Customer Reviews

Vishy Anand: Chess Super-Talent (Batsford Chess Library)

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

 

 

This book is supposed to be about anand but instead norwood spend too much space telling the reader about himself and what he was doing.Example- "We drank a toast to an Adams victory. Who was Anand anyways? Another few shots and we were dancing to La Bamba on the table. I now wondered what Anand was doing at that moment." I thought this was a book about ANAND! He is supposed to be telling us! There are a few insights into anand, but not enough for the title. The saving grace could have been the games. Instead the analysis is generally insightless and bad- pg.134 "If the bishop moves 40.Qe8 is mate." No it isn't! 40.Qe6 followed by Qc4 wins. On pg.112 note to move 19 he gives a line as better for black when at the end of the line white wins a piece with 23.Be4! On pg. 53 Zapata-Anand 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Ne5 d6 4.Nf3 Ne4 5.Nc3 Bf5 6.Qe2 1-0 he gives "6..Qe7 7.Nd5 Qd8 8.Nd2 wins a piece" an illegal move! and "Black could limp on with 6..d5 7.Qb5 Nd7" when 7.d3 wins a piece! He does do a good job giving us a win he had over anand in 1988. Anand has played many nice games. The games in this collection are not his best and the losses aren't that insightful. He should have done a better job selecting the games. The annotations are an embarassment for a grandmaster, the narratives are sometimes relevant to anand, sometimes not. I would have given it 1 star but some of anands nice games are here and the story is sometimes entertaining.You would be better off buying Anands best games by anand himself.

Make no mistake, this book is entertaining and has some very interesting stories and commentaries. For this fact alone, the book is worth reading.

However ...

This really isn't much of a book on Anand (as other reviewers have stated) and the author doesn't mind a producing a semi stream of conscious style on the way to providing many of his own opinions and experiences in the chess world. I did enjoy this but it simply didn't say much about Anand.

Some simple facts ...

The included games had "light" annotation and the contribution by Graham Burgess was pretty awful.

The book was definitely rushed to print and we know this because the author repeatedly stated that he HAD to get to work on the book (to presumably catch all the excitement of the upcoming match).

The analysis in the games was very imprecise and not very well checked. I'm not that bothered that in this day and age of chess programs that a gross check wasn't done BUT some interesting movies weren't even considered or discussed at all.

I can honestly say that I know as much (or as little) about Anand's playing style and real self after reading this book.

So, why three stars then?
First, the author is very candid with his remarks and they are either honest or self-revealing or both. He is a breath of fresh air in a world where chess players feel "cheated" that they aren't winning bags of money and making a living at playing chess.
Second, despite the ragged unedited writing, David Norwood is both a talented chess player and writer. His travel writing is a poor man's Paul Thiereux.
Third, the book is short and constantly underpromises good content. But it does have good content but often off the subject (but who really wants to know that much about Anand anyway?).

So, go ahead and pay the 2 dollars and get the book, you won't regret it!

Not a great book for chess enthusiasts concerned about Anand's games..yet it sheds some light on this Super-genius's life as a `human' which normally today's GM's have no touch. Humorous setting makes it a fun for collectors of Biographies..Not at all a bore but not for a serious chess player.Book is good but the price isn't !

It is a good book tracing a part of Anand's life as the Indian top celebrity. But if one wants to know more of Anand the great player:Vishy Anand "My Best Games of Chess" is recomended