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iwb's review
3.0
This is a history of the famous Hastings International Tournament from its beginning in 1895 (considered the first 'elite' international tournament, and won by American phenom, Pillsbury 16.5 points, ahead of such luminaries as Tchigorin, Lasker, Tarrasch, Steinitz, Teichmann, Marco, and Blackburne) to 1990 (won by Dolmatov). The history part of this book is exceptionally boring; that is, when it's not about the players--and much of it is not about the players. Who cares about who the presidents of the Hastings Chess Club were? Not chessplayers. Maybe two or three historians in the entire world?
The book has other virtues.
There are at approximately 35+ games from various years, all of which were chosen by GM Raymond Keene to be the the most interesting or historically significant ones played. So we have, to take a few old chestnuts, Pillsbury-Tarrasch 1895, Lasker-Steinitz 1895, Steinitz-Van Bardeleben 1895, and two rare Capablanca defeats at the hand of Sultan Khan 1930-31, and Lilienthal 1934-35.
(All notation is algebraic.)
One among many gems in here is: Bisguier--Littlewood 1961/62 has a very aesthetically pleasing ending in the notes (had white not resigned but played to mate) that I likely would never had seen apart from this book. The final mate position should have its own name, its so nice. How about Littlewood's Mate? The game ends at 23...Nxg3+ 0-1 but consider the following: ...23 Nxg3+ 24. Kg1 Nde2+ 25. Kf2 Qxh2+ 26. Ke1 Nc3+ 27. Qe4 Qe2+! 28. Qxe2 Rxe2#
All the games are annotated from previous publications and with various different annotators, including Keene, Alekhine, Capablanca, Golembek, Botvinnik, Basman, Smejkal, Portisch, Hartston, Bronstein, Suba, and some just listed as from Chess magazine or British Chess Magazine.
There is an appendix of the final wall chart standing for each tournament, as well as list with brief biographical details of the various Presidents of the Hastings Chess Club. A players index and opening index are appreciated here.
Lastly, and this was the selling point for me, black and white glossy photos of players (and some HCC Presidents) that are hard to come by: Vera Menchik 1930, Capa in 1929 in play, Mir Sultan Khan in play 1929/30, Flohr 1937 in play, Sir George Thomas 1939, Alekhine addressing the congress in 1937, Szabo in play, Mieses at play in 1945/46 (he was the last survivor of the original 1895 event), 21 year old Canadian Yanofsky dueling at the board with veteran Tartakower, Euwe at play in 1949, Hungarian masters Dr. Bely and Lengyel in play, Botvinnik in play 1961/62, Hastings Hero, Enigma codebreaker, and IM C.H.O.D. Alexander in play 1947, Keres and Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili analyzing, a 14 year old Brazilian prodigy Mecking at the board (the youngest player at the time ever to play in the premier section of Hastings), Basman in play 1966, Suetin and Gheorghiu analyzing 1967/68, a young, thin, long haired Jan Timman in play, a great opponent's eye-view of Smyslov in play 1969/70, Glogoric and Unzicker analyzing, Korchnoi 1971/72, Karpov 1971/72, the 1972/73 playing hall featuring analog demo boards in the background while GM Wolfgang Ulhmann looks at Westerinen's game, with Hartson on the next board calculating, Beliavsky and Vaganian analyzing, Golembek presenting a check, Nunn and Chandler in battle 1987/88, and a wonderful pic of Judit Polgar aged 12, wielding her trophy after winning the Challenger's section 1988/89.
Brief historical blurbs accompany each chapter for the years in question. Some of the info here is about the organizers and presidents of the club. Sometimes the info has to do with events and how the tournament was affected by them (such as the breakout of war, and so forth).
Again, I could have done without the info about the club presidents and organizers--players don't give a hoot about those people. We are interested in the chess players, their stories, and their games. More games, fewer accounts of non-chessplayers.
Get this book for the photos and then for a wide span of annotated games from sources dating back to 1895-1990.
The book has other virtues.
There are at approximately 35+ games from various years, all of which were chosen by GM Raymond Keene to be the the most interesting or historically significant ones played. So we have, to take a few old chestnuts, Pillsbury-Tarrasch 1895, Lasker-Steinitz 1895, Steinitz-Van Bardeleben 1895, and two rare Capablanca defeats at the hand of Sultan Khan 1930-31, and Lilienthal 1934-35.
(All notation is algebraic.)
One among many gems in here is: Bisguier--Littlewood 1961/62 has a very aesthetically pleasing ending in the notes (had white not resigned but played to mate) that I likely would never had seen apart from this book. The final mate position should have its own name, its so nice. How about Littlewood's Mate? The game ends at 23...Nxg3+ 0-1 but consider the following: ...23 Nxg3+ 24. Kg1 Nde2+ 25. Kf2 Qxh2+ 26. Ke1 Nc3+ 27. Qe4 Qe2+! 28. Qxe2 Rxe2#
All the games are annotated from previous publications and with various different annotators, including Keene, Alekhine, Capablanca, Golembek, Botvinnik, Basman, Smejkal, Portisch, Hartston, Bronstein, Suba, and some just listed as from Chess magazine or British Chess Magazine.
There is an appendix of the final wall chart standing for each tournament, as well as list with brief biographical details of the various Presidents of the Hastings Chess Club. A players index and opening index are appreciated here.
Lastly, and this was the selling point for me, black and white glossy photos of players (and some HCC Presidents) that are hard to come by: Vera Menchik 1930, Capa in 1929 in play, Mir Sultan Khan in play 1929/30, Flohr 1937 in play, Sir George Thomas 1939, Alekhine addressing the congress in 1937, Szabo in play, Mieses at play in 1945/46 (he was the last survivor of the original 1895 event), 21 year old Canadian Yanofsky dueling at the board with veteran Tartakower, Euwe at play in 1949, Hungarian masters Dr. Bely and Lengyel in play, Botvinnik in play 1961/62, Hastings Hero, Enigma codebreaker, and IM C.H.O.D. Alexander in play 1947, Keres and Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili analyzing, a 14 year old Brazilian prodigy Mecking at the board (the youngest player at the time ever to play in the premier section of Hastings), Basman in play 1966, Suetin and Gheorghiu analyzing 1967/68, a young, thin, long haired Jan Timman in play, a great opponent's eye-view of Smyslov in play 1969/70, Glogoric and Unzicker analyzing, Korchnoi 1971/72, Karpov 1971/72, the 1972/73 playing hall featuring analog demo boards in the background while GM Wolfgang Ulhmann looks at Westerinen's game, with Hartson on the next board calculating, Beliavsky and Vaganian analyzing, Golembek presenting a check, Nunn and Chandler in battle 1987/88, and a wonderful pic of Judit Polgar aged 12, wielding her trophy after winning the Challenger's section 1988/89.
Brief historical blurbs accompany each chapter for the years in question. Some of the info here is about the organizers and presidents of the club. Sometimes the info has to do with events and how the tournament was affected by them (such as the breakout of war, and so forth).
Again, I could have done without the info about the club presidents and organizers--players don't give a hoot about those people. We are interested in the chess players, their stories, and their games. More games, fewer accounts of non-chessplayers.
Get this book for the photos and then for a wide span of annotated games from sources dating back to 1895-1990.
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