MARK RUBERY CHESS
What are generally regarded the top ten chess books of all time? This is obviously a subjective exercise but here is a list that many a chess aficionado would have difficulty disputing.
* ‘The Chess Struggle in Practice’-david Bronstein. A magnificent and detailed coverage of the games from the 1953 Candidate’s Tournament in Zurich
* ‘My System’ -Aron Nimzovich. Regarded highly by many as a brilliant textbook on positional play although to some it may read like a school textbook…
* ‘My Great Predecessors’-garry Kasparov. A grandiose canvas that covers all the major figures in the game. We are fortunate that someone so strong has gone to such an effort to give a guided tour through some of the crucial moments in chess history.
* ‘My 60 Memorable Games’-bobby Fischer. Perhaps the most famous chess book of all and like the author J D Salinger, one only wished he had written more.
* ‘Tal-botvinnik 1960’-Mikhail Tal. A candid account of a world championship match from one of the most brilliant and wittiest players to grace the game
* ‘My Best Games 1909-1937’-Alexander Alekhine. One of the few real chess philosophers in history Alekhine explains the energy and brilliance of his ideas with great clarity.
* ‘Endgame Manual’-dvoretsky. A modern classic and perhaps the best book ever published on the endgame. Over 400 pages cover all the most important concepts required for endgame mastery.
* ‘ Chess Secrets I learned from the Masters’-edward Lasker. Although not quite in the heavy weight class of many of the above Lasker brings vividly to life the chess world of a bygone era
* ‘Kings Commoners and Knaves’-william Winter. A collection of historical essays and meticulous investigations by the game’s pre-eminent historian.
* ‘The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal’-tal’s masterpiece is a mix of autobiography and analysis and is suffused with a literary and anecdotal air that is rarely found in Chess literature
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
At the ches with me she [Fortune] gan to pleye; With her false draughts [pieces] dyvers/she staal on me, and took away my fers. And when I sawgh my fers awaye, Allas! I kouthe no lenger playe. (from The Book of the Duchess, 1369 - a knight mourning his wife compares that to the loss of a chess queen in a game against Fortune) - Geoffrey Chaucer