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Customer Reviews (6)

great book for a high intermediate to advanced player
I have only got through about the first quarter of this book.But, it does seem fantastic for the intermediate and above player(I would say at least 1700) if you want to play either side of this opening.I learned why the fantasy variation is not favorable at high levels.Karpov does seem to be very objective throughout(the reason I can suggest it for either side).

Of the part of the book that I have gone through there is one point where he suggests that even though white is up a pawn if he tries to make progress he will either end up drawing or worst.He gives 2 example games of how play might go, in the first one there seems to be an improvement for white(I didn't plug it intorybka-my computer has a pretty bad virus at the moment.So I might be missing something.But, it seems pretty clear to me-I play about 1800 level). A very minor issue which most people wouldn't even notice(If I am correct).The only other issue with this book that I think you might have (which is true of any chess book) is whether you are going to put in the work into the book.But, I have found that karpovs enthusiasm makes it less of a chore to go through even though there are a lot of variations.

I would not say that that one minor issue detracts from the book at all-it was just one game which I REALLY wanted to prove the advantage. The book is advanced as I said.Karpov's writing is energetic and you can feel his love for this opening.Any book written by a player as great as karpov has to hold some great weight and I think he delivered with this one.

I just wanted to add that kotronias's book on beating the caro kann while old has a FANTASTIC introduction to the advance variation(I think it is at least 30 pages long with thematic breaks and piece placement etc.) that might be a good introductory book to those of you who either haven't played the caro kann advance from either side or are not advanced enough for the karpov book.

Great book to learn this variation of CK
Karpov's books on openings are great. If you pick this one and some extra material like the Informator's monography on B12, you will learn it well. Some of the games are old. Some variations are analysed by Karpov but were not tested in important tournaments (dangerous to play in correspondence chess if you don't check it throughly).

CaroKann from the theoretical and practical expert.
For decades, A. Karpov has been the world leading expert and supporter (both in theoretical discusion and practical results) of this very solid defence. This book is focused in the sharp advance and gambit lines (ECO B10-B12) and accomplishes the task of pointing out the best continuations and ideas for both sides in a wonderful way. Either you like to defend the resourceful positions arising from this defence or to crack it, this book will help you to choose the best way to do it. The variations follow a prelation order helping the reader to identify them from bad or dubious to recommended ones.

Overall, an excellent book which surpasses the good old work from V. Kotronias on the same subject.

Good book BUT...
This is a great book. This is not a repertory book but a reference book. I found every variation I was interested to learn. I would say that this book is for people +1900 and for seasoned Caro Kann players. This is not a good book for starting to play the Caro.
There is something I did not like about this book... it is very hard to follow the variations. You have to be patient to find your way thru pages and lots of variations and sub variations.
If you already play the Caro, you are +1900 and have a lot of time to follow thru hundreds of variations then this is the book for you.
If you want to learn to play the Caro and want to learn the structure and plans look somewhere else.

This one is exceptional
If John Watson and David Bronstein were to write one on the Caro Advance, this would be it, except it's Anatoly Karpov, and Mikhail Podgets, of wich the latter is probably responsible for the lucid, insightful, and highly entertaining prose comments. Jimmy Adams was the translator. Coverage is balanced and exceptionally comprehensive, presented in a tree style. There are detailed tree indexes for every chapter, but it lacks an index for the hundreds of embedded games, just giving listings for the dozen plus illustrative games added on at the end. That's about the only flaw I see. The volume assumes some acquaintance with the main variations, but is probably accesible to anyone who's gone through Starting Out: Caro Kann or something similar. Anyone from A or B class through GM should find it more than useful. ... Read more

Product Description
Elista Diaries is the classic first-hand account of one of the most intensely fought World Chess Championship matches seen for decades.The World Champion and his chief trainer deeply annotate all of the games from the 1996 World Championship Match. In the first chapter, the authors pay tribute to all the World Champions (from Morphy to the present day) by analyzing their favorite games played by the great chess artists who have, each in turn, captured the Chess Crown. Karpov includes seven of his own favorite and brilliant games from the period 1992-1996. Subsequent chapters deal with Kamsky's 1993-1995 progress to the finals, previous Karpov-Kamsky encounters (dating from 1991) and the 1995 Karpov-Gelfand Candidates Match.Anatoly Karpov was World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, regained the title in 1993 and defended it successfully in 1996 and 1998. He has played more games and more matches for the World Chess Championship than anybody else. He has won 161 grandmaster tournaments, more than anybody else. He has won more games against grandmasters than anybody else.Grandmaster Ron Henley was Karpov's "second" or assistant during some of these matches. Henley kept notes of the analysis in preparing for and playing in these matches and these notes form the basis for much of this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A great chess read
Being not only a writer but also a chess grandmaster, Ron Henley has provided unique insights into the multiple dynamics of the matches.

I was president of the high school chess club in Houston Texas where Ron and I were students.Even then Ron had the ability to provide all the members with analysis and explanations of strategy that we could each immediately utilize. Under his tutelage we won the Houston high school chess championships against much stronger competition.

I was delighted to find that Ron's ability to communicate his observations and skills as a chess grandmaster to those of us without his chess ability has only gotten better with time.His thorough explanations and clearly understandable writing style will allow the reader to have a much greater appreciation for the marvelous complexity of the matches. I know I sure did, and I am certain that the otherreaders/chess players to whom I will be presenting this book will also.

F.D.Garcia
San Antonio TX

A Grasshopper Learns from the Sage
As a beginner yearning to gain a true understanding of strategy, I find it best to learn by example and the notes are clear and concise.The insights are outstanding and the writing is easy for a novice to understand.

This is definitely good stocking stuffer material written by some talented authors.

Great book!
Was always a big fan of the original book, which discussed Karpov's final "true" World Championship match in vivid detail. This update is especially important, given Kamsky's roll in Khanty-Mansiysk World Cup, as well as the great trimuph for Vishy Anand in Mexico City this year.

Super book by excellent authors. Great read!

Long Over Due, But Glad it's Here
I just got my copy of the new Elista Diaries. I haven't had a chance to dive into it yet; I've only gotten as far as the Intro (found a few typos, but nothing that detracts). But from what I've seen so far, this promises to be a more exciting read than the original classic edition with more pages, up-to-date games (can't wait to read their take on the Anand Mexico City match!) and more instructive material.

I've got my holiday reading taken care of with this one... ... Read more

Product Description
64 chess games that chart Anatoly Karpov's illustrious career, from his early games as a young grandmaster on his way to the world title, through his ten years as undisputed champion, and the marathon battles against Kasparov. Karpov's play is shown to have become much more combative in the 1990s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Small Selection of Karpov's Great Games
This contains 43 games of Karpov, covering 25 years of his career from 1969 to 1994.The games are brilliant, but the book is relatively short.Some of his famous victories, e.g. vs Topalov in Linares 94, are missing.Also notable is that Karpov has White in the vast majority of the selected games.

From one of the best chess players of all time!
Anatoly Karpov's chess are some of the best positional games of all time. While he has been accused of playing a very dull style this couldnt be the furthest thing from the truth! Anatoly's games are fantastic for instructional purposes and the collection of games in this book will definately help players with there game and understanding the theory and its application of positional chess. While a great many people, including myself, love attacking chess, after studying Karpov's games you soon learn that all tactical maneuvers are born from a sound position. A great book from one of the best of all time!

Brilliant!
Karpov's play is rich, deep, and brilliant. In fact, I have always considered him, in some ways, to be the successor of another great---Petrosian, whose deep strategic play and sharp tactics I havealways admired. However, while the public hasrecognized the richness anddepth of his play, Karpov has often been accused of being dull. This bookfinally puts an end to that pernicious lie. In this work, we see thefull brilliance of Karpov's play demonstrated---much of which, sadlyperhaps, occurred only in the latent variations of his games. Nonetheless,there is a wealth of real brilliance in this collection---just look at hisgames against Tatai, Korchnoi, and Kasparov. My Lord, Tatai-Karpov featuresa positional pawn sacrifice which is later followed by a queen sacrifice:If that is not brilliant, I don't know what is! Anatoly Karpov's BestGames's only flaw is that its selection of games is too limited! (Gamesfrom Karpov's 1974 candidates matches are conspicuously absent.) Yet thisis hardly a significant flaw. If you get the chance, purchase thisbook: It is a collection of deeply annotated, richly strategic brillianciesfrom one of the greatest players of all time. ... Read more

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Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Alexander Beliavsky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi, David Bronstein, Vasily Smyslov, Natan Sharansky, Ashot Nadanian, Semyon Furman, Lev Aronin, Salo Flohr, Efim Geller, Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Ratmir Kholmov, Grigory Levenfish, Fedor Bogatyrchuk, Nikolai Krogius, Evgeni Vasiukov, Alexander Kotov, Andor Lilienthal, Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov, Vladimir Alatortsev, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Leonid Stein, Viacheslav Ragozin, Efim Bogoljubov, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, Vladimir Antoshin, Boris Verlinsky, Isaac Boleslavsky, Artur Yusupov, Emil Sutovsky, Maia Chiburdanidze, Andrei Sokolov, Igor Platonov, Lev Polugaevsky, Isaac Lipnitsky, Leopold Mitrofanov, Mark Dvoretsky, Evgeny Sveshnikov, Mikhail Gurevich, Boris Gelfand, Gregory Serper, Vladimirs Petrovs, Michał Krasenkow, Vladas Mikėnas, Yuri Averbakh, Eduard Gufeld, Vladimir Simagin, Irina Levitina, Alexander Khalifman, Vladimir Liberzon, Rafael Vaganian, Nona Gaprindashvili, Alexey Selezniev, Boris Gulko, Vladimir Malaniuk, Peter Romanovsky, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Alexey Suetin, Alexander Chernin, Igor Zaitsev, Lev Alburt, Nukhim Rashkovsky, Anatoly Bannik, Josif Dorfman, Vladimir Akopian, Leonid Yudasin, Roman Dzindzichashvili, Vladimir Bagirov, Ilya Rabinovich, Oleg Romanishin, Yuri Balashov, Vitaly Chekhover, Lev Psakhis, Isakas Vistaneckis, Gregory Kaidanov, Mark Taimanov, Igor Bondarevsky, Vladimir Savon, Genrikh Gasparyan, Edward Gerstenfeld, Vladimir Tukmakov, Ilya Smirin, Alexey Vyzmanavin, Anjelina Belakovskaia, Jaan Ehlvest, Fricis Apšenieks, Algimantas Butnorius, Vladimir Makogonov, Leonid Kubbel, Fedor Duz-Khotimirsky, Artashes Minasian, Igor Glek, Ljuba Kristol, Andrei Kharlov, Kamilė Baginskaitė, Alisa Galliamova, Sergey Von Fr...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=242416 ... Read more

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Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Alekhine, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Max Euwe, José Raúl Capablanca, Wilhelm Steinitz, Mikhail Botvinnik, Bobby Fischer, Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Tal, Viswanathan Anand, Vasily Smyslov, Veselin Topalov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Alexander Khalifman. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 304. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 January 17, 2008) was the eleventh World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer's achievements are legendary. At 13, he won a brilliancy that became known as the Game of the Century. Starting at age 14, he played in eight United States Championships, winning each by at least a point. At 15½, he became both the youngest Grandmaster and the youngest Candidate for the World Championship up until that time. He won the 1963-64 US championship 11-0, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. In the early 1970s he became the most dominant player in modern historywinning the 1970 Interzonal by a record 3½-point margin and winning 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6-0 sweeps in the Candidates Matches. According to research by Jeff Sonas, in 1971 Fischer had separated himself from the rest of the world by a larger margin of playing skill than any player since the 1870s. He became the first official FIDE world number one rated chessplayer in July 1971, and his 54 total months at number one is the third longest of all-time. In 1972, he wrested the World Championship from Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland that was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. In 1975, Fischer did not defend his title when he could not come to agreem...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2073557 ... Read more

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Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Grigory Levenfish, Nikolai Krogius, Alexander Kotov, Vladimir Alatortsev, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Viacheslav Ragozin, Artur Yusupov, Isaac Lipnitsky, Leopold Mitrofanov, Mark Dvoretsky, Michał Krasenkow, Yuri Averbakh, Peter Romanovsky, Alexey Suetin, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, Igor Zaitsev, Vladimir Bagirov, Yuri Balashov, Vitaly Chekhover, Lev Psakhis, Igor Bondarevsky, Nikolai Grigoriev, Alexander Petrov, Igor Glek, Alexander Tolush, Yakov Estrin, Vladimir Nenarokov, Alexey Troitsky, Emanuel Schiffers, Konstantin Sakaev, Leonid Shamkovich, Elisabeth Bykova, Vasily Panov, Nikolay Novotelnov, Grigory Sanakoev, Alexander Baburin, Sergei Shipov. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 259. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (Russian: , pronounced ) (October 31, 1892 March 24, 1946) was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered as one of the greatest chess players ever. By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played. In 1927, he became the fourth World Chess Champion by defeating Capablanca, widely considered invincible, in what would stand as the longest chess championship match held until 1985. In the early 1930s, Alekhine dominated tournament play and won two top-class tournaments by large margins. He also played first board for France in four Chess Olympiads, winning individual prizes in each. His tournament record became more erratic from the mid-1930s onwards, and alcoholism is often blamed for his decline. Alekhine offered Capablanca a rematch on the same demanding terms that Capablanca had set for him, and n...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=72495 ... Read more

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Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Botvinnik, David Bronstein, Lev Polugaevsky, Vitaly Chekhover, Sergey Belavenets, Vladimir Zagorovsky. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 84. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (Russian: , pronounced ) (August 17 1911 May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while playing top-class competitive chess. He also developed a chess-playing algorithm that tried to "think" like a top human player, but this approach has been superseded by a brute-force search strategy that exploits the rapid increase in the calculation speed of modern computers. Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union (Alekhine was a top player before the Russian Revolution), putting him under political pressure but also giving him considerable influence within Soviet chess. From time to time he was accused of using that influence to his own advantage, but the evidence is unclear and some suggest he resisted attempts by Soviet officials to intimidate some of his rivals. Botvinnik also played a major role in the organization of chess, making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess during that time. His famous pupils include World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. Playing top class chess for decades, being an eminent chess author, one of the pioneers of the computer chess, and a great chess teacher in his late years, B...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=242416 ... Read more

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Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Alekhine, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Lev Aronin, Ratmir Kholmov, Grigory Levenfish, Gata Kamsky, Nikolai Krogius, Evgeni Vasiukov, Mikhail Chigorin, Alexander Kotov, Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov, Vladimir Alatortsev, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Viacheslav Ragozin, Boris Verlinsky, Artur Yusupov, Vera Menchik, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Natalia Pogonina, Andrei Sokolov, List of Russian Chess Players, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Leopold Mitrofanov, Mark Dvoretsky, Alexander Morozevich, Gregory Serper, Michał Krasenkow, Yuri Averbakh, Vladimir Simagin, Irina Levitina, Kira Zvorykina, Alexander Khalifman, Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Liberzon, Vladislav Tkachiev, Alexey Selezniev, Boris Gulko, Vladimir Malaniuk, Peter Romanovsky, Alexey Suetin, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, Igor Zaitsev, Yelena Dembo, Nukhim Rashkovsky, Nicolas Rossolimo, Viktor Knorre, Leonid Yudasin, Ilya Rabinovich, Vitaly Chekhover, Yuri Balashov, Lev Psakhis, Peter Svidler, Mark Tseitlin, Alexandra Obolentseva, Gregory Kaidanov, Vera Nebolsina, Mark Taimanov, Sergei Rublevsky, Igor Bondarevsky, Alexander Motylev, Alexey Vyzmanavin, Irving Chernev, Tatiana Kosintseva, Peter Petrovich Saburov, Nikolai Grigoriev, Leonid Kubbel, Alexander Petrov, Alexander Grischuk, Igor Glek, Ljuba Kristol, Andrei Kharlov, Samuil Vainshtein, Alisa Galliamova, Sergey Von Freymann, Alexander Tolush, Lyudmila Rudenko, Rustem Dautov, Yakov Estrin, Yury Dokhoian, Boris Kreiman, Alexander Cherepkov, Jacob Murey, Alexei Alekhine, Vladimir Nenarokov, Sergei Makarichev, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Yuri Razuvayev, Nikolai Riumin, Stepan Levitsky, Anatoly Lein, Victor Kahn, Alexey Dreev, Abram Rabinovich, Alexander Kochyev, Evgeny Bareev, Igor Khenkin, Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky, Ilya Kan, Michael Roiz, Sergey Dolmatov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Emanuel Schiffers, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Sergey Viktorovich Volkov, Semyon Alapin, Elena Do...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=72495 ... Read more

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Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky, Yasser Seirawan, Alexander Beliavsky, Viswanathan Anand, Borislav Ivkov, Tony Miles, Levon Aronian, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, Artur Yusupov, Emil Sutovsky, Andrei Sokolov, Harriet Hunt, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Pendyala Harikrishna, Kiril Georgiev, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vladimir Akopian, Tal Shaked, Vera Nebolsina, Florin Gheorghiu, Shen Yang, Xu Yuanyuan, Zhu Chen, Julio Kaplan, William Lombardy, Kamilė Baginskaitė, Alisa Galliamova, Zhao Xue, Joël Lautier, Koneru Humpy, Nana Dzagnidze, Sergey Dolmatov, Curt Hansen, Bruno Parma, Maxim Dlugy, Elisabeth Pähtz, Abhijeet Gupta, Bojan Kurajica, Agnieszka Brustman, Zaven Andriasian, Lázaro Bruzón, Ilya Gurevich, Werner Hug, Hoang Thanh Trang, Darmen Sadvakasov, Oscar Panno, Igor Miladinović, Pablo Zarnicki, Walter Arencibia, Nino Khurtsidze, Mark Diesen, Peter Acs, Carlos Bielicki, Ognjen Cvitan, Valery Chekhov, Alexander Galkin, Vasil Spasov, Helgi Grétarsson, Roman Slobodjan. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Garry Kasparov (Russian: , Russian pronunciation: ; born Garry Kimovich Weinstein, 13 April 1963) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider the greatest chess player of all time. Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He is also widely known for being the first world chess champion to lose a match to a computer, when he lost to Deep Blue in 1997. Kasparov's ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=12810 ... Read more