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Alexander Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902-1946 Reviewed by Rick Kennedy
1) Books are special. As often as I have paid attention to an eBook (Chess Fundamentals, Elephant Gambit - Hitting Back with 2…d5!?) or gushed about a software package (Opening Instructor, Six World Champions) I still have to say,
Lots of things in chess are beautiful, but brother,
There is nothin’ like a book,
Nothin’ else has such a hook, There is absolutely nothin’ like the look of a book. * (*with sincere apologies to Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II) As much as I have drooled (at a distance) over the likes of the CD The Collected Works of Wilhelm Steinitz, in the end I prefer the warmth of a book – it’s endearing personality (e.g. Thomas Frère and the Brotherhood of Chess - A History of 19th Century Chess in New York City), practical portability (e.g. The Great Pawn Hunter Chess Tutorial - Stories, Poetry and Games), or sheer spunkiness (e.g. The Fascinating Reti Gambit). I mean, on a cold, wintry day, what do I like to curl up with? (Well, my wife, of course. But, other than her, a good book.) Where do I go for chess enlightenment and enjoyment? (Ok, ok, Chessville.com. But many other times, a book.) Where is chess history still alive? (At the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami, sure – but also in my collection of books.) Perhaps another 5 years will see self- and small-published chess books migrate completely to the eBook format, and I may have to follow (after all, this is an eReview, not a print review) – but even then I will not empty my shelves of their books.
2) This book is something special. Alexander
Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902-1946 is subtitled: 2543 Games of the
Former World Champion, Many Annotated by Alekhine, with 1868 Diagrams, Fully
Indexed, adding With A Foreword by Alex A. Aljechin. That
alone should get your heart thumping. After all, that’s almost 1,000
games more than the earlier (unannotated) The Games of Alekhine
(1992) by Caparrós and Lahde, and over 1,200 more than what is contained in
the Alekhine file in Six World Champions (2006). ChessBase’s
“World Champion Alekhine” by Dr. Huebner claims to contain over 2000 games,
but again that’s a database CD.
The nearest competition to Skinner and Verhoeven’s massive work (think:
large metropolitan area phone book – hard cover – weighing almost
5 pounds) is Khalifman’s three-book Alexander Alekhine Games set
containing 1,395 games, all annotated in language-less Informant-style.
More games or more annotations, which do you prefer? Alexander
Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902-1946 has 413 games annotated with words by
Alekhine (yes, I counted them) – going up to perhaps 450 if you include
games with multiple “!” or “!?” or “??” in them – with most of the
commentary coming from lesser-known sources. I offered to do a
face-to-face review of the two books, but Chess Stars so far has declined.
(Semko, didn’t I treat your books fairly with my reviews of
Challenging the Sicilian with 2.a3!? and
Latest Trends In the Semi-Slav: Anti-Meran ?) A warm “Foreword” gives the reflections of Alekhine’s son, including “The intuitive play of my father should provide great pleasure and motivation for chess players everywhere…” The “Preface” gives the rationale “The reader is invited to assess Alekhine’s chess genius by examining a large collection of his games, many of which are given with his own annotations.” This is, first and foremost, the story of Alekhine’s chess life, not a biography. From Chapter 1, “Correspondence Events 1902-1904: Aleksandr or Aleksei?” (with a short essay addressing which early correspondence games were played by which “A.A. Alekhine”, and on the discovery of some of Alexander’s early chess notebooks) to Chapter 36, “The Final Phase 1945-1946” and Chapter 37 “Miscellaneous Unallocated Games” the chronology of Alekhine’s chess life is laid out, event by event, game by game. The authors give the names of the tournament or event, location and date at the beginning of each group of games, frequently giving details of the evening: Simultaneous Display in Brooklyn, New York, 28 March 1929
Often in his exhibitions Alekhine appears pleasant and business-like, but sometimes the stresses take hold (not unexpected for someone who in 1941 estimated that he had played 50,000 games). Such an incident as the following goes a long way in illustrating the differences between human chess players and computer chess players! Simultaneous Display at the Iris Park, Barcelona, 24 January 1928
Alekhine – V.
Sassot By the way, Alekhine’s casual games, a long suit in this book, should not be overlooked, in light of his comments in On the Road to the World Championship 1923-1927 (1932):
There is much to savor in playing through Alekhine’s games, as he develops into a young master, begins playing internationally, catches up and then passes his peers, and finally wrests the World Championship from Capablanca. A decade of strength is then followed by his shocking loss of the title to Euwe. Alekhine rehabilitates himself and his game, recaptures the championship, and plays strongly, even as he disappears into the fog of the Second World War, from which he emerges a shadow of himself. The admonition to study the games of the masters may start with Morphy, but anyone wishing to develop his or her dynamic play should turn to Alekhine as soon as possible. He played a wide range of openings, classical and hypermodern. His study, preparation, and dynamic play was quite “modern” for its day. There is a value, too, in getting out the board and pieces (along with the book) and physically moving the pieces, instead of clicking quickly and then asking Fritz or Rybka what is happening. (Darn that 4-letter word again, w-o-r-k.) Here is a favorite of mine – in Alexander Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902 - 1946. Alekhine’s notes from Shakhmaty 1925 are given. Marshall, at the peak of his game, is given no time to breathe, and suffers unmitigated disaster.
Alekhine, Alexander - Marshall, Frank
Chapter 38 gives the crosstables from “Alekhine’s Tournament Record 1902-1945”, from the Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie Correspondence Tournament No. 6 in 1902-1903 through the Consultation Tournament in Cáceres, 1945. The following chapter lays out “Alekhine’s Career Record 1902-1945” by year, listing the matches, tournaments and various informal games and exhibitions – along with the place he finished, the number of games he played, and his wins, losses and draws. Impressive overviews of an impressive career. The Bibliography reflects the large amount of research that the authors conducted. A whopping seven double-columned pages of sources...
There follows a very helpful “Index of Alekhine’s Opponents and Consultation Partners” and then two Opening Indexes, one by Descriptive Classification (e.g. Grünfeld Defense) and one by ECO Classification. So, if you want to see if Alekhine played the Blackmar or Englund Gambits, or how he did in his game against the Section italienne Comité militaire interalliée, you can find out quickly. 3) This book is worth special efforts to obtain. Listed at $125 at the McFarland website – although a search of Internet resources can probably lower the price about $30 – Alexander Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902-1946, admittedly, requires a sizeable financial investment to acquire. Other than the 5-volume set of the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, the 3-volume set of Lettisch Gambiet by L.C.M. Diepstraten in mint condition and the 2-volume collection of Petrosian’s games by Shekhtman, I have no individual purchase on my bookshelves that compares. So I am tempted to content myself with the standard bromides: see if you can get your chess club to buy it for its library, or the local library to buy it for its Reference shelves. (Claim a birthday each month. Recycle aluminum cans. Levy a “chess tax” on family members and relatives. Announce that it’s a necessary part of Homeland Security.) Sadly, despite its excellence, not everybody is going to be able to afford this treasure. Yet we are talking about Alekhine here: one of the best players to ever have pushed a pawn, and whose style of play is more accessible than that of two of his predecessors Steinitz and Lasker. The study of his games and notes should be a part of every developing chess player’s syllabus. At the very least, Alekhine’s affordable My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937 (two volumes bound as one) should be played through cover-to-cover. So, if you’re
thinking that in order to improve your play you must have a new
professional database program, or you must have the latest and
greatest chess playing software, or you must have an ebony and ivory
chess set and board – perhaps somewhere in that budget is room for
Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902 – 1946.
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