- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: The American Chess Bulletin (1922)
- Language English
- ASIN: B000857HXU
- 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
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The New World has a curious habit of despatching emissaries of great - yet strangely circumscribed - power to the Old. These emissaries demolish the ancien regime only to retire, withdraw, or even perish; mysterious flashes of chess board brilliance all too soon extinguished by disease, madness or the banal pressure of venal circumstance. In this context names which spring readily to mind are those of Paul Morphy, Reuben Fine, Bobby Fischer and Harry Nelson Pillsbury, the subject of this book, which gives all of his most important games with light notes. Here was a man who took the chess world by storm when he won Hastings 1895, the greatest tournament which had ever been held, crushing the hopes of all the established European champions. Subsequently, until his early death, Pillsbury continued to hold the world in thrall with stunning feats of memory as well as of blindfold and simultaneous chess. It was a disaster for the Chess World when Pillsbury descended suddenly into lunacy and sought to commit suicide by leaping from a window of the Institution in which he was held. Soon after that, on the 17th June 1906, he died - but his sparkling and thrilling games live on in this book. P W Sergeant and W H Watts, two English experts, completed the present volume in 1922, nearly fifteen years after Pillsbury's death. Astonishingly, it was the first collection of his games in English. Watts was also responsible for the Tournament Book of London 1922, won by Capablanca.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
hardinge simpole publishing have done the chess community a great service by reviving this book the only one ever wrtitten about the american genius pillsbury. pillsbury could have become world champion and won plenty of briliant games against the man who was-lasker. sadly pillsbury went mad and tried to throw himself out of a hospital window-he died young and his great promise was cut short.
this book contains all of his important games with light notes.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
triumph and disaster-an american chess legend
10 July 2002
Format:Paperback
lets get the problems out of the way first-the notes to these games are very light and being a reprint of a book from the 1920's the notation is descriptive and the typeface and diagrams look antiquated.
however this remains the best record there is of harry nelson pillsbury an american chess genius in the same mould as morphy and fischer. he came to europe-won hastings 1895 the strongest tournament ever held up to that time-won superb games against the european champions including steinitz and lasker-but then he tragically went insane and died at a pitifully early age.
pillsburys best games all appear here and they exhibit a grand sweep and vitaity of purpose which would make them the envy of any modern grandmaster. his win against tarrasch from hastings for example is a classic race between pillsburys king side attack and tarraschs slaughterous juggernaut on the other wing- richard reti likened it to a hollywood film drama where the heroine is tied to a rail track and the hero dashes nail bitingly to rescue her in time.
until something superior comes along this is the best book on pillsbury and there is no doubt that his games are still full of instruction and can impart sheer pleasure at the vigour and clarity of his onslaughts.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A classic book, but...
23 Nov 2003
Format:Hardcover
Everyone knows the story of Pillsbury - he was one of the greatest players who ever lived.
A dashing young man, he went as a completely unheralded talent to Hastings, 1895 - perhaps one of the greatest tournaments of chess history - and surprised everyone (but himself!) by taking clear first place. This placed him firmly in the ranks as one of the World's very best players.
The original book was ... and is a classic. (The first ever book in English on this player!) It is also in DESCRIPTIVE NOTATION.
This volume is simple profiteering. It is a copy of the original by the publishers. (Hardinge Simpole) It looks like a bad copy, and it is. Many of my pages are so washed out; I can barely make out the words and the moves. On one page, there is a large ink blotch that practically obliterates the move. The diagrams have NOT been re-done; they are simple, extremely poor copies of an old-style type of diagram that was not all that great to begin with. Virtually all the defects of a really bad photo-copy are present in this volume. This might be bearable in an old book, or in a very inexpensive volume. But in a book I paid nearly 35 bucks for ... this is simply unacceptable.
If you are a huge fan of Pillsbury - and cannot live without this book, you may want to consider purchasing this offering. But my advice is don't waste your money.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Tragedy of an American genius
30 July 2002
Format:Paperback
An interesting volume of annotated chess games of an American chess genius who sadly died shortly after an attempted suicide. Nevertheless the book deals with a great chess player who played some fine games in his all too brief career. Published by Hardinge and Simpole.
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