Customer Reviews

Winning Chess Brilliancies

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When it comes to books that cover BRILLIANT GAMES(usually short games), OPENING TRAPS and sacrifices, then I can spend all day going over them!!! Not all the games in "Winning Chess Brilliancies" are short, or involve opening traps. They often are deeper ideas where some deep idea that is well thought out is used. I like the selection of games here!

In this enthralling book, Seirwan describes 12 recent games, all between GrandMasters. Normally, I would not recommend a modern master's game collection to beginners. The moves are just too counter-intuitive to be instructive. However, Seirawan does an incredibly brilliant job of explaining, in words, the ideas behind the openings, the strategies in the middlegames, and the traps and tactics throughout.

The biggest oversight of this book is the absence of a listing of the games. (The table of contents is useless, although the extensive index may have some value.) So here are the games. You could print this out and paste it over the table of contents:

Game 1 (Making History) *
Fischer v. Spassky
1972 World Championship (6) - Reykjavik
Queen's Gambit Declined
1-0

Game 2 (Slaying the Dragon) *
Karpov v. Korchnoi
1974 FIDE Candidates Final (2)
Sicilian Dragon
1-0

Game 3 (Sparkling Originality) *
Ljubojevic v. Andersson
1976 Hoovgoven Tournament - Wijk ann Zee
Sicilian Defense, Scheveningen Variation
1-0

Game 4 (Time-Trouble Misery)
Korchnoi v. Karpov
1976 FIDE Championship (17) - Baguio City
Nimzo-Indian Defense
0-1

Game 5 (A Sunny Moment)
Seirawan v. Karpov
1982 Phillips and Drew (game 11)
Queen Gambit Declined, Tartakower-Makogonov-Bondarevsky Var.
1-0

Game 6 (Olympian Effort)
Korchnoi v. Kasparov
1982 Lucerne Chess Olympiad
Modern Benoni A64
0-1

Game 7 (Experienced Hands)
Smyslov v. Ribli
1983 London (match 5)
QGD Tarrasch Defense D42
1-0

Game 8 (Supreme Effort) *
Beliavsky v. Nunn
1985 Hoovgoven - Wijk aan Zee
King's Indian Defense, Saemisch Var. E81
0-1

Game 9 (Moscow Miracle) *
Karpov v. Kasparov
1985 (game 16) - Moscow
Sicilian Defense B44
0-1

Game 10 ('A la Morphy)
Seirawan v. Timman
1990 KRO, Hilversum (game 5)
1-0

Game 11 (Lightning and Thunder)
Kasparov v. Karpov
1990 FIDE Championship (20) - Lyon
Ruy Lopez Zaitsev C92
1-0

Game 12 (A Rapid Coup)*
Ivanchuk v. Yusupov
1991 FIDE Sime-Finals Match (9) - Brussels
King's Indian Defense, Fianchetto Var. E67
0-1

(* Indicates a game which also appears in The Mammoth Book of the World's (100) Greatest Chess Games, just to show what other GMs think of these "brilliancies". That book is for more advanced players, over 1600 USCF I think. Of course, Game 11 is deeply annotated in Seirawan's Five Crowns match book.)

In the postscript, Seirawan mentions that he'd actually annotated 6 more games but had no room for them. That's very disappointing, as this style of explanation mixed with annotation is rare and valuable. The move-by-move analysis is at a level about mid-way (maybe 1350 USCF) between Chernev's Logical Chess and Nunn's Understanding Chess. But if you have already passed the 1400 USCF level (and do not own the Mammoth games collection) add this to your library. The sometimes deep variations, including analysis from named grandmasters, would satisfy a much stronger player. And a weaker player, down to about 1200, would enjoy reading the text of this book if he ignored all the variations.

All in all, easily one of the top 10 chess books in print. Thank goodness it's back in print!

Seirawan's Winning Chess Brilliancies is a MUST READ for any serious chess aficcionado. Being a rated strong C player I find most annotated games to be boring and confusing because of the excessive number of side lines. Seirawan found just the right size for the analysis to be included in this book and that provides a delightful reading. He also shows a few "obvious" traps (which for C players and under are not always as obvious) and does an excellent job explaining the subleties of opening play, especially transpositional possibilities. Seirawan starts every game with a small account of the environment in which the games were played. That puts the reader in the right frame of mind to fully appreciate the game and its implications. By the time you finish Fisher vs. Spassky (1972) and Karpov vs. Korchnoi (1974) you will be hooked and wanting to devour the rest of the book. But that's not all. He includes 2 of his own brilliancies which are, of course, wonderfully annotated. I bet you will feel smarter after reading his book! He explains wild tactical shots and complex strategical manouevers with such simplicity, conciseness and clarity that you will actually be able to understand some of those "misterious" grandmaster moves! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

You should read this for one primary reason: you enjoy playing through and understanding masterpieces. Is it strictly speaking instructive? Probably, but that's not the point. Do most people visit the Metropolitan Museum to learn how to paint?

If you're strictly looking to improve your game by playing through GM games, buy The Most Instructive Games Ever Played or Logical Chess Move by Move, or even Barden's self-scoring book. However, if you would attend Linares but you live in the U.S. or if you liked Bronstein's book about the Zurich '53 tournament (I read the Hochberg translation), you will like this one -- a lot!

This is, without a doubt, my favorite chess book. Seirawan got me hooked on chess in 1997 with his commentating on the Kasparov vs. Deep Blue match over the internet. He made the games seem as exciting a football game (if you like football), and he does the same thing with the games in this book. This book is literally falling apart from me reading it so much.

The book really helped me to see how all the different elements of a game (tactics, strategy, space, etc.) fit together as a whole. He almost always manages to explain why another logical move wasn't played in a position, which is extremely helpful from a learning point of view. Every move is explained tactically, strategically, and often historically.

This is a fantastic book that, I believe, anyone who is interested in chess will thoroughly enjoy.

I won a copy of this book at a scholastic tournament not too long ago. This book is very easy to understand, with clear diagrams, standard Algebraic notation, and a great selection of games. The thing that separates this book is it's great detail. It explains every move in terms that a beginner can understand, yet even a master can learn from. It even explains the openings, so one can learn the exact reason why Queen's Gambit Declined is much better for black than Queen's Gambit Accepted, and what kind of things could happen if Queen's Gambit Accepted is played. This book is very well put together, and recommended for all strengths of chess players!

What I especially liked about the book is its move-by-move-method. So often you see in an analysation that a couple moves are just there without any comment, but you don't understand them. This book explains every move. Also it doesn't say things like 'and white wins within another 10 moves' but it actually shows the way to victory. Yasser doesn't go to deep in his analysations, but lets the reader enjoy the beauty of the 12 games he has selected, which indeed are astonishing brilliancies. I really enjoyed the book, it sure improved my chess, and I hope you'll think the same of it.

This is a book for a serious chess player. The only book I can think of that even belongs on the same shelf as this book is, "The Art of Chess Analysis," by GM Jan Timman. This book is surely destined to become a classic. I don't care if you are 600 or 6000, you'll learn something from this book. Beautifully written. A+

Very good book for beginners as well as a refresher for more experienced players. I would highly recommend the entire Winning Chess series by Seirawan and Silman.

I read this a month or so ago. Now I will buy it and re-read it periodically. Excellent, highly readable analysis I found to be better then similar books.