Six
years in the making, this book by Pal Benko
and Jeremy Silman is now available. With an
opening survey by John Watson, a foreword by
Susan Polgar, 138 deeply annotated games, 100
B&W photos, 300 compositions,
an index of names and index of openings, the
book weighs in at three-and-a-half pounds (668
pages). Published in hardcover, the retail
price is $45. Available this month at bookstores
and chess shops everywhere or by calling Siles
Press toll-free at (877) SJP-BOOK (877-757-2665). 
BLURB FROM INSIDE FLAPS: Grandmaster Pal Benko is a chess
legend. A challenger for the World Championship,
an innovator of many modern opening systems,
a problem composer par excellence, and a father
figure to his close friend Bobby Fischer, Benko
has played and defeated most of the top players
of the last fifty years. This amazing collection of 138
deeply annotated games—carefully prepared
to be entertaining, enlightening, and instructive—is
brought to life by Pal Benko’s memoirs
of his early years in war-torn Hungary where
he takes the reader into a world of poverty,
chaos, pain, and ultimately, personal triumph.
His insights into famous grandmasters transform
their names into real people with substance
and personality, and his reminiscences of legendary
tournaments take us on a journey of chess history
unlike anything that’s been published
before. Pal Benko: My Life, Games
and Compositions is a celebration
of this great man’s creative legacy:
Interviews with other players offer further
insights into Benko’s nature. A massive
survey of Benko’s openings (by famed
author John Watson) shows us the scope of
Benko’s theoretical contributions to
the game. Photos abound, and 300 of Benko’s
chess compositions allow lovers of the game
to become intimately acquainted with a strikingly
beautiful aspect of chess that most have
overlooked.
This highly entertaining and
instructive book gives competitors who wish
to improve their playing strength a dynamic,
fun way to deepen their knowledge and understanding. Pal Benko is a
Grandmaster, a former World Championship Candidate,
a winner of innumerable international competitions,
the author of hundreds of articles and several
chess books (including Winning with Chess
Psychology and Chess Endgame Lessons),
and the most dominating “open tournament” player
in American history, Pal Benko’s name is
entwined in virtually every modern area of chess
mythology and chess theory. Jeremy Silman is
an International Master and a world-class teacher,
writer, and player who won the American Open,
the National Open, and the U.S. Open. Considered
by many to be the game’s preeminent instructive
writer, he is the author of over thirty-six highly
popular books, including How to Reassess Your
Chess (now universally accepted as a modern
classic), The Amateur’s Mind, The
Complete Book of Chess Strategy, and The
Reassess Your Chess Workbook. John Watson is
an International Master whose groundbreaking
four-volume study of the English Opening in the
1980s, followed by other opening treatises, have
firmly established his reputation as one of the
world’s great theoretical writers. His
books Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy (winner
of the 1999 British Chess Federation Book of
the Year Award) and Chess Strategy in Action (2003)
further catapulted his status to that of “chess
philosopher,” with many experts now considering
him to be one of the most profound thinker’s
in the game’s history. QUOTES FROM THE FRONT & BACK
COVER: “Pal Benko’s love
of chess is an inspiration. A most impressive
autobiography!” – GM Lubomir Kavalek, three-time
U.S. Champion, chess columnist for The Washington
Post. “GM Pal Benko is one of
the greatest composers and endgame specialists
of the 20th century. He gives us 300 of these
compositions in this book, and if all those
gems weren’t enough, he intrigues us
with the story of his life, while revealing
in-depth notes with world-class competition.
A real chess renaissance man, his contributions
to the royal game are immense.” – GM Walter Browne, six-time
U.S. Champion “I’ve always had
a great deal of respect for Benko’s endgame
compositions. Whenever I see a Benko endgame
I always try to solve it – but first
I make sure that I won’t be disturbed
for the rest of the day.” – GM John Nunn, 1980 British
Chess Champion, four-time gold medal winner
at Chess Olympiads, author of Nunn’s
Chess Openings and many other popular chess
titles “When Benko arrived, I
saw that he was one of the finest positional
and endgame players in the world. We enjoyed
many battles together. If you removed the king
and queen (and the clock) from the board, no
one could beat him.” – GM Arthur Bisguier, 1954
U.S. Champion, author of The Art of Bisguier “From out of the land of
Reti to the Wild West came a subtle positional
stylist. He gave me lessons – over the
board. If not for his clock, or daring 1e4!?
against me, I could never have won a game.
Reincarnated as an endgame composer without
peer, Pal Benko now has his monument.” – IM Anthony Saidy, author
of The Battle of Chess Ideas and The
World of Chess ISBN: 1-890085-08-1 Chess / Biography cloth $45.00 Siles Press |
