Rating: 
Summary: What more can be said
Review: The other reviews on this page don't say much about this book becos its place in chess literature as a classic is indisputable. So I'll try to say something about what makes it so great so that chess players who do not know a lot about the history of the game will appreciate its value.The tournament that is annotated is the Zurich 1953 Candidates tournament, the tournament whose winnner would challenge the World Champion for the title. The author of the book is Bronstein, who was among the 3 players who tied for second and is generally acknowledged as one of the most creative and invnetive players in ches history(he was the previous challenger for the World Championship and drew with the Champion under highly controversial circumstances). So what do we have in this book and what about it's material makes it so valuable? The first thing is that while the reality of chess is in the variations, the grandmaster author (Bronstein) focuses in the ideas and the schematic thinking necessary to guide the player thru analyzing variations and understanding the position. In addition, the quality of play is quite high and Bronstein also discusses the real time events that guide play such as the mindset of the players and the time they had to make moves. When one looks at a gamescore, these are not evident and understanding chess in the practical light is very important for the learning player, who might not understand the nuances of chess as a sport. Finally, many of the games are played with similar openings so this is a way to learn opening themes and pawn structure play without buying 10 books. IT is not cutting edge theory, but the schematic thinking and understanding the reasons why the GMs play the way they do will do more for your chess than any opening book with symbolic evaluations. In addition, the subtleties of certain positions are explained by Bronstein to show why this method of play is not as strong as another method of play seen in another game. Factor in the fact that this is a cheap book for one in Algebraic notation and you see that there is little to complain about. Enjoy if you buy!
Rating:
Summary: Best chess book I have read
Review: The summary says it all. Entertaining, deeply instructive
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Summary: The battle is lost, Bronstein won "Best Annotator"
Review: The whisperings of my fellow players at the club, as if to hide a secret, first clued me in to this book. Sure, I thought, they want to keep the secrets of their success from me, so I listened in a little harder (I promptly lost the game I was playing!) and was able to catch "1953" and "Zurich". Amazon.com was my next stop. I typed in 1953, Zurich and Chess. The outcome? This extraordinary book. I'd spied it before at various bookstores but never thought once to browse through it, after all, who would be interested in some tournament which took place in Zurich in 1953? And who in the world was Bronstein? I soon found out: Bronstein was a very strong contender for the world championship in his day and a brilliant annotator. 1953 in Zurich saw the occurrence of a candidates' tournament which featured the strongest competitors of that era (Smyslov, Najdorf Keres, Reshevsky, Petrosian, Geller, Kotov, Taimanov, Averbakh, Boleslavsky, Szabo, Gligoric, Euwe, Stahlberg and Bronstein) all vying for the chance to play for the world championship! Smyslov triumphed this time around and Bronstein (who came in second along with Keres and Reshevsky) was persuaded to annotate the book of the tournament. After reading and playing through the first game, I knew I had a treasure on my hands and why my fellow players did not want anyone else to find it. It's a jewel...find it, read it and try to keep it from your rivals because it'll only make your competition stronger, as my Chess pals found out the next time I played them!
Rating:
Summary: A very good teaching chess book
Review: This book is about the best tournament of all time (in my opinion). It teaches players how to use their pieces, how to sacrifice to gain initiative, and many more things. It has some fascinating and beautiful positions I have ever seen. The author, David Bronstein, has made it clear what each player is trying to accomplish without doing in depth variation calculating. If you enjoy reading about chess history and how the chess world was shaped, or even just have a passion for great chess games, this would be a great book to read.
Rating: 
Summary: one of the best chess books of all time
Review: This book is great. David Bronstein's love for the game comes through in this book. There are very few things i'd change about the book. Some pictures would have been nice, the font is not my favorite, a few other minor things as well. However, overall this is a great book. There are not a ton of variations, so us weaker players can go through the games without too much trouble. The book was not written for instruction, but I think it has a lot of instructional value. However, even if you learn nothing, it's still a very enjoyable book to go through. Recommended.
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Summary: my best chess book
Review: this book is my favorite chess book. it's very exciting (unlike some chess books) and the games are great. brontein is probably my favorite author too and i really like the way he explains things. even a beginner like me could suddenly understand things i though i never would.
Rating:
Summary: Great book in every way
Review: This book is one of those books that is used by good players as the definition of a good chess book. It is universally considered one of the classics in chess literature. "My System" by Nimzowitsch is often thought to be the best/most influential instructional book, but I know that this book was certainly more helpful to me. It has many insights into the middlegame, and the conflicting plans and maneuvers of the opposing players. Also, it is about one of the strongest tournaments ever held, so the creativity of the players is at a maximum. Bronstein's comments are very interesting, and I found this book a pleasure to read. Some books are like an asignment when you read them -- you have to make yourself read it to get through it. Not so with this book. I always wanted to go over one more game before stopping. Here is an example quote: "So there exists a different concept of opening strategy, which may briefly be summarized as follows: that it is not necessary to make the very best moves -- only good ones. This was the creative attitude of Lasker and Capablanca, for example, and it is Smyslov's too. The advantage of the opening, in this case, is understood to be the right to choose a system of development more suited to the White player's taste, and which gives him the greatest possible liberty to express his creative ability." [from the comments to the 172nd game] I would say that a reader should have some elementary chess knowledge before tackling this book, such as: knowing to develop as quickly as possible in the opening, knowing a few basic endgames, etc. However, you don't have to be much past beginner for this book to be helpful and enjoyable. And I would say anyone, no matter how high rated, could enjoy this book if they hadn't read it before. The games are extremely high quality, and that alone would make for a good base, but there are also some very interesting complex variations in places. But the variations are never the focus, and the annotations in words abound, making it highly readable for lower rated players. I probably improved about 200 points within a year after getting this book, and much of that was due to this book, I'm sure. It belongs in every chess player's library.
Rating:
Summary: Great book in every way
Review: This book is one of those books that is used by good players as the definition of a good chess book. It is universally considered one of the classics in chess literature. "My System" by Nimzowitsch is often thought to be the best/most influential instructional book, but I know that this book was certainly more helpful to me. It has many insights into the middlegame, and the conflicting plans and maneuvers of the opposing players. Also, it is about one of the strongest tournaments ever held, so the creativity of the players is at a maximum. Bronstein's comments are very interesting, and I found this book a pleasure to read. Some books are like an asignment when you read them -- you have to make yourself read it to get through it. Not so with this book. I always wanted to go over one more game before stopping. Here is an example quote: "So there exists a different concept of opening strategy, which may briefly be summarized as follows: that it is not necessary to make the very best moves -- only good ones. This was the creative attitude of Lasker and Capablanca, for example, and it is Smyslov's too. The advantage of the opening, in this case, is understood to be the right to choose a system of development more suited to the White player's taste, and which gives him the greatest possible liberty to express his creative ability." [from the comments to the 172nd game] I would say that a reader should have some elementary chess knowledge before tackling this book, such as: knowing to develop as quickly as possible in the opening, knowing a few basic endgames, etc. However, you don't have to be much past beginner for this book to be helpful and enjoyable. And I would say anyone, no matter how high rated, could enjoy this book if they hadn't read it before. The games are extremely high quality, and that alone would make for a good base, but there are also some very interesting complex variations in places. But the variations are never the focus, and the annotations in words abound, making it highly readable for lower rated players. I probably improved about 200 points within a year after getting this book, and much of that was due to this book, I'm sure. It belongs in every chess player's library.
Rating:
Summary: Great book in every way
Review: This book is one of those books that is used by good players as the definition of a good chess book. It is universally considered one of the classics in chess literature. "My System" by Nimzowitsch is often thought to be the best/most influential instructional book, but I know that this book was certainly more helpful to me. It has many insights into the middlegame, and the conflicting plans and maneuvers of the opposing players. Also, it is about one of the strongest tournaments ever held, so the creativity of the players is at a maximum. Bronstein's comments are very interesting, and I found this book a pleasure to read. Some books are like an asignment when you read them -- you have to make yourself read it to get through it. Not so with this book. I always wanted to go over one more game before stopping. Here is an example quote: "So there exists a different concept of opening strategy, which may briefly be summarized as follows: that it is not necessary to make the very best moves -- only good ones. This was the creative attitude of Lasker and Capablanca, for example, and it is Smyslov's too. The advantage of the opening, in this case, is understood to be the right to choose a system of development more suited to the White player's taste, and which gives him the greatest possible liberty to express his creative ability." [from the comments to the 172nd game] I would say that a reader should have some elementary chess knowledge before tackling this book, such as: knowing to develop as quickly as possible in the opening, knowing a few basic endgames, etc. However, you don't have to be much past beginner for this book to be helpful and enjoyable. And I would say anyone, no matter how high rated, could enjoy this book if they hadn't read it before. The games are extremely high quality, and that alone would make for a good base, but there are also some very interesting complex variations in places. But the variations are never the focus, and the annotations in words abound, making it highly readable for lower rated players. I probably improved about 200 points within a year after getting this book, and much of that was due to this book, I'm sure. It belongs in every chess player's library.
Rating:
Summary: Well Written Book About Tourny...
Review: This book is rather well written and fun to just read without playing over... Bronstein at the time was considered a top chess player... He even could of beat Botvinnik if not for politics and giving in to pressure and throwing a game... Yes even in this book he hints a bit about match fixes and the shady side of chess... How certain games he was going for a "Draw" and other little hints... Basically the real Iron Curtain exists in the Chess world... How once the Soviets got the title they did everything to keep it... Still it was nice they used to have tournies like this... The winner of this would challenge the world champion for it all... Unlike today where they have a sham of a FIDE KO... Then you have Kaspy and Kramnik one K short of their true colors... Last and not least the real World Champion Bobby Fischer... So unless chess goes back to a tourny such as Zurich 1953 it will continue to die... So it is nice to go back in time and read a book about chess... Not just chess but a tournament when the World Champion would play winner... Where there was more of a agreed upon champion... Some games he gives no coverage to since they deserve none... That is another great thing about this book... He does not waste time going over games that were not played... Or perhaps that he knows or realized were prearranged... Or more simply just games that the players took an easy and safe draw...
Why only 4 stars, basically cuz of lack of opening coverage... Yeah you see all the ones played, I had to make my own index for openings... That was rather annoying, while at same time I learned something... So many of the games were Queen's Gambit and almot all declined were lost or drawn for black... So that really made me think about how I play those sorts of games... Also of interest is there is least one game KIA is played in this tourny... I think a few Grunfeld games and other interesting things... So many Ruy Lopez games, where most I think ended in draws... That helped me decide to avoid using that opening cuz of high draw percentage... I think black might of won more than it lost also, Id have to check notes... Still that is really not important... Granted none of these players are Fischer, it was still a good field... Unlike lot of tournies today where you have dead weight or draw artists... Also that token girl thrown in with the guys... Still the older GM vs. younger female player tourny I think was interesting... I heard after 10 years it was canceled, thats really a shame... This book is priced so just about anyone can afford it... I think if you care about the mental part of chess... Whats going on in someone's mind and other factors... Then you should pick this book up, just be ready to make own opening index :)...
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