Customer Reviews

Tal-Botvinnik 1960

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a really fine book. I agree with the other reviewers and will try not to just repeat what has already been said above.

There are so many things to enjoy about this book- the notes and comments by Tal are magnificent. It is very interesting to get "inside his head" as he discusses not just the moves, but moods and psychology of the players and match.

The type font and the diagrams are all first rate. In addition to the 21 games contested during the actual world championship, there are another 23 supplemental games between Tal and Botvinnik included at the end of the book.

The notes to the moves are just the right mix of words and analysis. Many modern books go overboard on analysis and skimp on the verbal commentary. This might be fine for players rated 2000 USCF and above (if you don't know what this means - trust me you aren't rated up there!), but for the vast majority of players it just sets the head spinning and provides no useful cues to help evaluate a position.

This book has enough analysis to be useful, but backs it up with much verbal commentary explaining the motives behind the magic (er, the moves) by Tal.

If you are looking to pluck down $ 20.00 or so for a great chess book, this one should be on your list of candidates!

Indeed this is a great book and Tal's comments allows a reader to get the feel for what was going on during 1960 Championship Match. You'll get 21 thoroughly annotated games.

I want to warn potential buyers who plan to get a new book directly from Amazon. The new 2003 edition does NOT have the last section "Additional Games" and contains only 212 pages. If you preview Amazon pages, the Table of Contents refers to the 2000 edition and contains that last section. So, buyers beware. I tried Amazon customer service but they have no control over what edition gets picked. In fact, it seems that 2000 edition is no longer available from Amazon.

This Tal classic is considered one of the greatest chess books ever written, and certainly the best match book ever written. When you read this book, you feel as YOU are playing the match against Botvinnik, with all of the ups and downs that go with it. Tal splendidly explains the psychology behind each game, and often times behind individual moves. And of course the notes to the chess are great. They are both very complete and instructive.

This match was also important theoretically since in most games the Caro-Kann (when Tal is white) and the King's Indian Defense (Tal is black) are played and each side attempts to improve upon the theory of the time.

Despite the large number of draws (13/21) most of the games were extremely hard fought and are very entertaining. I also like how all of the games of the return match in 1961 are given in the back of the book. These games give a more complete picture of the Tal-Botvinnik rivalry.

A few minor quips. 1) No match table. (I wrote one in myself next to the Table of Contents) 2) The binding quality is poor and there are typographical errors, even in this new "2001" edition. 3) If you own Tal's Life and Games, there is repetition of two games.

All in all, this is an absolute must-have for any chess library. Buy it!

This book is quite simply a treasure.

I used to have an older copy of this same book, but after nearly 30 years it practically disintegrated, so I purchased a new copy.

The first thing was that I was impressed by the quality of this new edition. A nice flex-cover, clear, white pages with a very clear font, diagrams ... nothing seems to have been missed. You even get a few black-and-white photographs.

The games are as carefully and lovingly annotated as any player could want. (Sometimes there is literally a comment after every move!) Additionally, you get a constant update as to the times the players took on each move. (Any serious tournament player could try to model themselves from this ... knowing when to think and when not to is important information for any competitor in rated events. Most books do NOT give you this kind of information!)

Some reasons NOT to buy this book:
# 1.) If you are a bare-bones beginner, there are many much better books out there that are probably better suited for teaching you the game. (But I do not see how anyone who seriously applied himself or herself would not improve after a careful study of this book.)
# 2.) Do not buy this book thinking casual study will turn you into this type of player. These two were the paragon of chess. Studying these games will help you improve, but statistically your chances of playing at this level of chess is very small, the odds are greater that you will win a lottery. (But the explanation ... AFTER EVERY MOVE - in some cases - will certainly be an eye-opener for most students.)
# 3.) Don't buy this book thinking it is the latest in chess theory, many of these lines are NOT being played today!!!

The main reason you would want to purchase this book is that you love the game and would like to study Tal's exquisite notes ... some of the best ever written by a competitor at this level. THIS IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE BEST BOOK ON ANY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH - - - PERIOD!!!!! I would think that this is a book you would come back to again and again and again!

This English version of Tal's book "Tal-Botvinnik 1960" receives a huge amount of praise, but I seriously wonder how many of those praising it have really read it in detail, cover to cover, and tried to make sense of it, as I have. I am a huge fan of the late Mikhail Tal but, in my opinion, in its present form this book does not do him justice, since the translation by H.Russell is so poor. I have recently studied the so-called "revised and expanded" 5th edition, "edited" by Taylor Kingston.

Compared with the fourth edition, some errors have finally been corrected, such as incorrectly spelt names (e.g. Liliental-Lilienthal, Flor-Flohr, Porreka-Porreca, Lipitsky-Lipnitsky, Fogelman-Foguelman), but not all (e.g. Gligorich, which is phonetically accurate but correctly spelt without the h).

There are still some small "technical" errors, which one would have expected to have been weeded out by the 5th edition, e.g. page 61, note to Black's 9th move, 9...Qb6: "Black immediately begins to take action against the d5 square." Of course, this should be d4, not d5.

There are also still some obscure or meaningless sentences, e.g. page 18: "Capablanca's 'lighter' system and other orthodox defenses seem to have been forgotten in the archives of history." Did you understand that? After much thought, my guess is that the reference is to Capablanca's once famous "simplifying manoeuvre" (...dxc4, ...Nd5) in the orthodox Queen's Gambit.

I checked the relevant pages against a list of errors pointed out in New in Chess magazine 1997/7 and found that most of these have still not been corrected.

I should be less concerned if all the errors in the book were trivial and did not spoil the sense. But how about these:

On page 19 there is a serious error: referring to the Modern Benoni, Russell's version reads:

"Aron Nimzowitsch was the first to use it in a game with Frank Marshall in the New York International Tournament of 1927. Marshall immediately transferred his knight to c4, and the instant Black hesitated (...) he was smothered in a few moves." In fact, in the game referred to here, Nimzowitsch was White and Marshall Black! This is a very famous game, and reversing the names of the players is arguably evidence of a deficiency in chess culture, as well as in Russian grammar.

On page 58; "There is a curious story behind the King's Indian Defence. It got recognition 20 years ago. Before that it was rarely, or as they say, spontaneously employed. In particular, Chigorin would never have selected such a system." The last sentence should read something like: "In particular, such a set-up was chosen long ago by Chigorin."

On page 59: (Discussing the history of the g3 system against the King's Indian): "Black's difficulties in this variation arose when he started searching for more active continuations..." This should read rather: "Black's difficulties in this variation prompted him to start searching for more active continuations..."

On page 59: Discussing the Petrosian system against the King's Indian (usually reached by 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7 d5) "The talented Ukrainian master Leonid Stein has had the last word for Black in this variation in which he played h6 in answer to Bg5 and nipped White's idea in the bud, of course at the cost of a tempo." It should have been obvious to the translator and especially the editor that "In answer to Bg5" is an incorrect translation; it ought to say "before Bg5" or "to prevent Bg5". (Remember, these are just a few examples among many, and this is supposed to be the 5th revised edition!)

There is no doubt that, even with the errors and ambiguities, there is much to enjoy and learn from this book, but it could have been so, so, much better. Unless and until there has been a FULLY revised edition, potential readers should be at least somewhat wary of this book.

With the advent of computers, it is easy for writers to produce books that contain copious amounts of analysis. Never mind that in many cases, the annotations are often of the "look at me analyzing a position that never happened to show you that I can analyze" variety.

This book is not such a case. Tal concentrates on the here and now of the match, occasionally going into some detail (It should be noted that Tal had no computer help when he wrote this, not that it would be needed) but usually giving verbal descriptions of the position and the psychological apsects of playing certain moves/openings.

It would be a shame not to own this book.

There was a time when chess was boring: home preparation, no sacrifices, then came a magician from Riga, Mikhail Tal. This book is a milestone in chess literature because it tells the story of 1960 World Championship match from inside; Tal himself tells the story and we are lucky because "the magician from Riga" was an excellent writer, so I was very happy last year when Russell Enterprises republished the book, alas the typographical quality is very poor.

As most other reviewers state over and over this is a great chess book. Tal provides insight on why he chose almost every move in his championship games against Botvinik in 1960.

I am a strong expert player. After reading this book, I drew with two IMs in the next tournament I played in, and in both those games I had winning positions when the draw was agreed.

I am not saying that this book will have the same effect on any reader. However, weak squares, strong vs. weak bishops, pawn breaks and a lot of other tactical and positional concepts will implicitely become a part of your chess awareness if you read this book.

Chess enjoyment and implicit teaching are provided by this book. I highly recommend it.

Going to write from the perspective for a 1900-2000 FIDE rated player.

I found this book absolutely amazing. (Hence the 5 stars). So good that this is the first review that I have ever written regarding a purchase, so I'm going to note the main reasons why I think this book deserves 5 stars.

1) The language and explanations in the book are very clear and concise, I never went away wondering why didn't he play this variation, or I don't understand why he said this move order was a loss.

2) You get a real feel of what its like to play a world championship match, the mental pressures, the tactics behind the game plans, I was often imagining the feelings and emotions that he felt at the time by these explanations.

3) Not only do you get commentary on the games by one of the worlds greatest attackers, but it is written in a very conversational language, allowing you to understand not only the moves, but also the thought process that came to the conclusion. Allowing yourself to reassess how you look at positions.

4) Although myself I do not play any of the opening variations in the book, I already feel like I have taken away many of the tactical motives, as Tal would often explain some of the plans that he had and why they don't work in this situation, also some amazing ideas that can be put to good use in many games.


All and all, its definitely worth the price you pay, and I am sure that you will often find it hard to put down. Well made book, easy to read, and I feel like I got a lot out of it.

What most people don't realize is that not only was Tal a remarkable combinative genius with superb positional understanding, he was also an exciting and insightful chess journalist, as his personal account of the 1960 FIDE World Chess Championship Match with Botvinnik attests.

Sure there are other chess books/authors which/who give detailed and complementary analyses (Kasparov) and by contrast few but critical threads/insights into games and players (Bronstein), but here Tal takes the reader game-by-game through his struggle in overcoming a formidable strategic genius. Each game is poignantly prefaced with some background about the state of the match. But moreover Tal gives an intimate perspective on his personal struggles and factors leading to the selection of game making/breaking plans of action. In this regard his strategic sense for this match was no less refined that Botvinnik's, who, it must be admitted, had not yet figured out how to contain this chess dynamo. Leave that for the Champion's obligatory return match one year later.

What one notices missing in this book are tables showing the game-by-game progress of the match. Nor is the outcome of each game succinctly stated as 1-0 or 0-1 or .5-.5. (I had to create my own table and summary--Tal triumphs 12.5-8.5 in 21 games.) Instead, the struggle is supreme and the closing paragraph of each game must be experienced to reveal all mysteries! The absence of such tables and the demanding writing style are intentional and successfully serve to create in the reader an enhanced appreciation of the struggle. When Tal nearly succeeds with the piece sac at e6 in the hotly contested variation of Caro Kan, the indelible impression is that method meets magic!

A note on production quality: Text appears in two running columns. Diagrams are clear, regular and sufficient. The well-formed algebraic (showing both start and ending square) has the elapsed timed following. Although the score is not strictly columnar, it is bold and easy to follow. Approximately a dozen or so photos scattered throughout. An excellent production.