My chess library may not compete with that of mega-collectors, but it’s still (too) substantial. Now I rarely buy chess books, but there are exceptions, and in this post I’ll mention one book that I’ve bought and another that I may buy.
The one I bought was originally a Chessable course by Magnus Carlsen and David Howell, and the course was converted into a book called Grind Like a Grandmaster: How to Keep Pressing until Your Opponent Cracks. Both players are known for their love of and skill in grinding out half-points, whether on offense or defense, and so the two have collaborated on this work. It’s a very informal, “talky” book (not surprisingly, given that it is - I think - more or less a transcript of the course), and it’s a speedy read. There are some tips here and there and the examples (most famously Carlsen’s game 6 marathon win over Ian Nepomniachtchi from their World Championship match) are inspirational, but the books is frankly more “fun” than the sort of work that will help students improve their technical skills. That’s not a bad thing, but it is important for prospective buyers to know what they’re getting for their money.
If chess improvement is what you’re after, then it’s worth considering the second book, which I confess to not having purchased: Ben Johnson’s Perpetual Chess Improvement: Practical Chess Advice from World-Class Players and Dedicated Amateurs. Johnson, you may know, is the host of the “Perpetual Chess Podcast”, whose guests have included many elite players, even world champions, but many others at almost every point on the skill ladder. (Even yours truly.) As Johnson writes in an introductory section (see the “Look Inside” here), the book “is intended as a TLDL (‘too long didn’t listen’) summary of some of the best chess improvement advice that has been given on the podcast”. Given the caliber of his guests - and I am excluding myself here (and I have no idea if anything from my appearance on the show made it into the book) - it would be remarkable if the book were not full of insightful and practical advice.
Should you buy the book? If you’re serious about improving, maybe! The problem for most of us isn’t a lack of good advice, but the discipline and sitzfleisch to put that advice into practice. Still, if you’re new to the advice game, then this looks like a good place to start. It also makes sense for chess coaches to get the book, and since I’m more in that group (contact me if you’re interested in lessons for yourself or your kids!) than the wannabe improvers group at this point, I’ll probably buy the book in the not-too-distant future. (It seemed a good idea to review the book first: If I’m mentioned there, I’d feel like there was a little conflict of interest; likewise, if I’m not mentioned, there’s also the worry that I’d be less enthusiastic for that reason.) To conclude this section of the post: the book looks interesting, and I’d at least recommend that readers have a look at the available online samples to see if it’s a book for them. One other boon: there seem to be lots of stories, so it’s probably an entertaining read even if you don’t end up extracting the maximum from the book’s instructional value.
Now to games: there were a couple of games from the London Chess Classic that caught my eye. One was co-leader Dommaraju Gukesh’s crushing tactical victory over Andrei Volokitin, and the other was the impressive technical win by Shreyas Royal - by FAR the lowest-rated player in the event against Amin Tabatabei. Here are the games, with my comments.
Finally, I’m recruiting you, dear readers, on a recent controversy. Apparently there’s some discussion about whether Vladimir Kramnik has accused Hikaru Nakamura of cheating (in online games, I believe). Anything informative (and non-libelous, obviously) you can write about this would be appreciated.
Kramnik has taken to making reckless and poorly grounded accusations of cheating, and Nakamura is his latest target. In my view it's just sad to see a genuine legend of the game reduced to behaving in this way.
The TL;DR version is that among Nakamura's approximately one billion blitz games online there is a run of 40 or so wins in a row against much weaker opposition, an event Kramnik deems to have very low probability. Nakamura's response that Kramnik has an Elo of 500 in mathematics sums it up. Even more embarrassing for Kramnik, before he deleted the original post, he was systematically removing all critical but sensible replies. For more sober discussion, see here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hikaru-nakamura-kramnik-chess-cheating-b2456616.html#