Fire On Board: Shirov's Best Games

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic chess from today's conscience of chess
Review: This is one of the best chess books I've bought in a long time, and certainly one of the very best among the current batch of titles swarming the shelves. Shirov, with his highly original play and creative thinking, is, like Reti was in his day, the true conscience of chess today. Like Reti had had, Shirov has had uneven results in tournaments because of his uncompromising quest for originality in all his games. But like Reti, Shirov at his best is bewilderingly unstoppable. Shirov's book is full of analysis, so readers daunted by the prospects of 12-move variations and the like will have to skim over large chunks of the book. But that doesn't mean that's all the book covers. Shirov is very honest about his career, and his little revelations here and there (don't forget, this is a still-practicing professional and he can't afford to show everything) makes this a very personal, very personable book. You feel like you're getting a privileged peek into the personal notebook of a world-class grandmaster. And some of these games are so full of sacrifices and weird positional maneuvers that they're straight from Planet Shirov in the Hidden Dimension. I don't know if I'm making myself clear: this book is great. If you're a chess player (or just a "connoisseur", as Capablanca might have said), and you want something inspiring to make to think more deeply about the game, you seriously have to think about getting ahold of this book - a book to be ranked among such classics of the genre as Capablanca's "My Chess Career", Alekhine's "My Best Games of Chess", Botvinnik's "100 Games" and Tal's (let's not forget Shirov studied with Tal) "Life and Games of Mikhail Tal". Unrestrainedly recommended!