Reshevsky's Best Games - Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I have a lot of chess books, and have written lots of reviews. My reviews tend to not be very objective; rather, they are based on whether a book really held my interest, to an extent that I actually finished the book. This is why I think "My System" by Nimzowitsch is perhaps the greatest single chess book: it holds my interest every time I work through it, in a way that few other books have. This games collection by Reshevsky (my original copy is called "Reshevsky's Best Games of Chess") similarly holds my interest, and draws me into it deeper and deeper over time. I cannot say that it has the fascinating peculiarities of a "My System," or the unique engaging dialogue of an "Amateur's Mind," yet there is something about the games and the annotations that is uniquely compelling to me. Reshevksy's opening repertoire is exactly along the lines that I play, consisting almost exclusively of 1. d4 with white and the Sicilian and Indians as black. Yet it is not just the repertoire, but the way he plays it and explains it that is so fascinating to me. I am not a good enough player to fathom the "style" of a Karpov or a Kasparov (or Shirov, Leko, etc.). But for some reason, I find myself sensing something I can relate to in Reshevsky's games. It involves his "pacing" of the opening and middlegame. He plays the openings patiently, and seems to wait until his opponent makes a slight mistake before he gets aggressive. I tend to overreach myself and get too hasty in the openings. But Reshevsky has no problem playing e3 in response to a Slav. It is as if he is playing a Colle without having to deal with ...c5. This morning, I began studying a game in this book. Normally, when I study a chess book early in the morning, I get tired after about a half hour. Today, I was through three games in detail in about an hour before I even realized what time it was. This is what happens to me when I read this book. I cannot say objectively what it is; but I do know that this is one of my favorite chess books, because it has this magical quality that draws me into it and does not let go. Under no circumstances would I ever sell this old Dover copy of this book. If I were to lose it, I would do whatever it took to get another copy.