very instructional. Bronstein intersperses a good many stories from the tournaments and matches the games were played in. If you're a "just the facts" kind of reader, you might not enjoy Bronstein's style; personally, I find it engaging. His anecdotes makes the book fun and easy to read.

One caveat, though: this book is far too advanced for the beginner. If you are just starting to learn chess, you would probably need to get a dozen simpler books under your chessic belt before you could appreciate and benefit from Bronstein's "classic." By all means take the journey, though; you will love what you find when you get to The Sorcerer's Apprentice!

As a beginning but extremely motivated chess learner I was encouraged to buy the book by the fantastic reviews that it has received, especially on this website. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is the worst chess book I have ever come across. The title (and the subtitle) promises so much and the book gives nothing in return. It is a disappointing collection of games, of which barely 30% have a proper comment, the rest is left to the reader's imagination, who is supposed to be learning: Bronstein's method of teaching is that you should replay his games and try to do better than him. Again, you are the one suppose to be learning. The rest is a list of moves with some vague explanation. Even Karpov writes better and even Rybka gives more general and interactive explanations! Last but not least, the pathetic introduction to the Great Bronstein by his second author, which deserves no further comment.
If you want to learn chess, especially if you want to improve quickly, simply don't buy the book. There are serious training books that are of much more help, Yusupov's ones for instance.