[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Book Review: Chess Gems

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Book Review: Chess Gems
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1224962214.shtml


   Igor Sukhin, Chess Gems: 1,000 Combinations You Should Know (Boston:
   Mongoose Press, 2007). 335 pp. Reviewed by Dennis Monokroussos.

    Youâd think that people would have had enough of silly tactics books
    I look around me and I see it isnât so (Apologies to Paul McCartney)

   Itâs quite likely that the weight of the number of books written on
   chess tactics would be enough to crush and kill and a man of medium
   build â instantly. Even the collection of books I have on the subject
   might be enough to send him to the hospital; in fact, Iâm a little
   tired of writing reviews of tactics books. Does anything more noble
   than the desire to make a buck (or pound, euro, ruble, etc.) justify
   this unending crime against treedom?
   Most of the time, the answer, in my opinion, is a resounding ânoâ.
   Rehashing old material is terrible, as long as the original is still
   in print, while putting out new work solely because itâs new is also
   senseless, if it is intended for the same audience as the older work.
   The point is that if the student needs to grasp the ideas, the older
   work will generally succeed as well as the new material. Because heâs
   not familiar with the ideas that the old material covers, itâs as good
   as new to him. So why chop down more trees and jack up the price when
   no new benefit is conveyed by doing so?
   Why? Because people buy, thatâs why. If people would simply master the
   tactics books they have and then buy one that challenges them a level
   up, they would get the full benefit and not waste their money. But
   alas: hope springs eternal, and discipline often springs away like a
   scared rabbit. (Have I insulted everyone yet? Donât forget the second
   sentence of the first full paragraph; Iâm there with you, my brothers
   and sisters!) So letâs be more disciplined, get the most from the
   books we do have, and send our implicit statement of ridicule when
   greedy publishers and lazy authors try to make a quick buck by
   reinventing a perfectly good wheel.
   And now I turn to the book under review, a collection of (about) 1,000
   puzzles split up into various historical eras. There are fourteen
   historical chapters, going all the way back to the ancient era of
   Shatranj (an earlier version of the chess we play) and continuing up
   to the year 2000. Each chapter starts by recounting the chess history
   of that period, highlights several fine combinations from the era, and
   then concludes with a number of exercises for solving, a la the
   traditional puzzle book.
   Now, it should go without saying that this is not a full-fledged book
   on chess history by any means. I read another review which complained
   a little that compared to Kasparovâs My Great Predecessors series, the
   history in Chess Gems was rather thin. This is true but highly
   irrelevant: Kasparovâs books comprise about 2000 large-size pages
   compared to Sukhinâs 300, and Sukhinâs book is explicitly centered on
   combinations; he doesnât pretend to offer a historical tome.
   (Conversely, one could also attack Kasparovâs books as chess history,
   as there are large biographical volumes devoted to players he deals
   with in comparatively few pages of prose.)
   On the other hand, while the Kasparov books win in the stories and
   deeply annotated games departments, Chess Gems lets us see a greater
   overall quantity of fragments, and top players outside the highest
   circle are included as well. In this respect, one can see the books as
   complementary rather than more or less thorough means to the same end.
   Considering Chess Gems as a puzzle book, which is what it is, itâs not
   bad for club players under about 1800. Itâs not a structured work â it
   doesnât separate based on particular themes or difficulty. That makes
   it unsuitable for novices â the the structured approach is best for
   learning the ideas in the first place â but for those who do have the
   ideas the unstructured approach is superior.
   So maybe it shouldnât be oneâs first tactics book, and if youâre
   seeking a Ph.D. in chess history, you donât need this in your library.
   But for the average club player whose shelves arenât groaning under
   the weight of other unused tactics books, itâs not a bad buy. The
   snippets of history covering the 20th century are pretty thin, but the
   chapters on previous centuries â the earlier the better â are
   surprisingly rich.
   Letâs look at some problems from a couple of the early chapters,
   starting with the shatranj era. Shatranj, for those unfamiliar with
   chessâs âgreat predecessorâ, had some differences with the modern
   game. Knights, rooks and kings moved the same way, but there was no
   double pawn move, the queen could only move diagonally and just a
   single square at a time, while bishops moved only and exactly two
   squares diagonally, jumping over pieces if it wanted to. There was no
   castling, and a game could be won by not only by checkmate but also by
   stalemating the opponent or taking all his pieces.
   Many of us have seen this ancient problem. Itâs a shatranj problem,
   but since in this position all of the pieces have the same capacities
   as in modern chess, itâs right at home for us, too.
   [shatranj1.jpg]
   Abu Naim Al-Khadim (9th century), White to move and win
   This position still shows up from time to time in contemporary tactics
   books. However, it's about the only position from that time that does,
   probably because it doesn't include any distinctive shatranj features.
   But Sukhin has included ten more fragments, including these:
   [shatranj2.jpg]
   Al-Adli (9th century), White to move and win (Remember that Black's
   king isn't in check, as shatranj queens only move one square
   diagonally.)
   [shatranj3.jpg]
   Firduosi at Tahitala Manuscript (1501), Black to move and win
   (The solutions to these three positions can be found at the end of
   this review.)
   And here are three positions from the 18th century Syrian player
   Philip Stammaâs 1737 book (itself in part a puzzle book â you see how
   old this genre is?):
   [stamma1.jpg]
   Stamma (1737), White to move and win
   [stamma2.jpg]
   Stamma (1737), White to move and win
   [stamma3.jpg]
   Stamma (1737), White to move and win
   Finally, here's a position from the last chapter of the book. Since
   we've mentioned Kasparov several times already, let's give him the
   last word, chessically speaking:
   [gelfand_kasparov_1997.jpg]
   Gelfand-Kasparov, Novgorod 1997; Black to move and win
   (Solutions to the Stamma and Gelfand-Kasparov positions [1]here.)
   In sum, itâs a fun book; not necessary, but a decent tactics text for
   the club player, and an enjoyable way to catch up on some of the great
   combinations in chess history.
   Solutions to the shatranj puzzles:

   ([2]show)

   #1: It's a simple but nice mate in three: 1.Nh5+ Rxh5 2.Rxg6+ Kxg6
   3.Re6#
   #2: White needs to hurry, as his own king is on the verge of
   perishing. The solution displays some fancy footwork from the White
   pieces: 1.Rg6+ Kh8 2.Rf8+ Kh7 3.Rh6+ (the rook is protected by the
   queen) 3...Kg7 and now the star move, 4.Qf6+!, sets up the echo
   variations 4...Kxf8 5.Rh8# and 4...Kxh6 5.Rh8#.
   #3: Once you remember how feeble White's queen is, it's pretty easy to
   see that the solution will involve a ...Nxf3 smothered mate. The
   bigger challenge is to get an accurate solution, not forgetting what
   the pieces can and can't do. 1...Rxd3+! 2.Bxd3 (did you forget about
   that?) 2...Rxd3+ 3.Nxd3 Nxf3# (but not 3...Qxd3+ - not only because
   it's not mate in contemporary chess (White can play 4.Ke1), but also
   because it's not legal - the queen doesn't move that way in shatranj.)
   ([3]hide)

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/chessgems_puzzles.htm
   2. file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/chessmind/posts/1224962214.html
   3. file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/chessmind/posts/1224962214.html