Impact of Genius: Five Hundred Years of Grandmaster Chess

Rating:
Summary: Herramienta indispensable para todo ajedrecista
Review: El libro muestra con suficiente claridad el estilo de cada uno de los GM que analiza, así como partidas de un alto contenido didactico; queda uno con la motivación de saber aun más de los grandes ajedrecistas de todas las épocas; el libro es especialmente util para el jugador de club que quiere conocer de forma amena la evolución de la teoria ajedrecista; la sección de Morphy y Rubinstein son particularmente interesantes; el libro tiene una excelente presentación y su formato es igualmente bueno.

Rating:
Summary: Top 10 books on Chess in my Library
Review: This book is a must have on chess history. It is a little pricey but the content is trememdous. If you are new or old to chess this book is for you. I never tire from the great games the masters have played. This book is seldom in print but if you can get it snatch it UP. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Good bios on many players; decent game descriptions
Review: This book is fun to read. And unlike an ordinary chessbook, this is one you actually READ, as opposed to study. The ratio of words to game annotations is unusually high.

What's really great about the book is the number of relatively obscure players who receive attention. Fischer, Lasker, and Steinitz receive the most, but 45 other players get their own separate sections, in addition to the Italian School theorists and the 7 Pleiades of Germany.

Paulsen gets a much-deserved section as a player far ahead of his time and typically overlooked in chess history. Writes Fauber, "The tragegy of Paulsen is that only the players who went beyond his successors ever understood him. His play has such a contemporary feel that it is hard to appreciate what a true pioneer he was."

The two noteworthy omissions, Bronstein and Tal, are perhaps forgivable, if not laudable, for those players have popular, excellent, and readily available autobiographies. (Sorceror's Apprentice & Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.) However, there are no GAMES of Bronstein's, and only a non-tactical loss for Tal.

There are many players mentioned in passing, and though there are no post-Fischer games, there is at least a chapter discussing the three K's, plus Polgar, up-and-comers, and the damned computer itself.

With this coverage, Fauber dovetails nicely with Saidy's March of Chess Ideas, which concentrates on mid to late 20th century players and has full chapters on both Tal and Bronstein. Also, Saidy goes into more depth on the smaller number of players covered. I recommend buying BOTH books, if you can find them.

Euwe's Development of Chess Style, which concentrates on playing style rather than on biography, provides an interesting comparison. You would not regret purchasing all 3 books.

Back to Fauber.... There is a complete index of players and their opponents. There is also an index of openings, which serves mainly to demonstrate the wide coverage of the book as the annotations are not thorough enough to make this a useful treatise on openings. (Get Dumont's 500 Master Games if that's what you want.)

There are over 200 games, many well-known. I did not find the annotations particularly enlightening, aside from the simple threats mentioned in many of the games of the first half of the book, and I doubt that a stronger player would see much value in them either. But the primary aim, according to Fauber in his introduction, is not instruction, but rather, "to spotlight the major players and their contributions to chess. Games have been included that attempt to portray the style, [and] the personal touch which goes with the greatness, of the players. Sometimes, though, a game has found entrance because it is pretty, and the readers will enjoy it. That is the ultimate aim of this book, to offer some evenings of enjoyment exploring the rich past which chess bequeaths to all of us."

He succeeds in this aim: A chess book for all fans, weak or strong. But sadly out of print.

Rating:
Summary: a gold book
Review: this book offer a good oportunity to admire and understand the style of the great chessplayers of all times. The section about Labourdonnais is excelent, his games against Mcdonnell are littles gems. The game Pillsbury-Tarrasch show how a GM break good defence; in general is a terrific book, good for club players to pro's whith very good explanations.