Book Description
In the summer of 1972, with a presidential crisis stirring in the United States and the cold war at a pivotal point, the Soviet world chess champion, Boris Spassky,and his American challenger, Bobby Fischer, met in Reykjavik, Iceland, for the most notorious chess match of all time. Their showdown, played against the backdrop of superpower politics, held the world spellbound for two months with reports of psychological warfare, ultimatums, political intrigue, cliffhangers, and farce to rival a Marx Brothers film. Thirty years later, David Edmonds and John Eidinow have set out to reexamine the story we recollect as the quintessential cold war clash between a lone American star and the Soviet chess machine. A mesmerizing narrative of brilliance and triumph, hubris and despair,
Bobby Fischer Goes to War is a biting deconstruction of the Bobby Fischer myth, a nuanced study on the art of brinkmanship, and a revelatory cold war tragicomedy.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant work of excellence!.......2007-04-06
This is the 2nd book I read by these 2 prize-winning journalists and authors and I praise this work once again as a brilliant tour of famous chess match between Spassky and Fischer!
The book has multiple focuses. While the matches themselves are not described in stark detail, the atmosphere around is. Included in this are brief biographies of these 2 chess superstars, pre-match and post-match reactions as well as its influence and possible involvement in the Cold War.
In it, one discovers the passive, gentle and cordial personality of Spassky - a gentlemanly figure, in contrast to a demanding, bad-boy personality, yet a prodigy, of Bobby Fischer. The book recounts all the relevant events prior to this championship in Iceland in 1972, as well as reactions to it afterward. While there is some allusion to the matches themselves, as well as precise moves and brief analysis, the book in no way targets chess players as their primary readers. The book is targeted for anyone interested in history, particularly one having to do with chess and Cold War.
The book is a real page turner and hard to put down. The style has a fast pace to it, yet thorough enough to capture even minute details. Overall, a great read for anyone and I highly recommend it!
If not for the Cold War, many Americans might have rooted for Spassky.......2007-03-31
And some did, anyway!
Learn why, in this great combination biography of Fischer, biography of Spassky, and analysis of the 1972 showdown in Iceland.
To take an analogy from the same year, this was like the Soviet-US basketball showdown at the Munich Olympics.
And, while the chess championship wasn't rigged, due to his own and his camp's incessant hectoring, especially in getting Game 3 moved to a back room, Fischer was probably dissuaded from walking out from the match.
As it was, he lost Game 1, forfeited Game 2, then roared back to score over half the remaning points scored, losing only once, while winning 9 and drawing 7.
It's probably the most impressive display of chess ever, culminating from a start of Fischer "sweeping" the first two matches in the Candidates' series to earn the right to face Spassky.
Then you have Spassky, who considered himself a Russian first, a Soviet second, and wasn't on perfect terms with the Soviet sports hierarch. A Spassky who was pretty much a "normal" human compared to the average populace and definitely to Fischer.
And, that's the other good part. Briefly but precisely, the authors sketch Fischer's development from childhood, and even spring new evidence about who was actually his biological father.
If you want to learn more both about the contestants and the importance of this match, read this book.
Outstanding book........2007-02-03
Is it possible to make a book about chess that is a gripping read? Even for a reader not that familiar with, or interested in, the game itself? This book answers with an emphatic "Yes".
I was 16 in 1972, an avid (though very mediocre) chess player, and a very close observer of the events recounted in this book. The authors do not exaggerate the importance that this match took on the world stage. Fischer's victory was indeed viewed as a great triumph in the US, on a par with the 1980 Olympic hockey "miracle on ice". But it has taken the passage of time to put everything in perspective. Fischer was a brilliant player, maybe the best of all time; but his antics that were then viewed as idiosyncracies, as the spoiled behavior of the prima donna sportsman, can now -- in view of his behavior of the last 30 years -- be seen as the early signs of absolute craziness (pardon the layman's term, I'm not a psychologist). The guy was, in a word, nuts.
A story of triumph and tragedy, and very well told -- it makes for a completely absorbing read.
Coffee, Chess and Politics .......2007-01-24
I was in a coffee shop last weekend when I noticed two men playing Chess near the cream and sugar counter. A small but intent group had huddled around their table quite captivated by the game. Memories of Bobby Fischer came to mind. I also watched the game for a while and then decided to visit my local bookstore and just by happenstance I saw "Bobby Fischer Goes to War" and picked up a copy. It is very interesting reading. Bobby Fischer's 1972 match with the Soviet Boris Spassky held in Reykjavik, Iceland is legendary. Spassky, the world chess champion, certainly seemed the gentleman and Fisher was billed as the young Chess prodigy. To me Chess was always a game played by elitists or other higher order members of the social ladder. In reality that is truly not the case. If there is anything elite about the game or those who play it, it is the social refinement that one takes away from the chess board. There is a certain amount of respect that one experiences and earns that should be used in a higher order of one's conduct as a person. From this book Spassky seems to fit that picture, but Bobby Fischer is anything but. Fischer had a deep intuitive intellect for the game but his social upbringing and behavior seemed rather crude and almost not worthy of the game. His behavior during the match seems embarrassing and nothing honorable as demonstrated by Spassky. Fischer seems to have learned none of finer aspects of being a participant and journeyman of the game. This is a good book and brings many avenues of thought ion this history making Chess match.
"Our story is in essence a tragedy".......2006-12-23
Fischer/Spassky was a seminal event of my childhood. I was 10 going on 11 at the time. It's tough to explain to people today how the whole event held everyone in its spell. This retrospective look at the event and its implications is a great piece of journalism by writers David Edmonds and John Eidinow. Of course, they had no cooperation from the famously vituperative Fischer. Spassky - the perfect gentleman as always - was obviously inordinately helpful in piecing together the story.
I think the best line summing up the tenor of the book is by lyricist Tim Rice, who based his muscial 'Chess' partly on Fischer/Spassky. Rice says "The good guy was the Russian who was meant to be the bad guy, and the bad guy was the American, who was meant to be the good guy. It was all very confusing and a perfect illustration of how politics creeps into everything."
Edmonds and Eidinow summarize things perfectly: "Boris Spassky went to Reykjavik to celebrate chess. Bobby Fischer went to fight. His version of the match triumphed." For this reason, the authors declare that "our story is in essence a tragedy." Read their fine work, and you'll surely agree with this assessment.
Book Description
In the summer of 1972, with a presidential crisis stirring in the United States and the cold war at a pivotal point, two men -- the Soviet world chess champion Boris Spassky and his American challenger Bobby Fischer -- met in the most notorious chess match of all time. Their showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, held the world spellbound for two months with reports of psychological warfare, ultimatums, political intrigue, cliffhangers, and farce to rival a Marx Brothers film.
Thirty years later, David Edmonds and John Eidinow, authors of the national bestseller Wittgenstein's Poker, have set out to reexamine the story we recollect as the quintessential cold war clash between a lone American star and the Soviet chess machine -- a machine that had delivered the world title to the Kremlin for decades. Drawing upon unpublished Soviet and U.S. records, the authors reconstruct the full and incredible saga, one far more poignant and layered than hitherto believed.
Against the backdrop of superpower politics, the authors recount the careers and personalities of Boris Spassky, the product of Stalin's imperium, and Bobby Fischer, a child of post-World War II America, an era of economic boom at home and communist containment abroad. The two men had nothing in common but their gift for chess, and the disparity of their outlook and values conditioned the struggle over the board.
Then there was the match itself, which produced both creative masterpieces and some of the most improbable gaffes in chess history. And finally, there was the dramatic and protracted off-the-board battle -- in corridors and foyers, in back rooms and hotel suites, in Moscow offices and in the White House.
The authors chronicle how Fischer, a manipulative, dysfunctional genius, risked all to seize control of the contest as the organizers maneuvered frantically to save it -- under the eyes of the world's press. They can now tell the inside story of Moscow's response, and the bitter tensions within the Soviet camp as the anxious and frustrated apparatchiks strove to prop up Boris Spassky, the most un-Soviet of their champions -- fun-loving, sensitive, and a free spirit. Edmonds and Eidinow follow this careering, behind-the-scenes confrontation to its climax: a clash that displayed the cultural differences between the dynamic, media-savvy representatives of the West and the baffled, impotent Soviets. Try as they might, even the KGB couldn't help.
A mesmerizing narrative of brilliance and triumph, hubris and despair, Bobby Fischer Goes to War is a biting deconstruction of the Bobby Fischer myth, a nuanced study on the art of brinkmanship, and a revelatory cold war tragicomedy.
Customer Reviews:
A celebration of chess?.......2007-05-18
Prior to the match Boris Spassky said that regardless of the results the events in Reykjavik would be a "celebration of chess". Bobby Fischer on the other hand, was going to war and wanted "to crush the Soviets". Two thoughts on Fischer come to mind after reading this book: What a jerk, and what a shame. He pretty much flushed his career down the toilet after this match by refusing to defend his title against Karpov in 1974, and for the most selfish of reasons - he couldn't handle losing - and he went out on top. How convenient. While his chess games are incredible to follow (and I highly recommend you take the time to do so) the fact is that he lost in life; while Spassky, whom he beat over the board, won (some observers even say that Spassky should've won the match based on pure chess skill and preparation; regardless of the results, his best games are as well worth studying as Fischer's). Fischer's absence throughout much of the 70s and all of the 1980s is lamentable, and like so many of his acquaintances, the more I find myself making excuses for his ridiculous behavior. "Bobby Fischer Goes to War" depicts this paradox and phenomenon pretty well and anyone interested in Cold War history might really enjoy the bizarre and intriguing events in this little corner of the wider, global show-down between communism and capitalism. Nevertheless, I have a few reservations about this book.
Despite its being a well-researched, compelling and easy-to-read account of the off-board, behind the scenes battles between Fischer & the Russians, it has several short-comings, the foremost of which is a lack of chess. Sure, the authors make some token efforts to summarize certain highlights of a few games, but the focus is on Fischer's antics rather than his moves (or, if you're a Fischer apologist, his "off the board brinksmanship") and this seems unfortunate to me. By having the games interwoven into the main storyline the peripheral hoopla of the match would have its proper context. Not only this, but it would relieve the tedium of some 300 pages of some rather petty and exasperating behavior, and ultimately, would redeem the man himself. Reading about Bobby Fischer without his chess games is like, well, try imagining Mike Tyson without boxing. Additionally, I'm not sure how this book is any different from "The Russians vs. Fischer" (D. Plisetsky & S. Voronkov, Everyman, 1994, 2005 2nd ed.)? Not having been able to read it I can't say for sure, but from what I can tell it contains more interviews from the Russian side (the authors apparently utilized the same "unpublished U.S. & Soviet records" so prominently advertised on this book's jacket) and the games themselves. These two factors alone make me suspect that I bought the inferior product, and so I recommend you compare the two.
Other criticisms:
A complete absence of reference notes for any of the some 150+ sources for this book make it difficult, if not impossible to locate the sources for a large amount of curious material. Have these guys ever heard of plagiarism?
The authors, who are journalists, write in the typical "play by play" style of their profession, which works well in pithy newspaper or magazine columns (or for John Krakauer & Mark Bowden), but wears thin in a full-length narrative about a chess match without any real chess.
The coverage of the 1992 re-match is given short-shrift and conveniently written off a "a bad sequel".
In the end I wanted to hear more from Spassky and Fischer themselves. There are a lot of secondary viewpoints and great sources of information here, but how much better could the text have been had the authors solicited or used more direct quotes from the participants themselves - especially Spassky since he seemed most willing to talk? Recently I discovered "B. Fischer: The Wandering King" by H. Bohm & K. Jongkind (Batsford, 2005) which looks to be fill this gap.
The one thing that redeems the author's decision to focus on the non-chess related action in my mind is that it does illuminate something important that I don't believe they intended; namely that, despite their extreme differences, both chess masters managed not only to play some great chess, but refused to be manipulated by their respective political systems. That is, regardless of Fischer's obsession with control and the fiasco he made of this match - not to mention the ass he made of himself - it seems to me that the "celebration of chess" Spassky envisioned came about in-spite of all this, and in no small part due to his own tolerance, patience and ability to challenge Fischer on the chess board. For it was these two individual chess-artists who not only enriched and popularized the game worldwide through their immortal play, greatly benefiting their fellow players through larger purses future tournaments, but most importantly, their outmaneuvering of systemic powers that sought to constrain them for narrow-minded political propaganda.
STORY OF A PATHETIC BOY IN A MAN'S SUIT.......2006-11-09
BOBBY FISHER GOES TO WAR is a well-researched book, using, among other sources, recently opened Soviet files on the match. The authors (Edmonds and Eidinow) fill in the background leading up to the match, including bios of the lives of Fisher and Spassky, the two combatants in "the chess match of all time". However, the story lacks for sustainable drama; things poke along, the authors obviously stretching out a long magazine piece into a book. This is fine for chess fans but the general reader may feel too bogged down. On the other hand, there is little analysis of the games played in the match, which might frustrate a chess buff who has not yet read any of the analytical books on the match. BOBBY FISHER GOES TO WAR is probably more a political book than a sports book as all the negotiations, psychology, and behind the scenes manuvering are spelled out as well as the actions of the Soviet Communist party machinery regarding the match and very little on the games itself. Fisher comes off as brilliant but insane and this reader had little sympathy for his pathological behavior or the chess authorities caving into his ridiculous and nuerotic demands. All of that is covered in detail in the book. Ultimately, this is not the story of an American hero but of a pathetic, spoiled, ungrateful boy in a man's suit.
couldn't put it down.......2006-03-04
really wondeful. the appendix chapter his mother is, in my opinion,
even more interesting than the book. book, of course, is a fantastic read.
A very brief review.......2005-12-02
Plus: Just the facts. This is a straightforward history of the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match, told with enough context to make the story understandable, interesting, and entertaining, but without exaggeration. The story is balanced, and tells Spassky's side as well as Fischer's.
Minus: It assumes the reader knows absolutely nothing about chess, and therefore loses the drama of the games themselves. The authors do describe the "poisoned pawn" of Game 1, but otherwise there's very little chess in the book. Of course, some readers may think this is a plus! I enjoyed this book and recommend it if you are interested in the match.
Cold War Intrigue...Over 64 Squares.......2005-10-15
It had all the intrigue of a Cold War novel: there was the arrogant, boyish challenger; the imperious, quiet Soviet; the behind-the-scenes dealings; the suspicious delegates; the spies; the double-agents; hypnotists and spiritualists; food poisoning and wire-taps; searched briefcases and searched rooms; a mother suspected of being a communist sympathizer; the FBI, the KGB and the CIA; even Henry Kissinger has a cameo.
--Oh, and almost incidentally, there was the world championship of chess. In Iceland, of all places.
Two men were the center of this event, hunched over a chessboard, each trying to prove the superiority of -- well, of what?
To the political leaders on each side, the winner of this grueling contest would prove that their political, social and philosophical system was somehow superior. That may seem silly today, but there were a lot of silly ideas about politics in 1972 (unlike today, ha ha ha).
Bobby Fischer Goes To War is an entertaining account of a match where for many the chess was almost incidental. Who could have imagined, back in that summer of '72, that a dull game only vaguely understood by most Americans would have captured the imagination? But capture it it did: the event was broadcast on TV. Bars showed the match rather than baseball, and got flack from customers if they changed the channel. Chess club memberships went through the roof. Stores could not keep chess sets and chess books in stock. Grandmasters were treated like rock stars. They arrived in limosines. Strangers begged for their autographs. They had groupies! Chess was sexy!
It was a surreal time. And this book profiles it all rather flatly, missing the zeitgeist. The writing is relatively bland and matter-of-fact. (Where is Tom Wolfe when you need him?) The authors could have really had fun with this story. Instead we get what is sometimes an overload of facts, given in a newspaper-style dryness. This is one of those rare times when I wished for more sizzle and less steak.
Still, though the book could have been more lively, this is a very thoroughly-researched chronicle of a unique event in U.S. history.
As for the match itself, I found myself, to my surprise, actually rooting for--and somewhat feeling sorry for--Spassky. Fischer lost my sympathy after his 80th or so temper tantrum over the lights. Or was it the chairs? Or the stage? Or the noise? Or the squares on the board? Or the TV cameras? Or the prize-money? Or the hotel? Or the limo? Or the lack of bowling alleys in Iceland? At some point you just want the match organizers to pull the plug and send Fischer back home in disgrace, because that is truly what he deserved. The Russians hurled accusations that Bobby was using psychological warfare to make Spassky crack, which was mostly dismissed at the time as sour grapes. Today it's easier to see that their claims had some merit. Even though Fischer may have been a more brilliant player, I doubt he would have won in a straight match without all the off-stage melodrama. Unquestionably supremely gifted, he was nonetheless simply too scared. I think he fould it hard to live up to all his own bravado--who wouldn't?--and his last weapon against his opponent was his endless, unpredictable melodramas.
Spassky comes across as harder to peg. Hardly a model Soviet, but definitely a loyal Russian, he seemed interested in playing Fischer for the joy of playing Fischer, rather than to prove anything about the "great Soviet Chess Machine." (Inexplicably he agreed to changes in match conditions in the third game that may have led to his very downfall.) He apparently still hasn't lost his Fischer fascination. He played another match against the American in 1992 in Yugoslavia, and more recently, when Fischer was arrested in Japan (he is wanted by the U.S. Department of State) Spassky reportedly said, "Arrest me too, put me in a cell with Fischer and give us a chess set." Whatever his motivation in Iceland, he clearly was not a loyal Soviet, and his handlers knew this. Some feared he would defect. Others put up with his comments against the system that would have landed most others in jail. There was almost relief that another Russian would challenge Fischer in 1975--a challenge the champion never met, forfeiting his title--even though Spassky was a stronger player than Anatoly Karpov.
Despite not winning the title, Spassky's life turned out a lot better than Fischer's. Boris ended up abroad, still a Russian citizen, but married to a French woman and living the life of a country gentleman. Fischer wound up living the life of a derelict, abandoned by his country, fighting demons in his head that are telling him everything is a Jewish conspiracy. (Ironically, it turns out that Fischer is fully Jewish, and not half-German like he had always believed.) It's hard not to conclude his was a wasted life, at least after 1972. It's sad to think how much chess could have benefitted if the first and only U.S. champion had been wrapped a little more tightly.
Customer Reviews:
A contempory and readable account of the 1972 match........1999-08-07
A contempory and detailed account of "the chess match of the century", GM Gligoric sets the scene in a very readable introduction to the match and to each game. Detailed as his annotations are, as a very mediocre player I found that they were a tad difficult to follow and could be a bit dry in places, but were still followable and gave an excellent idea of the twists and turns in each game. If you're curious about the specific match or interested in the games of Spassky or Fischer I highly recommend it, but it would take a lot of self effort I suspect for an average player to use it to significantly improve his game.
Customer Reviews:
Read This Right, And You Too WILL Improve Your Game!.......2002-03-13
This Chess book is so exhilarating that I actually feel COMPELLED to write a review on it. I won't bother repeating the information in the accompanying reviews. First of all, in the overall introduction of the whole book, it is suggested that as you progress through the games, you choose the winner (or, in the case of a drawn game, the stronger player) and cover his moves with a card (I folded "Sticky Notes" in half and stuck them on vertically). Then, based on your analysis of the position and the game, announce or write down your move and compare it to the actual move. Granted, this will slow down your progress through the book by great proportions, but, by even greater proportions, it will improve your chess game. That method is called the Tactical Vision Exercise. I took (notice I'm not saying, "...it took me") from around early April 2001 to February 17, 2002 to complete the book doing it this way and my chess understanding has become improved and clarified more than 100-fold (I took about 1 to 2 hour sessions of this at least once or twice per day).
Please don't become critical or skeptical when I tell you that I have lost quite a few games of my own in my trek through this book; after all, chess is a mentally demanding game. But, I have also won many more games against strong opponents than I have in the past. That says a lot for that exercise, but, to do that with this 3-in-1 book in particular, I believe, is an extremely required activity for any good amateur wanting to improve even more greatly in chess, whether to increase your chances at casual victories or to win in more tournament games!
Speaking of tournaments, this book also gives you tremendous insight to what goes through a top-level player's mind as the tournament progresses; it's more than just a series of games. Furthermore, the editors (or was it just Mr. Tykodi?) at various points throughout the book, did an excellent job at providing improved suggestions (moves, that is [whether from a computer or from their own analysis]) where Mr. Purdy (with all due respects) may have been a bit short-sighted.
And then there are the openings!! If you crave openings knowlege and tips, this is truly a recondite handbook to a few of the classically popular ones; the Sicilian only showed up in the Spassky versus Fischer match. I had always been one to spurn the Slav, but, it was definitely the most popular one among Euwe and Alekhine.
I had not studied many Fischer games at all before my journey through the "How Fischer Won" section of this book. And now after playing through his games (via tactical vision), I must say he is a "mad genius" on the chessboard!! Many of his moves left my mouth wide open in awe! I had studied chess consistently for at least 5 years before this book and never have I come across any player more outrageously spectacular than Bobby Fischer; keep in mind I've always been of the "don't believe the hype" mentality. But, I'm from Missouri, and he definitley Showed Me!! He shows that you shouldn't shut a move out of your mind simply because you see that your piece will be captured; play it through in your mind first and calculate beyond that!
Don't be afraid at all to mark in this book like crazy; it's really the only way to imprint the information on your brain and it'll make review of the book much easier (I can't imagine going through this book word-for-word and move-by-move again). It is truly a journey.
Extremely Good.......2000-04-24
This is a three in one volume of the C.J.S. Purdy books: How Euwe Won, The Return of Alekhine, and How Fischer Won. While The Return of Alekhine is the largest of the three none outstrips the other as a far as readability and enjoyability. Purdy was a talented annotator famed for educating the intermediate chessplayer and he doesn't disappoint in these 80 annotated games. Opening nuances; complicated middlegames; well analyzed endings; missed opportunities and hidden combinations are all to be found. A summation of the openings follows each book and as an epilogue there is H.W.M. Lunney's biographical sketch on C.J.S. Purdy: The Annotator. A close reading will reveal Purdy's distinctly high regard for Euwe as both a player and a person. He had a lower opinion of Alekhine yet he had enormous esteem for Alekhine's chess and he completely disregards rumors of his drunkenness during the first match. As concerns Fischer - he is simply a chess deity. It's clear that Purdy strongly favored the two bishops, perhaps almost as much as he favored the term "Sword of Damocles" which is used recurrently. Naturally the book is somewhat dated by its stern opening opinions, but this doesn't detract from the cutthroat chess contained within. The extent of sharp tactics and engaging play that can result from the Slav Defense was truly astounding. Alekhine and Euwe each played it against each other and they were far from boring games. The Fischer-Spassky section is supplemented with a small pamphlet entitled Post Mortem 1976. Given at end of each game are corrections or reconsideration of analysis from the original text. In at least one instance the reader is told, after a column of analysis, that one of the moves was actually a typographical error. Here it may have been better to just correct the mistake than merely note its existence. I was surprised when playing through some of the games that I had never done so before. This might be expected with those from the Alekhine-Euwe matches, but even some of the Fischer-Spassky games as well. If you, too, haven't availed yourself of the opportunity of playing out these games consider Extreme Chess a grand chance to do so. The layout is well organized and there are photos interspersed throughout. The cover is colorful and artistically designed. Recommended.
Another Purdy Masterpiece.......1999-07-21
Chessco/TPI has produced another fine book, that is sure to be a best-seller. It covers the WC Matches between Alekhine and Euwe 35 and 37 and the still-discussed Spassky-Fischer duel of 72. All the games are annotated by Purdy based on his original work, but updated by Chessco; there are photographs I have not seen before. There are articles by Euwe and Alekhine written for papers/magazines give a frank and revealing picture of both champions. The notes are superb - pure unadulterated Purdy - this man had opinions and was not backward in coming forward with them. I like that! Buy this book and have the read of your life!
Average customer rating:
- Synopsis
- chess genius regains his crown
|
World Chess Championship 1937
Alexander Alekhine
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0713472804 |
Book Description
In these pages we see how Alekhine's preparation, both psychological and technical, bore brilliant fruit. Once he had pinpointed Euwe's weaknesses Alekhine struck with the force of a hurricane and regained the title by virtue of some of the most energetic, accurate and elegant play ever witnessed at world championship level.
Customer Reviews:
Synopsis.......2007-07-11
Having suffered the disaster of losing his world title to the Dutch champion Euwe in 1935, the turbulent Russian genius Alexander Alekhine set about the ruthless task of re-establishing himself at the pinnacle of chess. In these pages we see how Alekhine's preparation, both psychological and technical, bore brilliant fruit. Once he had pinpointed Euwe's weaknesses Alekhine struck with the force of a hurricane and regained the title by virtue of some of the most energetic, accurate and elegant play ever witnessed at world championship level. The notes to the games are chiefly by Alekhine himself but some are written by Dr Euwe, the incumbent champion. Both sides of the contest are therefore well represented.
Alexander Alekhine - a colossus of chess - was twice world champion and a brilliant author, endowed with the secret gift of making the games come alive on the page.
chess genius regains his crown.......2002-12-02
alexander alekhine was a chess genius and also an expert writer who could make every game come alive on the page.in this book he annotates in detail the games of the match against dr euwe the dutch grandmaster against whom alekhine had lost the title two years previously.alekhine won crushingly in this revenge match and played some brilliant games in so doing.
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