Nicks Best Selected Games of Bryon Nickoloff

NICK'S BEST: Selected Games of Bryon Nickoloff
Author: Lawrence Day
Chess'n Match Association (2007)
www.chess-math.org
295 pages
$29.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

NICK'S BEST is a book that deserves a place in the library of all chess lovers.

A good games collection, a book that will last forever unlike the dime a dozen opening books churned out each year, requires certain things. First and foremost the subject of the book needs to be a strong player with an interesting style; second it helps if they have led an interesting life and if the reader is able to gain some insight into who they are by reading the book. Good annotations are a must as are some pictures and crosstables. A nice layout and comprehensive player, opening and general indices are a bonus. NICK'S BEST has all these features.

Toronto IM Lawrence Day, who knew Bryon Nickoloff as a good friend for several decades, is well qualified to write this tribute to one of Canada's best players from the early 1970s to his premature death in 2004 at 48 from Hodgkin's disease. Nickoloff, who Paul Keres specially pointed to as a great talent during his tour of Canada in 1975, represented his country in six Olympiads but never fully realized his potential. Nickoloff loved chess deeply and was a dedicated student of the game, but as we learn he did not lead a normal lifestyle. Like many of Caissa's best pupils he was "no enemy of the bottle," which adversely affected him throughout his career. What are left are his games and the memories of his friends and competitors.

Most of the book, which includes 73 deeply-annotated games and many more fragments, is written by Day but there are also tributes by Canadian GM Kevin Spraggett and IMs Deen Hergott, Leon Piatsetski and Brian Hartman, to mention but a few.

The games, which include a smooth positional win over Croatian GM Krunoslav Hulak and a near win (draw) as Black versus Alexey Shirov, are a mini-course on certain openings. Nickoloff, who possessed a classical style, stuck with many of the same openings throughout his career. Particularly noteworthy was his expertise on the White side of the Gligoric (7.Be3) variation of the King's Indian and his mastery of the Archangel (5...Bb7) Ruy Lopez as Black -- a system in which he was ahead of theory for much of his life.

Day knew Nickoloff well. They bonded over a 3-day bus trip from Toronto to Lone Pine and roomed together at several Olympiads, often times in challenging circumstances. Their friendship and many adventures have given Day the material to present a nuanced view of Nickoloff and he has done a fine job at capturing the various character traits that could make Bryon simultaneously so fascinating and frustrating.

Rounding out Nick's Best are 21 combinations to solve. The layout is clean, the photos and crosstables are crisp, and the cover is neatly produced.

I recommend this book without reservation.

Click to buy (or get more information about) NICK'S BEST