Bobby Fischer's Outrageous Chess Moves: A Study of 101 Outrageous Moves by the Greatest Chess Champion of All Time

I like this little book. It's a good one in that you don't even need a chess set handy to work through all the possibilities in your head, as there are very few 10-move or so combinations and variations to try to keep track of like in many combination books, so this ends up being a good a "mobile" chess book in that it can be read and enjoyed anywhere, like Reinfeld's 1001 combinations/1001 checkmates books can. I'm no great chess player, so it's hard for me to just go through so much in my mind without setting a position up on a board and playing through it. Some of the things Fischer did were of such sublime tactical genius that they show a level of creativity in planning that approaches aesthetic art, rather than being reduced to pure technique or sterile computer reasoning. The move in game 65 is one such example, even if a computer would indeed see it. That said, some of the combinations in this book are less than thrilling and certainly not "outrageous," but examples of good play - some of which are so obvious that beginning players with knowledge of simple tactics (forks, pins, discoveries, etcetera) will spot them instantly and probably not be too bowled over by them. I've seen 2-move chess problems that have had me much more perplexed, many from real games. To be fair, as other reviewers have pointed out, these easy ones rate a "1" on Pandolfini's difficulty scale, but as an example, what's so outrageous about Fischer's capitalizing on Taimanov's blunder in game 21 with Qd4, setting up a rook and king fork? Answer: Nothing outrageous. Any run-of-the mill pub player with enough talent to think for a moment before making the next move would spot this one almost reflexively, despite Taimanov missing it - that's why they call it a blunder - and everyone makes them from time to time, including grandmasters. It's still not genius to see it, and this problem is filler to make the 101 number, as far as I'm concerned. There are a few other examples. Again, it's not my place to nitpick this book apart or to be some arbiter of genius versus not genius or outrageous versus pedestrian. The book does show a wealth of things that are truly surprising and inspiring to those who wish to improve their tactical play, and it reinforces the axiom time and again that we should "see the whole board."

I found this a refreshing change from the usual chess problem or instructional book. Here you can play through the book and score yourself to see how well you do. Then you go back through them again to see how you can improve with better understanding. It's also good for returning to after a good time has passed, and see if you do better or worse. The difficulty levels are randomized so you will find problems of varying difficulties throughout the book. I think this is good as you don't know what will be coming on the next move until you get there. If someone wants to do them in order of difficulty, it could be done simply by going through and doing all the ones first, then the twos, etc. Also while it might not be most helpful to one's own game to experience only what occurs at those critical moments, one can practice through how Fischer actually developed the opportunities for these outrageous moves by checking the entire games out in the back of the book. While the other more standard problem and instructional books remain important, I wish more like this one were published.

This is an excellent book! It really exceeded my expectations tremendously! Keep in mind what is meant by "Outrageous Moves"... many of the indicated moves in this book (though not all of them) are FORCING MOVES, which you have to learn to discern when to make such a move. Studying Fischer sets you on that path and Pandolfini guides the reader, assisting in gleaning Fischer's didactic ways. I think it can strike some people with less of an effect, though, if you just go through the book the way it's presented. The diagrams, clues and solutions are actually presented as best as they can be (except for the diagram to game 25, the White Queen should be on h3 instead of h4), it's just that you, the reader, would do well to take a folded rectangular slice of paper with tape at the top of it and cover the bottom part of each page as you go so you won't see the answers. That way you can set up the diagrammed position on your own chessboard, read Pandolfini's clue, and take a certain amount of time to try to figure out what Fischer figured out. To take it a step further, I suggest you don't even read Pandolfini's clue until you find that you can't figure out the solution in 10 minutes (then go back to trying to figure out the position for another 10 to 25 minutes. [Keep score as you go through the whole book])... I suggest that last part because I found that some of Pandolfini's clues were too revealing, but such clues are kept to a minimum. The level-of-difficulty indicators (1 through 5) were a big help too... but when you're looking at a position in a real-life, over-the-board game, you don't get to see a 1 or a 5 in the corner of the table. As if all of that weren't enough, when you finally do finish studying a position after you've read the answer, STUDY THE ENTIRE GAME SCRUPULOUSLY via the full notation in the back of the book (which has no commentary, but through filling in your own notes (get a 3-ring notebook)!, you'll force yourself to see even more than you thought you could)!! I think it was a sad oversight for Pandolfini to neglect to mention that the full notations for all the games are given in the back of the book; just imagine someone getting through a major portion of the book and then they discover that they could have been studying the entire games via the notation in the back of the book...! (by the way, Game 76 has another Outrageous Move [19....Bg4!] found only in the full notation). All of the aforementioned is a major shortcoming of the way this book is presented... Pandolfini doesn't instruct you TO MAKE A STUDY COURSE out of this book; maybe, he just expected every reader to have been familiar already with his "Solitaire Chess" section of "Chess Life" Magazine and to take it upon themselves to do the aforementioned anyway. I got SO MUCH out of doing it that way (on Fritz 8 Deluxe, by the way. I saved the games with my own notes [on my external hard drive] and now I have 101, little "CHESS MOVIES")! By the way, many of these

Any chess player can read this book; it briefly describes Algebraic Notation in case you're a beginner. The book gives 101 diagrams from Fischers games -all are dated and the specific place or Tournament is listed. The list of his opponents is remarkable e.g., Byrne,Tal,Geller,Petrosian,Larsen,Spassky,etc starting about 1956 to 1978. Mr. Pandolfini gives the level of difficulty from 1 to 5 for each diagram-one large diagram on each page. You cover the answer under the diagram and try to figure out Bobby's moves, there is a hint also. The answers are briefly explained, some more detailed than others. Also nice is he gives the complete game moves in the back of the book.

As it is said, there are atmost one/two moves in a chess game that decides the fate of it, this book is a collection of such moves and such moments of the games where one move makes the difference.In many of the games Fischer is lagging pieces, the game suddenly ends while the opponents pieces helplessly watch (and some cased help by hindering the king move) while the kingdom crumbles down to its knees. I am not a pro, I usually lose against players with rating 2300 and above, many of the moves have been eye openers for me, while in all honesty some of the moves are very predictable.If this book creates a aura of Fischer never losing, I'll strongly suggest 'How to beat Bobby Fischer' in addition to this book.