Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 (Dover Chess) Kindle Edition

As you may well know, this is of of the classics of chess literature, considered by many to be the greatest tournament book ever written. Fifteen of the strongest players in the world played a thirty (!) round tournament to determine the challenger to compete for the World Championship. As of course, is well known, Bronstein himself played in such a match, and as one of the most creative and original chess thinkers of all time, his insights into the 210 games are of real value. As has been pointed out, Bronstein does not spend a great deal of time going through a lot of concrete variations, but spends most of his effort on verbal explanations. While some criticize this, I don't see any problem with his approach. Learning how to do concrete analysis is, of course, vital to one's development as a chess player, but coming to an UNDERSTANDING of what is going on in a position is how we determine what moves to consider, and this is where Bronstein shines. Like Nimzovich, he has a way of giving chess principles with pithy, memorable sayings. For example his comment 'A rook behind enemy lines is a force to be reckoned with' really stuck in my mind, and has helped me find a strong move in a number of games. (Even my chess instructor, a master strength player, underestimated the strength of my R on the 8th rank in a game of mine that he reviewed with me. Computer analysis showed that I had made the best move!) Bronstein's notes are fairly copious, and very useful. Yes, he will skip over a number of moves frequently, but he save his analysis in general for the key moments of the games. Given the huge number of games in this collection, I think that GM Bronstein did a very thorough and high quality job of covering this event. It is a real treatise on many key middlegame themes, but I would recommend you go through more basic games collections before tackling this one (Steve Giddins' two games collections would be excellent preparation for this text). Highly recommended.

The 1953 Zurich Candidates Tournament – with fifteen of the strongest players in the world engaged in a strenuous double round-robin contest to meet Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Championship – is often regarded as the strongest tournament in the history of chess. Many of its games, such as Euwe’s win over Geller in the second round, Alexander Kotov’s queen sacrifice against Yuri Averbakh, Tigran Petrosian’s queen-and-opposite-bishops ending win over Euwe, and Keres’ fighting draw with Reshevsky – remain regarded even after extensive analysis as among the finest games in the history of chess.David Bronstein – who had narrowly failed to depose Botvinnik as World Champion in 1951 – finished equal second in the tournament, and his book is regarded as a classic of chess literature. Whilst it is an extremely valuable reference book, the fact that its author was one of the contestant does have its limitations. Bronstein’s annotations are the chief flaw in the book, both because their style can be somewhat offputting and because they fail to provide enough fine details like where the loser of the game went wrong. Most especially – though this flaw is seen in other chess books as well – there are too few signs for good moves and errors than could have been known even before the extensive postmortem analysis. As a consequence, the reader lacks the understanding that could have been provided, especially as the book is not that long. The small-text style is unfamiliar to most readers and no doubt an acquired taste, but as said in the previous page is not used to perfect effect, and the lack of profiles of the players is felt as one goes through the games.Nonetheless, what is in this book remains extremely valuable to any chess enthusiast – and might even provide him or her with motivation to analyse the games themselves as I used to have when reading chess books as a child.

It has been said that this book is best for players of at least 1600 strength, due to the positional nature of the games presented and the relative lack of annotated variations. However I feel the book is excellent for anyone about 1200 or higher and I offer the following concrete reasons.1. The book serves as a fine introduction to the concepts of positional play. That is, by carefully going through the games, you will learn about positional thinking. A second or even third run-through will reinforce these ideas and they will begin to make sense.2. The narrative explanations are actually better for a lower rated player because they are easier to follow and understand. The lower player gets lost in a maze of variants.3. If something is not clear (this happened to me in many places, of course) then put it on your computer and explore the situation with the help of Fritz or some other engine. Clarity will not always come but plenty of learning will take place.4. I think most important of all the book gives the lower player something to strive for. The feeling, after repeated study of the games, of "a light going on" is something that I really appreciated. This is learning of the best kind.Though the lower player has to spend most study time on tactics, one good book of GM games to study is important. This can easily be that book.

Best book on chess i have *ever* read. If you want to understand how openings or chess in general works read it. If you want a world class account of a fascinating tournament read it. If you want to play 1.d4 deffinately read it, incomparable for learning d4, since most of the games begin as queens gambits, and are explained with a clarity that no other opening manual will give you, very few variations, just clear explanations of the plans and thinking that go into playing. Genuinely worth it for even the lowest level chess player.

An excellent, classic chess book. Very accessible, very informative but, for me, slightly marred by the fact that it is written in the extended algebraic notation which, as a senior citizen, I find quite difficult to follow. I also have Bronstein's 'The Chess Struggle in Practice', which is exactly the same work but a different translator, and I find this easier to use although written in descriptive notation. It wouldn't take much effort to reproduce this using the modern algebraic system and I'm sure it would find a wide audience among today's players.

Barely readable. No line spacing. Small font. Look like its run off a copier. Not happy. Zero stars

One of the best books on chess for the intermediate/advanced player. Written by a former challenger for the title of world champion in a witty an insightful way (excellent translation!)

Very useful. Can learn a lot.