Winning Chess Brilliancies

When it comes to books that cover BRILLIANT GAMES(usually short games), OPENING TRAPS and sacrifices, then I can spend all day going over them!!! Not all the games in "Winning Chess Brilliancies" are short, or involve opening traps. They often are deeper ideas where some deep idea that is well thought out is used. I like the selection of games here!

In this enthralling book, Seirwan describes 12 recent games, all between GrandMasters. Normally, I would not recommend a modern master's game collection to beginners. The moves are just too counter-intuitive to be instructive. However, Seirawan does an incredibly brilliant job of explaining, in words, the ideas behind the openings, the strategies in the middlegames, and the traps and tactics throughout. The biggest oversight of this book is the absence of a listing of the games. (The table of contents is useless, although the extensive index may have some value.) So here are the games. You could print this out and paste it over the table of contents: Game 1 (Making History) * Fischer v. Spassky 1972 World Championship (6) - Reykjavik Queen's Gambit Declined 1-0 Game 2 (Slaying the Dragon) * Karpov v. Korchnoi 1974 FIDE Candidates Final (2) Sicilian Dragon 1-0 Game 3 (Sparkling Originality) * Ljubojevic v. Andersson 1976 Hoovgoven Tournament - Wijk ann Zee Sicilian Defense, Scheveningen Variation 1-0 Game 4 (Time-Trouble Misery) Korchnoi v. Karpov 1976 FIDE Championship (17) - Baguio City Nimzo-Indian Defense 0-1 Game 5 (A Sunny Moment) Seirawan v. Karpov 1982 Phillips and Drew (game 11) Queen Gambit Declined, Tartakower-Makogonov-Bondarevsky Var. 1-0 Game 6 (Olympian Effort) Korchnoi v. Kasparov 1982 Lucerne Chess Olympiad Modern Benoni A64 0-1 Game 7 (Experienced Hands) Smyslov v. Ribli 1983 London (match 5) QGD Tarrasch Defense D42 1-0 Game 8 (Supreme Effort) * Beliavsky v. Nunn 1985 Hoovgoven - Wijk aan Zee King's Indian Defense, Saemisch Var. E81 0-1 Game 9 (Moscow Miracle) * Karpov v. Kasparov 1985 (game 16) - Moscow Sicilian Defense B44 0-1 Game 10 ('A la Morphy) Seirawan v. Timman 1990 KRO, Hilversum (game 5) 1-0 Game 11 (Lightning and Thunder) Kasparov v. Karpov 1990 FIDE Championship (20) - Lyon Ruy Lopez Zaitsev C92 1-0 Game 12 (A Rapid Coup)* Ivanchuk v. Yusupov 1991 FIDE Sime-Finals Match (9) - Brussels King's Indian Defense, Fianchetto Var. E67 0-1 (* Indicates a game which also appears in The Mammoth Book of the World's (100) Greatest Chess Games, just to show what other GMs think of these "brilliancies". That book is for more advanced players, over 1600 USCF I think. Of course, Game 11 is deeply annotated in Seirawan's Five Crowns match book.) In the postscript, Seirawan mentions that he'd actually annotated 6 more games but had no room for them. That's very disappointing, as this style of explanation mixed with annotation is rare and valuable. The move-by-move analysis is at a level about mid-way (maybe 1350 USCF) between Chernev's Logical Chess and Nunn's Understanding Chess. But if you have already passed the 1400 USCF level (and do not own the Mammoth games collection) add this to your library. The sometimes deep variations, including analysis from named grandmasters, would satisfy a much stronger player. And a weaker player, down to about 1200, would enjoy reading the text of this book if he ignored all the vari

You should read this for one primary reason: you enjoy playing through and understanding masterpieces. Is it strictly speaking instructive? Probably, but that's not the point. Do most people visit the Metropolitan Museum to learn how to paint? If you're strictly looking to improve your game by playing through GM games, buy The Most Instructive Games Ever Played or Logical Chess Move by Move, or even Barden's self-scoring book. However, if you would attend Linares but you live in the U.S. or if you liked Bronstein's book about the Zurich '53 tournament (I read the Hochberg translation), you will like this one -- a lot!

This is a book for a serious chess player. The only book I can think of that even belongs on the same shelf as this book is, "The Art of Chess Analysis," by GM Jan Timman. This book is surely destined to become a classic. I don't care if you are 600 or 6000, you'll learn something from this book. Beautifully written. A+

Seirawan's Winning Chess Brilliancies is a MUST READ for any serious chess aficcionado. Being a rated strong C player I find most annotated games to be boring and confusing because of the excessive number of side lines. Seirawan found just the right size for the analysis to be included in this book and that provides a delightful reading. He also shows a few "obvious" traps (which for C players and under are not always as obvious) and does an excellent job explaining the subleties of opening play, especially transpositional possibilities. Seirawan starts every game with a small account of the environment in which the games were played. That puts the reader in the right frame of mind to fully appreciate the game and its implications. By the time you finish Fisher vs. Spassky (1972) and Karpov vs. Korchnoi (1974) you will be hooked and wanting to devour the rest of the book. But that's not all. He includes 2 of his own brilliancies which are, of course, wonderfully annotated. I bet you will feel smarter after reading his book! He explains wild tactical shots and complex strategical manouevers with such simplicity, conciseness and clarity that you will actually be able to understand some of those "misterious" grandmaster moves! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.