Hello all, I am a USCF 1400 rated player who is interested in improving his
positional play. I have decided to review the games of, Tigran Petrosian,
one of the most positional players of all time but am having a problem
finding books that give a complete analysis of his games. I have obtained
"Tigran Petrosian-his life and games" but this book does not give good
enough analysis for a player at my level.
Can anyone out there recommend a Petrosian book with complete simple
analysis?? Thanks.

Smooth

"B.B." wrote in message news:ilr2d.10683$ZP.8401@trnddc05...
Hello all, I am a USCF 1400 rated player who is interested in improving
his
positional play. I have decided to review the games of, Tigran Petrosian,
one of the most positional players of all time but am having a problem
finding books that give a complete analysis of his games. I have
obtained
"Tigran Petrosian-his life and games" but this book does not give good
enough analysis for a player at my level.

For a beginner Paul Morphy`s games are definitely much better. First you
should learn basic openings principles and solve many tactical position to
feel tactics well and then you could start to study positional games of
Petrossian.
And btw don`t forget about basic endings ;-)


Regards,

Jerzy

I disagree with the guy who says you should study the games of Morphy.
Morphy was a tactical player par excellence and had nothing to do with
positional play.

Maybe looking at the games of Petrosian isn't the best thing, there are
plenty of books around that giving introductions to positional play eg they
will have a chapter on outposts, on rooks on the 2nd or 7th rank, the bishop
pair etc . So I think thats what you need - an introduction to positional
chess to set you on your way.



"B.B." wrote in message
news:ilr2d.10683$ZP.8401@trnddc05...
Hello all, I am a USCF 1400 rated player who is interested in improving
his
positional play. I have decided to review the games of, Tigran Petrosian,
one of the most positional players of all time but am having a problem
finding books that give a complete analysis of his games. I have
obtained
"Tigran Petrosian-his life and games" but this book does not give good
enough analysis for a player at my level.
Can anyone out there recommend a Petrosian book with complete simple
analysis?? Thanks.

Smooth

"Neil Coward" wrote in mesagge
...
I disagree with the guy who says you should study the games of Morphy.
Morphy was a tactical player par excellence and had nothing to do with
positional play.

Where did I write that Morphy was a tactical player and nth more ?
Please be more objective.


Maybe looking at the games of Petrosian isn't the best thing, there are
plenty of books around that giving introductions to positional play eg
they
will have a chapter on outposts, on rooks on the 2nd or 7th rank, the
bishop
pair etc . So I think thats what you need - an introduction to positional
chess to set you on your way.

So you admit that studying Petrossian games at the level 1400 USCF isn`t the
best thing. I simply advise to study more tactics at the level of B.B.

BTW I played on ICC with Coward(IM) was it you ? (I won :-)

Regards,

Jerzy

B.B. wrote:

Can anyone out there recommend a Petrosian book with complete simple
analysis?? Thanks.

Peter Clarke wrote one, published in the UK by Bell. Long out of print, and in
descriptive. One of my favourite chess books.

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 01:45:50 GMT, "B.B." wrote:

Hello all, I am a USCF 1400 rated player who is interested in improving his
positional play. I have decided to review the games of, Tigran Petrosian,
one of the most positional players of all time but am having a problem
finding books that give a complete analysis of his games. I have obtained
"Tigran Petrosian-his life and games" but this book does not give good
enough analysis for a player at my level.
Can anyone out there recommend a Petrosian book with complete simple
analysis?? Thanks.

Smooth



The other books of Petrosian's games a
"Petrosian's Best Games of Chess" by P. H. Clarke [covers 1946-1963]
"Petrosian's Legacy" by T. Petrosian [A series of articles on
Petrosian's approach to chess; covers up through Candidates Match with
Fischer in 1972]

There are also some books in German available at www.amazon.de:
- "Die Schachuniversität" is a nice collection of Tigran's
chess-lessons at Soviet chess schools. (I think that
Petrosian's Legacy is eseental an English translation of this).
- "Tigran Petrosjan", a nice German biography by Konikowski &
Schulenburg
- "Tigran Petrosjan", another German biography written by
Petrosian's GM-colleague (and frequent second) Alexei Suetin.
This book is also available in Russian, but has not been
translated into English, as far as I know.

There are two other books analysis of Petrosian's games:
- "How to Defend in Chess (Learn from the World Champions)" by
Colin Crouch (2000)[Focuses on the defensive style of Lasker and

Petrosian by thoroughly analyzing 10 games for each of these
world champions]
- In either the 21st century edition of Nimzovich's "My System" or
"Chess Praxis" there is an appendix of recent games that reflect
Nimzovich's strategic principles. Quite a few of these games are

by Petrosian (especially those emphasizing 'prophylaxis').

If you are looking for thorough coverage of Petrosian's games I would
suggest either the Suetin or Clarke books. Since you stated you
wanted analysis approriate for your level, I would try either
Petrosian's Legacy, the Crouch book or the Nimzovich books. [Aside:
studying the other games in either or both of the Nizovich books would
also help positional understanding.]

Regarding positional play appropriate to youe level, you might also
look at Capablanca's games. The Golmbek book recently revised by Nunn
would be a good reference.

Mike Ogush

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 01:45:50 GMT, "B.B." wrote:

Hello all, I am a USCF 1400 rated player who is interested in improving his
positional play. I have decided to review the games of, Tigran Petrosian,
one of the most positional players of all time but am having a problem
finding books that give a complete analysis of his games. I have obtained
"Tigran Petrosian-his life and games" but this book does not give good
enough analysis for a player at my level.
Can anyone out there recommend a Petrosian book with complete simple
analysis?? Thanks.

Smooth


Before getting bogged down in Petrosian's complicated style of play
(even Botvinnik couldn't figure it out!) I *strongly* urge you to read
the following six books in order:

1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate -- Fred Reinfeld
1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations -- Fred Reinfeld
New Ideas in Chess -- Larry Evans
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played -- Irving Chernev
The Art of Positional Play -- Sammy Reshevsky
Simple Chess -- Michael Stean

Dan Scoones

I found the Reshevsky book incredibly boring eg first chapter pawns, part
one double pawns, here are a couple of games, part two isolated pawns, here
are a couple of games, part three backward pawns, here are a couple of games
part four .....zzzzzzzzzzzzz

50 f***ing pages and we're still banging on about pawns!!

At least Stean's book gets on with it, a quick chapter on all the important
themes.

The best positional book according to many players is Nimzowitch's 'My
system' however I've never managed to read it he's an oddball with a very
strange style of writing and some bizarre methaphors but many strong players
recommend it




"Dan Scoones" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 01:45:50 GMT, "B.B." wrote:

Hello all, I am a USCF 1400 rated player who is interested in improving
his
positional play. I have decided to review the games of, Tigran
Petrosian,
one of the most positional players of all time but am having a problem
finding books that give a complete analysis of his games. I have
obtained
"Tigran Petrosian-his life and games" but this book does not give good
enough analysis for a player at my level.
Can anyone out there recommend a Petrosian book with complete simple
analysis?? Thanks.

Smooth


Before getting bogged down in Petrosian's complicated style of play
(even Botvinnik couldn't figure it out!) I *strongly* urge you to read
the following six books in order:

1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate -- Fred Reinfeld
1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations -- Fred Reinfeld
New Ideas in Chess -- Larry Evans
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played -- Irving Chernev
The Art of Positional Play -- Sammy Reshevsky
Simple Chess -- Michael Stean

Dan Scoones

On Sun, 19 Sep 2004 10:27:48 +0000 (UTC), "Neil Coward"
wrote:

The best positional book according to many players is Nimzowitch's 'My
system' however I've never managed to read it he's an oddball with a very
strange style of writing and some bizarre methaphors but many strong players
recommend it


What I liked about the Reshevsky book was that the games were actual
struggles, and not one-sided crushes as in the Chernev book. Studying
both types of game is important, however. Also, Reshevsky manages to
persuade you that factors you thought weren't positional, like king
safety, are positional after all. This book played a big part in
getting me safely over 2200, so I may be somewhat biased.

Having read My System as a 14-year-old A-player, I can tell you that I
wish someone had stolen it before I got past page one. Sure,
Nimzowitsch is deep and all that, but this is not a balanced treatise
on chess strategy. The wounds he suffered at the hands of Tarrasch
and others had driven his thinking off to one side. For a little
perspective on Nimzowitsch, there is nothing better than playing over
all of his games with Alexander Alekhine. And for some real tonic,
you might try comparing Alekhine's notes to Nimzowitsch's games at New
York 1927 (unfortunately, you'll need the German or Russian tournament
book) with Nimzowitsch's own notes from Chess Praxis. Alekhine is the
deep, modern player, not Nimzowitsch.

I'm not alone in this view of Nimzowitsch, either. GM Kevin Spraggett
has often expressed a similar view. I'll temper mine by saying that
one might read Nimzowitsch after crossing the 2000 barrier.

Dan Scoones more or less aptly opined
:

What I liked about the Reshevsky book was that the games were actual
struggles, and not one-sided crushes as in the Chernev book. Studying
both types of game is important, however. Also, Reshevsky manages to
persuade you that factors you thought weren't positional, like king
safety, are positional after all. This book played a big part in
getting me safely over 2200, so I may be somewhat biased.
SNIP

Thanks for aharing your experience with the Reshevsky book. Is it true that
this book was ghost written by someone other than Sammy?

--
Regards,
Yeh

"What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?"
Nick Lowe
"Why must I lose to this idiot?!?!!!???"
Aron Nimzowitsch