Customer Reviews

Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso

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

 

 

1900 USCF player.

This book was published in the 21st century when Fritz and Rybka, et al have become the ultimate chess authorities.

I've never had a use for all of the analysis in books like ON MY GREAT PREDECESSORS because all of that analysis doesn't help me to understand chess any better. I also read reviews of many works where reviewers criticize books for having flaws discovered by computer analysis. Unless the book is a monograph on cutting-edge opening theory, this is besides the point for me: I want to understand the play and how to think. I don't think less of Irving Chernev's books because some engine doesn't agree with all of his analysis. John Nunn's endgame works are computer-checked, but I can't really learn much from them.

Having said all of this, let me get to ENDGAME VIRTUOSO.

I now understand how Smyslov reached the Candidates Final at 63 years old: the 7th World Champion relied on his feel and understanding of positions to navigate his way through games and tournaments, and one gets the impression that he did not so much think in variations, as much as he used variations to prove his understanding of the events unfolding before him. The book has sections on Pawn Endings, Minor Piece Endgings, Rook Endings, Queen Endings, etc. and a section which contains dozens of complete annotated Smyslov games.

Each game or game fragment will have some explanatory notes which identify the most important features of the position in question. Smyslov tells us why some positional factors have more significance in the given situation than others, and he will give a (brief) variation or two to illustrate this if necessary. There is no extensive branching of subvariations or the like. Smyslov goes through the fragment/game, anticipating his reader's questions which he answers very simply and elegantly.

Smyslov is not attempting to find the absolute truth about the position, rather he is teaching his readers how to PLAY. How one increases pressure, deals with passed pawns (your own or the opponent's), activates the pieces, places the king, etc. This book will help you to think schematically about endgames first of all and it will help develop your intuition.

I remember coming across this book years ago, when I was a few hundred points lower rated, and thinking it was "light." Now that I am approaching Expert level, I appreciate it a lot more. Simplicity brings clarity. It's no wonder Kramnik is such an admirer of Smyslov.

I can't believe I haven't seen this book on more chess 'lists' - Smyslov really stresses understanding - any player will make greater gains when armed with a strong endgame. My coach (a GM) first showed me this book in Russian - an outstanding tool for improving your game.

This is a little book with many of Smyslov's endgames, the book has three parts, but the two that matter most are the first and the last one, the first being many fragments of games (endgames of course!) and the last a selection of complete, annotated games with emphasis on the endgame. The third part I personally believe is not so interesting for most practical, tournament players, is a selection of Smyslov's best compositions. The game fragments have very light annotations and in my opinion that is not enough to give the reader a good understanding of all the endgames considered there, Smyslov focuses his attention on variations not on strategic considerations (by the way, something quite unusual for him), however, the complete games have good notes that compensate the ones of the first part. Perhaps what happened is that for some reason he selected very "concrete endgames" for the first part, I mean endgames that can be best understood mainly using moves instead of verbal explanations. All in all the book is really good, perhaps not a masterpiece but there is good practical advise here and something I think is very valuable which is the chance to study how a game moves from the opening straight to the endgame and how a former World Champion and endgame genius gets the most of it.

No need to buy this booklet which contains numerous games annotated (by that I mean with SIMPLE explanation that only leave you baffled). Save the money for everything else from gasoline to porn tapes, all the games that were provided within can also be found on chessgames.com

This book ended up being my bug beater...

I gladly give a single star based on the wretched diagrams. No editor or publisher should be allowed to pass this along to the public.

Many are very low quality/resolution.

If it turns out the original looks like this, I would recant, but the chances are close to nil.