What is the best chess book ever written? - by A.J. Goldsby

A.J. Goldsby writes -

Thanks for the posting of the last blog (What constitutes beauty? - by A.J. Goldsby Saturday, February 21. 2009 ) - as usual - good job! (I also enjoyed your blog on "Oscar Night," although this had nothing to do with chess!)

Many people have asked me what I consider to be the best chess book ever written. I have always been willing to share my thoughts on this subject, see this page for more details.

Now that I am 51, I think my views have changed a bit. I used to think that "The Art of Chess Analysis" (by GM Jan Timman) was best, but these opinions were primarily formed when I was a teenager. Now I would be inclined to think that it might be David Bronstein's book on the 1953 Candidates Tournament. (I think the official title is "The Chess Struggle in Practice.")

Of course, there are dozens of different possible categories, like "Best Instructional Book," or "The Best Book on a Match," etc.

Do you have any thoughts on this subject?

Editor's comments

Glad you liked Oscar Night! Since then I've discovered more about some of Hollywood's great actors, details which I'd hope to post on soon.

I'd give my favourite chess book as CHESS SECRETS I LEARNED FROM THE MASTERS, by Edward Lasker (1951).

Edward Lasker

Edward Lasker was born in Germany in 1885. He graduated in Engineering, became an acknowledged Master and won the Championship of Berlin. He became friends with his near-namesake, Emmanuel Laster, to whom he introduced the Japanese game of GO. Shortly before the outbreak of World War One his employer sent him to England, from where he travelled to the USA.

CHESS SECRETS is Lasker's autobiography. I love the descriptions Lasker gives of the many chess masters that he knew, including World Champions Emmanuel Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine. The book is supplemented by an artist's amusing sketches of many of the masters that Lasker mentions, giving the reader of what the masters looked like as people. My father bought this book during the period of his interest in chess and I have read through it often.

Another book that I would revisit regularly is ARON NIMZOWITSCH: A REAPRAISAL, by Ray Keene (1974). Keene wrote the book as a supplement to Nimzo's own MY SYSTEM and CHESS PRAXIS, but the REAPPRAISAL can stand comfortably on its own. It was one of the very few books in English that was translated into Russian. (I wonder if Ray ever received any roubles for that?)

Keene discusses Nimzo's tournament career (the tournament tables are excellent) and analyses many of Nimzo's greatest games - favourites for me are Nimzo's victories over Alekhine (New York, 1927) and Spielmann (Carlsbad, 1929) where the stakes were of the highest. And Keene discusses the various themes occurring in Nimzo's games and his (unequalled) contribution to opening theory.

A curiosity is the book's transitional position in time. Up to then descriptive notation had been the norm in the English-speaking countries, but Keene was naturally familiar with the algebraic notation used on the continent. Although the book uses descriptive generally, on several occasions Keene employs algebraic in the text. in Rather than refer to "White's QN7" (for example), Keene will write "b7". Within a few years, England went over to the more concise algebraic notation completely.

Then there are the well known collections, Fischer's MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES (1969), Kasparov's GREAT PREDECESSORS series. I would add Golombek's CAPABLANCA'S 100 BEST GAMES OF CHESS (1947) and Alekhine's MY BEST GAMES OF CHESS (Bell, 2 volumes).

I did meet David Bronstein once, at Hastings. A charming gentleman, Bronstein spoke good English. Amazing to consider that the chess Grandmaster was a cousin of Lev Bronstein, who became better known as Leon Trotsky.

Interested to hear other people's book choices.

And my congratulations to A.J. on the excellent content of his website. Easy to understand why he's a far stronger player than me!