Friday, September 14, 2018

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played Paperback – October 7, 2014 by Irving Chernev (Batsford)



This is an algebraic notation update of one of the classics of the chess literature. Go back a couple of generations, and it was one of a relatively small number of worthwhile games collections suitable for post-beginner and intermediate players. And while a zillion instructive games collections have been written since then, this is still one to consider. Why? Well, honestly, not all games collections are created equal, and some come off as sloppily done ( one British writer, in his 1.d4 d5 section, starts with a game where ...d5 isn't played for many moves, eg. Weird!), while Chernev's book is a true 'labor of love'. Chernev wasn't an extremely strong player, maybe not even of master strength, but his amazing passion for the game, his knack for finding fascinating and instructive games, is put to great use here. This book is more advanced than his all-time classic 'Logical Chess Move By Move', so start with that one if you are a beginner. Then this one would be a fine second collection to go through. You will get a fine selection, with some absolute classics, and also some more hidden gems found in Chernev's apparent quest to study practically every game of merit he could find. Chernev's analysis will be found to be lacking in many lines, especially with a computer's help, but his general instructional comments are quite worthwhile for newer players, and the selection of games is both generous and well chosen. After these two books, consider Giddins' two wonderfull collections, and work your way up eventually to Nunn's far more advanced collection 'Understanding Chess Move By Move'. Highly recommended.

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