Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

[Rick Garel]

I'm trying to locate a hardcover copy of this book. Does anyone know where I could look?

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

I'm trying to locate a hardcover copy of this book. Does anyone know where I could look?

IMHO, only real collectors could give you an answer.
The Dover's edition isn't good? I've a hardcover however the third Russian edition with glossy photos. An amazing book - the opening book for KiD's players :D

[Zeljko Kitich]

Re: Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

You can try abebooks.com, but they all seem to be softcover. http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...onal&x=19&y=13

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

I'm trying to locate a hardcover copy of this book. Does anyone know where I could look?

It was also published as "The Chess Struggle in Practice" by a different translator. There are 4 hardcovers for sale on abebooks.com at the moment.

[Gordon Taylor]

Re: Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

I once owned a hardcover edition, most likely "The Chess Struggle in Practice" that Neil refers to. It was in descriptive notation and I thought it was a rather shoddy effort. Soon after I got the hardcover an algebraic edition came out, ably translated by Jim Marfia, in one of those (nearly) indestructible Dover editions. I much preferred the algebraic and sold my hc to Brian McLaren. I also have a Russian edition, but I'd recommend the Dover.

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

I once owned a hardcover edition, most likely "The Chess Struggle in Practice" that Neil refers to. It was in descriptive notation and I thought it was a rather shoddy effort. Soon after I got the hardcover an algebraic edition came out, ably translated by Jim Marfia, in one of those (nearly) indestructible Dover editions. I much preferred the algebraic and sold my hc to Brian McLaren. I also have a Russian edition, but I'd recommend the Dover.

In his excellent 2005 book "Great Chess Books of the Twentieth Century in English" (McFarland), Alex Dunne wrote:

"The Chess Struggle in Practice: Candidates Tournament, Zurich 1953, by David Bronstein, translated by Oscar Freedman (New York: McKay, 499 pages) was published in 1978. In 1979 the Jim Marfia translation was picked up by Dover. By 1982 it had moved to the number 5 best-selling Dover chess book."

As Gordon points out, the Struggle version is in descriptive. That alone would be enough to tip the balance in favor of the Dover title. Flipping through them both, there are obvious differences in the translation, but I don't see anything that would steer me away from the McKay book on the basis of style alone.

Since the Marfia translation is an original Dover commission, there was no hardcover version.

[Gordon Taylor]

Re: Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

Well I guess it's been more than 30 years since I first encountered these two, and so it's somewhat difficult to pin down why I disliked the McKay hardcover. In terms of polish it is actually superior to the Dover. Marfia's translation appeared to me to be of a higher quality--in a preface he speaks of ten years labour and four revisions--but the production is rather weak in that it is just a photocopy of his typed manuscript, and the diagrams are clearly Russian in origin (cut & paste from a Russian text?). Also the text is not right justified, though that can make for an easier read. But the Dover does have large pages (akin to a large trade softcover) and the double column format doesn't leave acres of white space which I recall from the McKay title. I vaguely recall finding typos in the descriptive notation of the McKay title; I don't recall finding any in the Dover. If you want a nice hardcover for the bookshelf you may prefer the McKay title but if you want a book you can work your way through, board to hand, then the Dover is far superior.

[Dan Scoones]

Re: Zurich International Tournament 1953, Bronstein

In my opinion the Dover translation by Marfia is superior to the McKay translation. Unfortunately, both English translators worked from the second Russian edition of 1960, which was substantially abridged by Bronstein for reasons that I've never been able to discover. Happily, the third edition of 1983 was an almost complete restoration of the first edition of 1956. Photos and round summaries were added, but there were a few curious excisions of text that to my eye were completely apolitical. The first edition (of which I have two copies) is still my personal favourite (not the least because it looks, feels, and smells like an old Russian chess book!) There is a reasonable-sounding rumour floating around that before the first edition could be published, Stalin had to die (1953) and Krushchev had to take over (1956). But I'll leave that one to the experts!