GARRY KASPAROV'S GREATEST CHESS GAMES: VOLUME 2

Author: Igor Stohl

Gambit (2006)

www.gambitpublishing.com

352 pages

$35.00

Reviewed by John Donaldson

Last year marked the publication of GARRY KASPAROV'S GREATEST CHESS GAMES: VOLUME 1, which covered the period 1973-1993. When he prepared volume two, stretching from 1994 to 2005, Stohl had no way of knowing that Kasparov would announce his retirement. Now the timing of the series looks prophetic as it covers Kasparov's career in totality. 

GARRY KASPAROV'S GREATEST CHESS GAMES: VOLUME 2 starts off with a nine page introduction that covers the highlights of Garry's career over the past decade and then the games begin. Interestingly, while there are fewer games in this volume (55 to 74) there are more pages devoted to them! Stohl explains in the preface that the extra space allotted to the games was necessary to allow him to provide more concrete variations and verbal commentary. The conscientious and hardworking Slovak GM, who has been rated 2600 FIDE, explains that 1994 marks the beginning of the use of computers as a serious analytical tool and that modern chess has become much richer and more complicated as a result. Kasparov, always on the cutting edge of chess, spearheaded this movement with amazing opening preparation that often extended well into the middlegame and sometimes further.

Had this been a book of Vladimir Kramnik's best games the reader would not have been surprised to see him White in almost all of them, but Kasparov has never been a player who looked to hold the balance with Black. Close to 40 percent of the games in this nicely produced and well-laid out book see him with the Black pieces, often employing his favorite Najdorf. The selection of openings in this book is varied, reflecting the "moving target" philosophy that Kasparov used later in his career -- especially against 1.d4. Who would have thought that after championing the King's Indian and Grunfeld, G.K. would have been forced to switch over to the Queen's Indian/Nimzo-Indian, Slav and Queen's Gambit Accepted. Give Vladimir Kramnik credit for this.

GARRY KASPAROV'S GREATEST CHESS GAMES: VOLUME 2 is a great book that deserves to be in every chess player's library. Crosstables of major events and a selection of memorable photos would have been nice additions to round out the book but otherwise it is a beautiful and first-rate production. The great man himself will definitely be consulting this series when he puts pen to paper to write about his games.

Highly Recommended

Click to buy (or get more information about) GARRY KASPAROV'S GREATEST CHESS GAMES VOLUME 1

Click to buy (or get more information about) GARRY KASPAROV'S GREATEST CHESS GAMES VOLUME 2