- Unknown Binding: 211 pages
- Publisher: G. Bell (1958)
- Language English
- ASIN: B0007JHMP0
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
the author of this book is richard reti a chess grandmaster of the 1920's who won first prizes in several important tournaments. he also won games against the greats of his day such as capablanca, alekhine , nimzowitsch , rubinstein and bogolyubov.
this book is probably his masterpiece-analytical sketches of great figures of the past including paul morphy and wilhelm steinitz as well as those of the present including lasker tarrasch and the players whom reti defeated. reti has a beautiful and elegant writing style and he rapidly captures the essence of the style of each of the seminal figures whose games he analyses.
anyone interested in the intellectual history of chess or indeed in fine and inspiring writing about the game must get this book. for once the cliche about-no library is complete without this-is true!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Richard Réti produces a penetrating thumbnail sketch of each of the great masters who contributed decisively to the progress of chess thinking from the days of Morphy and Anderssen up to the time of Capablanca, Alekhine, Nimzowitsch and the hypermoderns, amongst whom Réti numbered himself. Widely regarded as one of the most stimulating books ever written on chess, its strategies and personalities, Masters of the Chess Board has both educated and enchanted generations of chess enthusiasts. Richard Réti -one of the leaders of the hypermodern school of chess which rose to prominence in the 1920's - was a formidable over the board grandmaster as shown by his victories at the splendid tournaments of Kaschau 1918, Gothenburg 1920 and Teplitz Schonau 1922. His victims included Capablanca, Alekhine and Nimzowitsch, while his elegant destruction of Bogolyubov deservedly won the beauty prize at New York 1924.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Maybe 10 stars!
20 July 1998
Format:Paperback
This book should not be out of print! Find a copy somehow, someway. This is Reti's magnum opus which has found its way onto nearly every master's "desert island" short-list. Reti analylizes the development of chess from the middle of the 19th century (Anderssen, Morphy & Steinitz) through his own time (tragically, Reti died at 40 in 1929). Using particularly instructive games, he shows each of the great player's contributions to chess theory and gives the reader an insight into their style of play. The book is a huge 435 pages (in my Dover edition) and comprises 70 often deeply annotated games. As befits its date of publication, it is written in English Descriptive Notation. The quality of printing is rather poor -- many of the diagrams are dark and difficult to make out at a glance. There are also numerous translation errors as well. The German chess term for the Exchange (winning a Rook for Bishop or Knight) is Die Qualitat (umlaut over the a). In MOTCB,! the exchange is referred to as "the quality" on several occasions, a literal translation that does not make any chess sense. Despite these problems, this is a keeper. Buy it. Study it. Reread it every few years as your chess skills improve and wonder at everything you didn't really understand the first time through. It's that good.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A classic
2 July 2004
Format:Paperback
Richard Reti shows the evolution of chess by analyzing games from great players from the past. In doing so, he also provides the reader with basic ideas on how to handle the opening, approach the development of pieces and confidently enter the middlegame. The contrast between the hypermoderns and classicists is also of interest and, in my opinion, a landmark in chess is represented by this book.
The biographical notes are also interesting from the chess culture point of view. I love this book and consider worth having it in my personal library. Why 4 stars instead of 5? Because of the descriptive notation...
The biographical notes are also interesting from the chess culture point of view. I love this book and consider worth having it in my personal library. Why 4 stars instead of 5? Because of the descriptive notation...
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Grab this book if you can find it!
22 Mar 2002
Format:Paperback
This is a chess book that every collector should own as part of their chess library. It is one of the all-time classics. It was published by Dover and runs 436 pages in Descriptive notation. (If this book was ever republished in algebraic notation I would rate it 7 stars!!).
It basically contains a sampling of master games from many of the greatest masters of all-time; Anderssen, Morphy, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Lasker, Schlechter, Pillsbury, Maroczy, Marshall, Rubenstein, Spielmann, Nimzowitsch, Vidmar, Tartakower, Capablanca, Bogoljubow, Alekhine, Grunfeld, Euwe, Saemisch, Colle, and Torre.
Each chapter focuses on a different master in the order described above. There is a biographical sketch of each master at the beginning of each chapter as well. It focuses on a particular masters achievements and some of the unique ideas and methods that master brought to the game.
There are a total of 70 very well annotated games.
This book is not only a great games collection, but a virtual textbook on how to play the game. It thoroughly discussed many different opening systems, middle game strategies, and endgame topics.
One thing I noticed was how many combinations originating from these games are used in so many tactics books such as 1001 winning chess combinations, or combination challenge. I have used those training books in the past - and now I know that they come from real games and who played them!
This book has become very hard to find. My advice is this - if you can find this book in a used book store somewhere, don't hesitate. Grab the book, pay for it and get out of there fast before someone else finds the book. You will not regret buying this book.
I rated it "only" 4 stars for a couple of reasons - 1)it is in descriptive notation (this book makes it worthwhile learning DN if you don't already know it) 2)Reti died before all of the chapters could be finished. Some of the later chapters in the book are not as thorough and interesting as the earlier ones. Some of the biographical details are left out.
Even with the limitations mentioned above, there are few chess books as fun and instructive. Based upon the level of annotations in this book, players rated between 1,100 - 1,600 USCF would probably benefit the most. Players outside of that rating range would still enjoy playing over the games, but would not gain as much insight from the notes.
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