the author bernard cafferty is a russia expert who followed spassky's chess career closely. spassky himself is famous as bobby fischer's opponent in the reykjvik match of the century between the reps of the usa and ussr.

spassky's games are vibrant with sacrifices and each one is painstakingly annotated.a very useful training kit as well as highly enjoyable!

This book is the best one available. The authors have fooled around with this opening for many years in correspondence chess events and must be considered leading experts. If you are interested in the Evans Gambit - and you should be, as 1) it is of historical importance, 2) it may be sound, and 3) it develops your chess style - then you should just close your eyes and buy the book. Think later!

Negative:

1) The book misses an appendix with a tree of opening variations.

2) The authors did not bother to submit all the moves to the current chess computer programs such as Fritz or Rebel. As a consequence the analysis sometimes passes (or introduces) blunders that those programs detect in a flash.

Overall: excellent book!!

When you read a chessbook you may simply search for a literal knowledge or better enter into a smart conversation between the author and you. This is the perfect book for that objective. There are no simple answers or "to-do-lists" to find here. This is a monography that invites you to follow the path after the ideas of many chessplayers. The only negative point in the book is the absence of a comprehensive opening tree.

I've always enjoyed going over games in this opening and i finally was able to obtain a copy (this is the only book on the subject available from what i can tell). There's quite a bit of information here with 15 chapters and over 230 pages. The game starts out quietly in the Giuoco Piano with 1 e4 e5, 2 Nf3 Nc6, 3 Bc4 Bc5 then BAM!! 4 b4!?. This unprotected pawn thrust attacks Black's bishop begging to be captured in order to open up lines of attack. All the greats have played it since the 19th century. The book also shows variations where Black declines the free pawn. In the right hands The Evans Gambit can be a dangerous weapon.

If you plan on taking up this opening, I'd also suggest becoming familiar with The Two Knights Defence (Black plays 3...Nf6 instead of Bc5). White can play 4 Ng5 with a double attack on Black's f7 pawn or employ the Max Lange Attack (4 d4). All 3 variations are fun to play. Who says the Giuoco Piano has to be boring?

A very detailed overview of Botvinnik's career covering his "Golden Years". The book covered the period between 1948 to 1970 whereby he became World Champion and went through the trials and tribulations of losing the championship and winning it back in a rematch on two occasions. This book clearly showed the mental strength of a great player - of his ability to stand up after falling down! The games demonstrated the maturity of Botvinnik over the years. Similar strategic ideas were referenced to earlier games in the book or to his other masterpieces. The analyses were brief and straight to the point. It may be a little difficult for beginners to understand the notes without the guidance of a chess player with considerable strength. This book is most suitable for an intermediate and master strength player. The brief introduction given by Bernard Cafferty at the beginning of the book serves little purpose. It is not Botvinnik's story that is interesting but his games!

Bernard Cafferty is an expert about soviet chess, and here he presents the history of Soviet Chess Championships: from the beginnings (after the revolution) to the "fall of the wall". Each tournament is described, reporting also the crosstable. In the commentaries the main author is helped by Mark Taimanov, a leading GM for long times, extremely well know for his opening theory books, and one of the players in many of that tournaments as well. A book for everybody, especially people interested in the chess history.

I bought this book, thinking that since Cafferty is a good writer, that this might be an excellent intructive opening manual, along the lines of the "Mastering the..." series. Alas, I have been disappointed, as the book had kind of a "Time/Life Books teaches the QGA" feel to it. It is hard to put my finger on it, but this just isn't a very good or necessary book.