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I heard that the new book on Nakamura had been published, so ordered it from Olms in Germany on Monday night and the postman dropped it off this morning, Friday. Practically instant gratification!
It’s the very first book on Nakamura and has a host of authors – Prologue by Lubosh Kavalek and the body of the book by Karsten Muller and Raymund Stolze. It has been translated by Ian Adams and edited by Ken Neat. Nakamura himself gives an 11-page interview about the influence of his family, his “coach/second”, his training and chess professionalism.
47 fully annotated games are presented. All the thirteen games from Wijk aan Zee, January 2011 appear. He won the tournament ahead of World Champion Anand, Carlsen, Aronian and Kramnik.
Two games from the Toronto Open 2009 appear – with A. Samsonkin and with M. Barron.
To show his will-to-win at any price, his endgame with Zhu Chen, Corus 2004 is given – his rook vs the black knight going for 60 more moves. Then the author quotes two endgames of Bobby Fischer, where he similarly played on and on against Pal Benko and Daniel Yanofsky. The latter was at the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal and went to move 112, when Yanofsky resigned.
There are an endgame test for the reader and one of tactics taken from Nakamura’s games, his five best games, a blitz game with Akobian transcribed from YouTube and references all over the place to Bobby Fischer.
I am unclear as to the difference between bullet chess and blitz but if I were to admit that to Chesstalk readers, I would be eaten alive.
It is a very entertaining book – not at all a linear progression of games from the start of his career to the present but 231 pages of his contests with interesting nuggets scattered in.
The volume is beautifully produced by Olms with tournament record at the end, a full bibliography, the usual indices and a table with Nakamura’s rating development and world ranking.
Indeed, he is such a good example of improvement in chess that this would be an excellent Christmas present for younger players.
It’s the very first book on Nakamura and has a host of authors – Prologue by Lubosh Kavalek and the body of the book by Karsten Muller and Raymund Stolze. It has been translated by Ian Adams and edited by Ken Neat. Nakamura himself gives an 11-page interview about the influence of his family, his “coach/second”, his training and chess professionalism.
47 fully annotated games are presented. All the thirteen games from Wijk aan Zee, January 2011 appear. He won the tournament ahead of World Champion Anand, Carlsen, Aronian and Kramnik.
Two games from the Toronto Open 2009 appear – with A. Samsonkin and with M. Barron.
To show his will-to-win at any price, his endgame with Zhu Chen, Corus 2004 is given – his rook vs the black knight going for 60 more moves. Then the author quotes two endgames of Bobby Fischer, where he similarly played on and on against Pal Benko and Daniel Yanofsky. The latter was at the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal and went to move 112, when Yanofsky resigned.
There are an endgame test for the reader and one of tactics taken from Nakamura’s games, his five best games, a blitz game with Akobian transcribed from YouTube and references all over the place to Bobby Fischer.
I am unclear as to the difference between bullet chess and blitz but if I were to admit that to Chesstalk readers, I would be eaten alive.
It is a very entertaining book – not at all a linear progression of games from the start of his career to the present but 231 pages of his contests with interesting nuggets scattered in.
The volume is beautifully produced by Olms with tournament record at the end, a full bibliography, the usual indices and a table with Nakamura’s rating development and world ranking.
Indeed, he is such a good example of improvement in chess that this would be an excellent Christmas present for younger players.
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