BOOK REVIEW for ALL OF YOU!
One of my gifts for Christmas was a Gift Card to Barnes and Noble - which is something Coach Sean loves to recieve! Getting to pick my own books - that makes this chess coach VERY happy! Today I picked up the second edition of "ENDGAME VIRTUOSO ANATOLY KARPOV" by Tibor Karolyi and Nick Aplin. This book is a work of love...
Tibor looks at 105 COMPLETE Karpov games with a special emphasis on duh, you guessed it, the Endgames. But wait, there is more! In the annotations to these games there are game fragments and studies to help illustrate some of the points being made or to show how the same technique can be applied in a slightly different context. Amazing!
The variations given are to the point and you should spend time going over every comment and every line given in this book. There is even a classification of endgame types given at the back of the book for those students interested in targeting in on a particular endgame theme. One thing lacking in this book though is a listing of the games by opening which could have been relevant for those students trying to look at how particular opening pawn structures effect the endgame play in specific openings. One is left to one's own devices to sort this out on our own but for those of us who like convenience it would have been nice to have this appendix available. Of course size constraints on the work - placed upon our talented author - may have factored in as far as this was concerned. My laziness aside this book is amazing...
This book came out in 2007 and is put out by New in Chess publishers - a source of very many good books on chess. Not to mention NEW IN CHESS MAGAZINE which, in my opinion, is the BEST CHESS MAGAZINE being published now in the entire world.
This book is a work that one could get lost in - for life. The lessons in this book could certainly last a lifetime and I do not intend to give up my copy - EVER! If you can get your hands on this book and if you really and truly are interested in your own chess improvement and you are willing to work at it then this book is for you.
- Coach Sean Tobin.
P.S. The first edition is pictured up above - MAKE SURE YOU PICK UP THE SECOND EDITION! It will say it along the side of the front cover of the book just underneath the "His 105 Best Endgames" and not the 100 referred to in the first edition. Printed there will be the words "Second, improved edition".
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