"Off the Board Chess" by Andrew Smith
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 9:00 pm
subtitled "The Best Games and Chess Experiences of Andrew Smith (FM)"
413pp, A4 format hardback, with more than 150 games and game fragments, annotated in varying amounts. This is a big book! I always find game collections interesting. Andrew is “only” a FM, but in many ways, this makes the book more interesting as it’s written by someone you see at tournaments. The bulk of the book was written 20 years ago, but some updates have been made.
The many games are accompanied by annotations and reports on the background to the games. Andrew does not take prisoners as he reports some disgraceful behaviour and cheating by some opponents, although he wisely seeks to disguise the identities of the people concerned. These reports and information outside the actual games make the book fascinating. It probably helped that I know a lot of the people who feature in the book. There is a nice story about one individual being surprisingly helpful when Andrew locked his keys in his car.
Games are indexed by player and opening. Games in the same opening system are placed together, rather than having the games in date order. The author does like some opening systems which are, dare one say it, not entirely sound. He is a good player and you are unlikely to find any boring positions. There are some useful opponents, e.g Bronstein, Tiviakov, Van der Wiel, plus leading British GMs. Andrew is not afraid to give some losses and writes entertainingly.
There are a few typos, but nothing I found too annoying. I haven’t had time to play through all the games, but I am looking forward to studying all of them, and maybe learning some means of avoiding defeat next time I play him.
413pp, A4 format hardback, with more than 150 games and game fragments, annotated in varying amounts. This is a big book! I always find game collections interesting. Andrew is “only” a FM, but in many ways, this makes the book more interesting as it’s written by someone you see at tournaments. The bulk of the book was written 20 years ago, but some updates have been made.
The many games are accompanied by annotations and reports on the background to the games. Andrew does not take prisoners as he reports some disgraceful behaviour and cheating by some opponents, although he wisely seeks to disguise the identities of the people concerned. These reports and information outside the actual games make the book fascinating. It probably helped that I know a lot of the people who feature in the book. There is a nice story about one individual being surprisingly helpful when Andrew locked his keys in his car.
Games are indexed by player and opening. Games in the same opening system are placed together, rather than having the games in date order. The author does like some opening systems which are, dare one say it, not entirely sound. He is a good player and you are unlikely to find any boring positions. There are some useful opponents, e.g Bronstein, Tiviakov, Van der Wiel, plus leading British GMs. Andrew is not afraid to give some losses and writes entertainingly.
There are a few typos, but nothing I found too annoying. I haven’t had time to play through all the games, but I am looking forward to studying all of them, and maybe learning some means of avoiding defeat next time I play him.