Schacksnack

Most people consider Bronstein’s tournament book from 1953 to be the world’s best tournament book, but now another indispensable tournament book has been released in an English translation that can definitely compete with Bronstein’s. The one we are referring to is Keres’ book about the 1948 World Championship tournament. So, what does it mean for a tournament book to be of high quality? The perfect tournament book is the one that increases your playing strength when you go through the games. It should be pedagogical. Bronstein’s book was like that, and so is Keres’. From my own experience, I realized the value of centralizing the queen when I came across Bronstein’s classic. What he conveys cannot be found in any other book. I was so impressed by his ideas that I even managed to trap my queen in a game against Peter Backe in the Swedish Championship in Lindesberg in 1993. I later repeated this ”impossible” feat in a game against Bengt Lindberg in a weekend tournament in Västerås 2012.

Keres, among other things, implicitly conveys how to play correctly with the rooks. Naturally, these great players/authors provide many other insightful and pedagogical comments, so the general message is that the ambitious player should go through all the games at a moderate pace while assimilating the comments. It may be wise to underline the instructive comments to counteract the treacherous pitfalls of forgetfulness. After finishing the book, one can focus on the underlined parts. Since no book is tailor-made, you can make it so yourself with thoughtful markings, marginal notes, or underlines. It is wrong, as many people think, to believe that you shouldn’t write in a book because it makes it used. In fact, this method is the most convenient way to become a better chess player. Not only do you improve as a chess player by reading the book, but you also absorb the way chess was played at that time, as a natural meeting between generations occurs. Lastly, there is an entertaining aspect to enjoying this book, which ultimately makes chess training truly enjoyable. Who can resist such an almost perfect book?

The primary purpose of this tournament was to determine a new world champion since Alekhine tragically passed away as the world champion in 1946. The World Championship tournament took place two years later, before the King’s Indian and Sicilian revolution had come into effect. If one is interested in such games, the Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 should primarily be studied to gain background knowledge and an increased understanding of these complex systems. In Keres’ tournament book, there is only one King’s Indian and one Sicilian game. The dominant opening is the Spanish game. Therefore, it is an excellent book for e4 players and for black players who play classically. Keres’ comments are exceptionally pedagogical even in the opening, with many enriching textual explanations. The yellow highlighter will run out many times for those who are not too familiar with the open games or who want to switch to a solid system. The second most popular opening is the Grünfeld, so there is plenty of material even for the aggressive and dynamic black player like Grandelius.

We owe our gratitude to Jan Verendel for making it possible to finally (better late than never!) read the book in English. He created the ideal conditions for it and published it through his own Verendel Publishing. He put a lot of effort into the book for several years and was very pleased that it managed to be published in the magical year 2016, the year when Keres would have turned 100.

Verendel got the idea to translate the book when he heard that Kasparov and Gelfand had mentioned this book as one of the very best. In fact, Kasparov even claimed that this is one of the three best books in world literature. What are the other two? My System and ?. If there is one thing Kasparov is known for among the initiated, it is that he does not sprinkle praise unnecessarily. Verendel realized that this classic had been completely forgotten as it was only available in Russian or Estonian. He managed to find the book at a bookstore in Estonia and then translated it from Estonian during his spare time, which took four years. This also included other tasks such as contacting Keres’ family to buy the rights. GM John Shaw was contacted and became the language editor, as well as IM Ari Ziegler, responsible for layout and international distribution. The book sold about 600 copies in the first month, indicating that it will be a great success. The book can be purchased from Schackkompaniet for 275 SEK, which is a steal in this context. At the time of writing, there are 32 copies left, so take the opportunity before it’s too late. I know from my own experience that really good chess literature runs out too quickly, and then one is left to compete with chess collectors in auctions, where they drive up the prices even higher than the original price. The book is hardcover with a substantial content spread over 500 pages. It is an excellent book to have next to the chessboard in your study, and you can treat yourself to playing through one game five days a week. It would only take ten weeks to go through this brick since it contains 50 very well-commented games with giants like Botvinnik, Euwe, Fine, Keres, Smyslov, and Reshevsky. Each cycle consists of five rounds with 10 games, and Mr. Free round naturally reduced the number of games, but on the other hand, this provided a much-needed rest day for the players to create the best possible quality chess. Therefore, there was no need for quick draws as in our days with double rounds and tight schedules.

Any chess player or chess enthusiast who misses out on this book is making a mistake that they will probably regret for the rest of their chess life. Here is a little teaser for those who are considering not buying the book to show what potential non-buyers will miss out on.

Mikhail Botvinnik – Max Euwe
World Chess Championship (4), 04.03.1948
[Keres]

How does White continue?

12.Rae1 White places his rooks in attacking positions, where they will later support the advance of the e- and f-pawns. For this reason, it is clear that the queen’s rook had to be played to e1, and not the king’s rook, which will later be needed on the f-file. (en typisk pedagogisk kommentar som boken kryllar av! red. anm.) Although White achieves splendid success with the text-manoeuvre, it is still not the strongest continuation and, on the contrary, gives Black the chance to equalize the position completely. It is apparent that Black’s main strategic plan is the …e5-e4 advance, as the …exd4 exchange would open up the e-file and give White a clear advantage. This advance is however not possible at the moment due to the simple reply Nxe4, as Black’s bishop on a5 is unprotected. Therefore one could expect Black to move the a5-bishop, most naturally to the c7-square. White had to thwart this, and it was possible with the positionally useful retreat 12.Ba2!. Now 12…Bc7 is no longer possible due to the reply 13.Nb5 , and secondly Black has to consider the threat of13.Nd5. If for example12…Bb6, then 13.Rae1! and Black has run out of reasonable moves. It seems that White could have maintained an opening advantage with 12.Ba2!, but the edge gradually vanishes after the hasty text-move.

Thomas Engqvist