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The Alpha and the Omega
Vienna 1922 was one of those tournaments the chess world dreams about, the kind now referred to as super-tournaments, and featuring all (or almost all) the strongest players of the day. Alekhine. Rubenstein. Tartakower. Tarrasch. Spielmann. Reti. Bogoljubow. Etc. Fifteen of the very strongest players of the time, save only for Jose Capablanca and Emmanuel Lasker, participated in this, the first great international tournament since the end of the first World War. In his introduction to this current edition, IM John Donaldson notes that while "it was Akiba Rubenstein who was to turn in an outstanding success scoring an undefeated 11½ from 14 to finish a point and half ahead of second place Tartakover and two and a half (!) points ahead of Alekhine...Vienna 1922 was an aberration, that the future would belong to Alexander Alekhine, but for fans of the great Rubenstein this was one last chance to dream that he might yet battle for the world championship title." In 1948 a 16-year old American kid was so taken by the games from this event that he was inspired to annotate all 103 of them. Then he audaciously cranked out 300 mimeographed copies with plastic-ring binding, offering them for the then "astronomical" sum of $35. Thus began the chess publishing career of one Larry Evans, who would go on to become one of America's most-read chess writers. Chess-wise, Grandmaster Evans' career was studded with successes, including five US Championships, four US Open Championships, and five Chess Olympiad medals, including both individual and team gold. As for Evan's writing career, he will always be remembered as Bobby Fischer's writing partner in the classic My 60 Memorable Games, his popular Chess Life column as well as his long-running syndicated chess column Evans On Chess, which at it's height appeared in more than 50 newspapers throughout the United States. Then there are more than 20 books to his credit as well, including his monumental effort in the 10th Edition of the then chess opening bible Modern Chess Openings. This current edition will serve as Evan's swan song. Even as it was being prepared to go to press, the world learned of his passing. So the book that was his first, also becomes his last. The alpha and the omega of his writing career. For this edition Evans was persuaded to update his original volume, making use of figurine algebraic notation, diagrams (2-4 per page) and player photographs and images. This is a book that should be in the collection of any serious chess book collector. The average chess enthusiast will both enjoy it both for it's didactic value as well as for it's historic significance. I recommend it wholeheartedly. No matter how many years some souls pass upon this earth, we will always say about them that they were taken from us too soon, before their time. So it is with Larry Evans. Larry passed on November 15, 2010 at just 78 years of age. Click on each image below for a different perspective on this giant who once walked among us.
As Evans wrote in a final note to the original edition of
this book, "And with this game so ends the Vienna International Tournament
1922. It has been a pleasure annotating these gems that I believe are too
fine ever to be consigned to oblivion." And with his live so well lived, so
it is with Larry Evans also - too fine ever to be consigned to oblivion. Read also on Chessville: Larry Parr's Interview with GM Evans
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No, I am not trying to deify Larry Evans. Nay, we come to
bury Larry, not to praise him. Though about this book we can say the
reverse - we come to praise it, not to bury it.
