Customer Reviews

World Chess Championship: Kramnik vs Leko 2004

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

 

 

Grand Master Raymond Keene handles his subject with fluency and eloquence, as can only be expected of the chess correspondent for The Times and The Spectator. His annotations, as in most of his books, are excellent, and the examples he uses to illustrate his points are always apt, and adroitly used. As part of the series on the World Chess Championships, this book is a necessity for any collector, but more than this, Keene puts emphasis on a player frequently under-represented in the world of chess literature - Wilhelm Steinitz, bohemian, champion and in many ways the father of the world chess champions. Some of the matches here are perhaps not as interesting as others, and may not compare well with those in a few of the other books in the series, but they are handled well, and this more than makes up for the occasional dragging game.

This is a superb example GM Keene's writing brilliance. The analyses are prosy, and don't contain too many moves from random games. Instead, he includes moves from games that feature similar themes or that demonstrate the folly of the text move. I highly recommend this book if you want to collect WCC books or just liked the match.

However, if you are looking for a book of great games--don't go here. As a book this is 5 stars. The annotations are masterful, and so his Keene's style. However, as a match, it probably deserves only 2 or 3. Games 1, 13, and 14 are (IMHO) the only good ones. Many were short draws, and in games 5 and 8 Kramnik's huge preparatory blunders hurt the match. Therefore, I recommend Zurich 1953 by David Bronstein if you want great games.

This is a superb world championship book. GM Keene has published an incredible number of books and is one of the best chess authors in the world. We uses a great deal of prose to keep the reader interested. In addition, he has notes from other players. I highly recommend this book if you want to look at a piece of history.