The Art of Positional Play

Rating:
Summary: Incredible games collection on many levels
Review: Once in a while, at some point in the depths of a chess book, it occurs to me that, "this might be the only chess book I would need, if I could keep only one." Despite the nightmarish vision of a world in which you were allowed only one chess book, my point is that this work on positional play by Reshevsky is such a book for me. I will summarize a few reasons why it is one of my all-time favorite chess books: 1) Brilliant games, many of them very long, with endgames. Many of the games are over 60 moves long. The annotations do not bog you down, though, so you do get through the games. Reshevsky brilliantly points out themes at various points, and you naturally start to see it as you go through the games; 2) annotations that are concise, and dead-on the point. Eacn annotation seems to relate to the ideas inherent in the position. There are variations as necessary to felsh out ideas. The annotations are very instructive. They remind me of Fischer's in 60 Memorable Games, but from a d4 type player instead; 3) the book in effect presents an entire opening repertoire, basically Reshevsky's. This means that you play 1. d4 with white and the Sicilian (he normally played the accelerated dragon or the Najdorf; I have settled on the accelerated dragon). There are a lot of games where Reshevsky is white defeating a King's Indian. These games alone are worth the price of admission for me, as I face the King's Indian. For these reasons and more, this is one of my favorite books. It is true that there are numerous typos in the book, but it has not bothered me. Normally, it is clear what was meant, and I just write the proper number or letter over in pen. I have the older McKay edition, which is very nicely formatted, with diagrams in well-thought out places. I really love this book a lot.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible games collection on many levels
Review: Once in a while, at some point in the depths of a chess book, it occurs to me that, "this might be the only chess book I would need, if I could keep only one." Despite the nightmarish vision of a world in which you were allowed only one chess book, my point is that this work on positional play by Reshevsky is such a book for me. I will summarize a few reasons why it is one of my all-time favorite chess books: 1) Brilliant games, many of them very long, with endgames. Many of the games are over 60 moves long. The annotations do not bog you down, though, so you do get through the games. Reshevsky brilliantly points out themes at various points, and you naturally start to see it as you go through the games; 2) annotations that are concise, and dead-on the point. Eacn annotation seems to relate to the ideas inherent in the position. There are variations as necessary to felsh out ideas. The annotations are very instructive. They remind me of Fischer's in 60 Memorable Games, but from a d4 type player instead; 3) the book in effect presents an entire opening repertoire, basically Reshevsky's. This means that you play 1. d4 with white and the Sicilian (he normally played the accelerated dragon or the Najdorf; I have settled on the accelerated dragon). There are a lot of games where Reshevsky is white defeating a King's Indian. These games alone are worth the price of admission for me, as I face the King's Indian. For these reasons and more, this is one of my favorite books. It is true that there are numerous typos in the book, but it has not bothered me. Normally, it is clear what was meant, and I just write the proper number or letter over in pen. I have the older McKay edition, which is very nicely formatted, with diagrams in well-thought out places. I really love this book a lot.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible games collection on many levels
Review: Once in a while, at some point in the depths of a chess book, it occurs to me that, "this might be the only chess book I would need, if I could keep only one." Despite the nightmarish vision of a world in which you were allowed only one chess book, my point is that this work on positional play by Reshevsky is such a book for me. I will summarize a few reasons why it is one of my all-time favorite chess books: 1) Brilliant games, many of them very long, with endgames. Many of the games are over 60 moves long. The annotations do not bog you down, though, so you do get through the games. Reshevsky brilliantly points out themes at various points, and you naturally start to see it as you go through the games; 2) annotations that are concise, and dead-on the point. Eacn annotation seems to relate to the ideas inherent in the position. There are variations as necessary to felsh out ideas. The annotations are very instructive. They remind me of Fischer's in 60 Memorable Games, but from a d4 type player instead; 3) the book in effect presents an entire opening repertoire, basically Reshevsky's. This means that you play 1. d4 with white and the Sicilian (he normally played the accelerated dragon or the Najdorf; I have settled on the accelerated dragon). There are a lot of games where Reshevsky is white defeating a King's Indian. These games alone are worth the price of admission for me, as I face the King's Indian. For these reasons and more, this is one of my favorite books. It is true that there are numerous typos in the book, but it has not bothered me. Normally, it is clear what was meant, and I just write the proper number or letter over in pen. I have the older McKay edition, which is very nicely formatted, with diagrams in well-thought out places. I really love this book a lot.

Rating:
Summary: New edition!!
Review: Sammy analyzes 61 games, many of the games are his own. A classic text written by America's strongest player between 1935-1965. The book is very neatly laid out and is a cinch to follow- its easy on the eyes- this is one of the best games collections ever published.

Rating:
Summary: New algebraic notation edition
Review: Sammy analyzes 61 games, many of the games are his own. A classic text written by America's strongest player between 1935-1965. The book is very neatly laid out and is a cinch to follow- its easy on the eyes- this is one of the best games collections ever published.

Rating:
Summary: New edition!!
Review: This new edition features algebraic notation! No more ancient descriptive notation! Some of the best games of the late 1960's and early 1970's are analyzed by Mr. Reshevsky!