Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #467381 in Books
• Published on: 1975-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 665 pages

Customer Reviews

A book with soul
Tartakower wrote a masterpiece to remain forever. 500 completely anotated games from the past is a treasure. Forget about the fact that computer programs can trash these games and think about those days when people actually played chess over the board. The collection of games is classified according to the openings and is presented impecably so that the reader can browse the book in specific sections. The players index also facilitates studying games from a particular master from the past. I very much enjoy using this book because one of the advices that I received from a very strong player long time ago is that I must emulate a classical player and understand his game completely to incorporate his ideas on my game 9Simple enough, I copied the openings repertoire of a very strong player and literally studied all of his games.) Dover produces excellent books and this one is no exception.

Lacking in detail
"500 Master Games Of Chess" is a reissue of a little-known 1938 book in three volumes that covers a large number of interesting games of chess played up to the time of Alekhine.

The book classifies its games according to the opening, and because it deals with large numbers of early games many involve openings unfamiliar to the present-day chess player. As to how good the choice of games is it is most difficult for me to judge, but many of them were already familiar to me from reading on Chess as a child.

What really makes this book by no means ideal to increase one's knowledge of chess, however, is the fact that none of the many games included are annotated or analysed with anything like enough detail to permit the casual reader with little time on his/her hands to understand exactly what went on during the course of these games. Thus, the games feel to the reader who knows anything about Chess to be merely recorded. Never is analysis of critical moves or mistakes given with an understanding of alternative routes the games shown could have taken. What annotation exists does little for the games at all.

On the whole, this is more a collection of games than a book, and can best be described as of moderate value only.

Throughly enjoyable, really fun collection!
I played through darn near every game in this book, and if I missed a couple it wasn't because I meant to! I found Tartakower's annotations to be extremely helpful and fun to read. By the time you finish this great book, you'll have a complete openings course! They're all of course old variations, and I'm sure that if you used a computer (or are yourself a grandmaster) you'll probably find errors or that many lines are sub-optimal. However, I found some of the neglected lines absolutely inspiring, and I loved the selection of very exciting games, lots of beautiful combinations. If you want to see how the "Old Masters" played the game, I recommend this very entertaining and refreshing text!