Rating: 
Summary: Examining an area not often covered in the literature
Review: First off, throw out the title. A more apt one would be "A Thorough Examination of 10 of Lasker's and 10 of Petrosian's Games". Yes, the book does contain many tough defensive grinds, the sort not often seen in anthologies. But there are some games (especially in Lasker's case) where the "defense" is in fact "counterattack", and therefore the entire game turns into a tactical donnybrook.Crouch went over these games with care, and the effort shows. The topic of defending may not be as popular as one of the 60,000 "Attack the King" books out there, which is all the more reason to read this book. Salvaging a draw from a loss is a valuable thing to do in chess; you see many examples of it in this book. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Examining an area not often covered in the literature
Review: First off, throw out the title. A more apt one would be "A Thorough Examination of 10 of Lasker's and 10 of Petrosian's Games". Yes, the book does contain many tough defensive grinds, the sort not often seen in anthologies. But there are some games (especially in Lasker's case) where the "defense" is in fact "counterattack", and therefore the entire game turns into a tactical donnybrook. Crouch went over these games with care, and the effort shows. The topic of defending may not be as popular as one of the 60,000 "Attack the King" books out there, which is all the more reason to read this book. Salvaging a draw from a loss is a valuable thing to do in chess; you see many examples of it in this book. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Book of Unexpected Thrills
Review: Let not the title of this book lead you elsewhere. Spurn not the book thinking it must be dull. So many players beginning to study the game want only to learn about tactics and, unfortunately, only appreciate attacking games. Surprise! You'll find them in this splendid book. All great defenders are nothing but tacticians in disguise. Here, Colin Crouch presents ten masterpieces of defense by two great world champions, Lasker and Petrosian, champions who differed greatly in their approach to the game. Crouch's deep annotations open our eyes in these twenty games to the tactics involved in what can be so tedious in our own games: holding on to a defensible position. His ability to keep the reader absorbed is the mark of a great teacher. Has there ever been a more exciting game than Lasker-Napier, Cambridge Springs 1904? It's doubtful, and doubtful too is its ever being better annotated than here, thrill after thrill. A pity that so many non-chessplayers think our game is so stodgy! In addition to the twenty main games, the book contains a group of well-annotated games and partial games all relevant to its primary subject. There's more in How to Defend in Chess than in a dozen other books. If you have any interest in the royal game and are not a rank amateur, buy this book. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Lasker and Petrosian
Review: OK games and analysis. Twenty games analyzed in depth, and another 20 games added as a supplement help illustrate the relationship between attack and defence. Ive found an editorial error in this book- a duplicate diagram that appears unneccessary in one of the Fischer-Petrosian games, so this book no longer seems essential to me, though the concept is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Not the typical collection of games
Review: The games here are very interesting. They are not the ones normally found in best-game collections. Only one of the 20 verbosely annotated games appears in the Mammoth Book of the World's Best Games (and only 3 of the lightly annotated supplemental games) and none are in Chernev's Twelve Best. The reason for this is that these games contain subtle, high-level errors. The point is to watch the 2 great defensive players, Lasker and Petrosian, recover from their mistakes. It is clearly a quality, well-written book, but I think you need to be at least 1700 to get much out of these games, though the annotations are full of verbal description. Defensive moves are just harder to understand than vicious attacks, and much less fun. Still, Crouch has produced another worthy addition to nearly any chess library.
Rating: 
Summary: Title is misdescriptive
Review: The title is misdescriptive; in fact the book is nothing more than 20 heavily annotated games by Petrosian and Lasker.
Rating:
Summary: A truly necessary addition to chess liturature.
Review: There are a lot of outstanding books on attack, but very few on defense. The few books on defense have centered on game analysis and calculation focusing on details on how to approach defense. What makes this book unique is its insistance on examining the two greatest defensive geniuses, Emanual Lasker and Tigran Petrosian. As an occasional chess instructor I have to spend an lot of time trying in vain to convince beginners to Class B players to study books like this one. So many tournament games are spoilt by putting pieces on bad squares or worse dropping material. Going through the games and analysis in this book will greatly aid the aspiring player. Now if only I can get my students to actually go through the games and analysis.
Rating:
Summary: Another masterpiece
Review: There is a dearth of books on defensive play. There's Polugayevsky and Damsky's 'The Art of Defence in Chess', another by Soltis with the same title, a book by Florian titled 'Defence and Counterattack in Chess'. There's also a chapter by Keres in 'The Art of the Middlegame' that is outstanding. All these books have merit. This new book by Crouch is a worthy addition and arguably the best of the lot. To those familiar with Crouch's other books, no explanation is required concerning the quality of what he writes. His books such as 'Hastings 1895', 'Attacking Technique' and 'Pawn Chains' are out- standing. 'How to Defend in Chess' is of a similar high quality. Twenty defensive accomplishments are extensively and verbosely annotated. Ten games of Lasker and ten of Petrosian. These annotations use up two hundred pages. Verbosity is important. Crouch describes the plans and other resources available to both sides, the practical and psychological problems, and the sheer tenacity of the defender. The erudition displayed in these notes is impressive, with frequent allusion being made to other annotators. For those with a taste for the game and a tastefor good writing, this book should be considered as an essential addition to their libraries.
Rating:
Summary: Chess Instruction And Chess Entertainment
Review: This is more than just a primer where an author sets some principles and then uses model games to illustrate them, "How To Defend In Chess" is also an interesting history lesson, an advanced "Logical Chess" and a chess biography of two world champion players Lasker and Petrosian. I found Crouch's writing and analysis to be as interesting as the moves themselves! I think this book would be an excellent companion to the author's "Attacking Technique." Friends, I'll admit I still play as badly as I ever have (barely 1800 USCF) and doubt whether any single book will raise your (or my) rating "x points" but I think you'll find valuable practical knowledge here. You might also read the excellent (and inexpensive) "Art Of The Middlegame" by Keres/Kotov, for a beautiful, concise chapter on defence.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD BOOK - A VARIETY OF COMPELLING REASONS TO BUY IT!
Review: Well, chess cannot be learned from only one book and of course this book assumes a lot of stuff about the player who wants to learn defence - I think that a player who wants to study this book must be decently strong (USCF 1400) and must know what the general types of defensive schemes are (prophylactic defence, counterattacking defence, complication creation etc.). They are explained in the book, but I've always wondered how much experience I bring to the table when reading these books and how a lesser player would view them. The most compelling reason to buy this book is the annotation of games by two of the most underrepresented World Champions in today's chess scene in terms of annotated game collections - Lasker and Petrosian. While this is not a best games collection or the collection of thier most brilliant games (though this is almost the case with respect to Petrosian's defensive efforts), there is some great annotations with some original analysis to be found in this book on some famous games. Another great reason to buy this book is that is gives a good sense of chess history by using encounters between world champions and candidates for thier thrones, the few exceptions being referenced analysis. It also discusses the evolution of the theory of defence and try to analyze this evolution scientifically. The third reason, and a personal favorite, is the approach to teaching defence. Rather than cataloguing defensive maneuvers, an approach which has its merits, but has been done in a couple of famous past books both named "The Art of Defence", this book tries to look at whole games and the switch in thought process required as the game progresses. The author tries to look at the psychological aspects of defence as well as the flow and objective nature of the game. In my opinion, whether he is right is not as important as whether he is helpful and I think he is probably both in many cases when judging games on the basis of analysis and his knowlege of the players. THe mindset of the defender is well described in this book. A very instructive book - it is the kind of book that makes chess worth studying becos you get entertained on all the levels that make chess not just a game, but a lifestyle.
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