Tuesday 19 July 2016

Great Chess Combinations: Robert Fischer

Further to my article of 23rd June I have now received the book Great Chess Combinations: Robert Fischer by Aleksander Kalinin and published by Russian Chess House, Moscow 2013.




The book measures just 9 cm. x 8.5 cm. and for comparison purposes I show it beside My 60 Memorable Games. The book is one of a series; other books feature Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand.


The book has 160 pages and the text is in both English and Russian. A short introduction is followed by 102 diagrammed examples from Fischer's games from 1956 (D. Byrne - Fischer, New York) to 1992 (Fischer - Spassky, Sveti-Stefan). Each example is classified by degree of difficulty of solution from 1 to 4. Solutions with analysis of each position in figurine notation are given at the end. 



Briefly touching on My 60 Memorable Games, this was first published in England by Faber and Faber in 1969 with a reprinted edition issued in 1970, (this reprint is not mentioned in Lusis).  I used to think that the 1969 edition was identifiable by a darker blue cloth cover. However I now discover that both the 1969 and 1970 printings come in the lighter blue cloth covers.


In the above picture the first book is a 1970 reprint whereas the other two are both 1969 first editions. However, the two printings are distinguishable by their dustwrappers which not only have a different introduction on the inside flap but the price had increased from £2.50 in 1969 to £3.00 in 1970.



Seven of my 41 articles to date have featured Bobby Fischer and, while these are generally the most viewed articles,  I will have a break from Fischer for a while and concentrate on other subjects. The articles will also be less frequent during the summer holiday months. Thanks for reading.

                                      © Michael Clapham 2016

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