Carlsen vs Karjakin

I know, I know. This match was a long time ago, and there has already been another world championship match - against that other guy that begins with "Car" (By the way, is that a prerequisite for the championship now?). Anyway, there isn't a book out on the latest match yet. And, even if there was, this one is really (!) good. So if you're into this kind of book, go read it.

What can you expect from this book?

This book is not just a game collection. It is a book about the match in its entirety. It begins with an introduction that sets the scene for the match. There is a presentation of each player and their respective road to the match, as well as the venue. The book is also full of behind the scenes footage and a other goodies. I would imagine that the book could even be interesting for non-chessplayers.

Each game is of course presented in its entirety along with first class annotations by the authors. Alburt is a renowned chess writer and grandmaster, and Crumiller is a chess engine expert. In that sense, they make a good team with the ability to squeeze out the most of the computer's analyses and translate it into something that can be understood by readers well below the master level (such as myself). But it doesn't stop there. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik provides insights about the strain of playing a title match and comments on the psychology around each game. Kramnik also provides his own analyses on critical positions ("Vlad's viewpoint"). There are diagrams of key positions for each game, which readers can use to challenge themselves, if they wish.

Who should read this book?

This book may be different things to different people. I read it mostly for entertainment, and found it really excellent for that purpose. However, I assume it could also be used for training and analyses, if one desires. However, if you are looking for a book that will make you world champion, this is not it. I would recommend it to any reader who is interested in the world championship and things concerning matches like these.

About this book

Author:	Lev Alburt & Jon Crumiller
Title:	Carlsen vs Karjakin
Type of book:	Game collection
Level:	Any

Comments

Popular reviews

Lessons with a Grandmaster

If you had actual lessons with a grandmaster, would you be brave enough to publish the transcripts? Well, someone did. And that someone wrote about it in book form — three books, to be precise. In this review, I present my thoughts on the first book in the book series Lessons with a Grandmaster . If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from this book? Lessons with a GM is written in collaboration between Boris Gulko and Joel Sneed. Gulko is a grandmaster who emigrated from the Soviet Union in the 1980s. According to Wikipedia, he is the only player to win the Soviet as well as US Chess championships. Sneed is a professor of psychology at Queens College in New York as well as an amateur player. In essence, this book is a game collection. There are 25 games in the book, all played by Gulko. There are some real heavyweights among his opponents, such as Kasparov, Karpov,...

Chaos on the board

Have you ever felt tired of chess? Maybe you’ve been uninspired or perhaps you think it’s too much work. To paraphrase a famous movie: All work and no play makes you a dull person. If that is the case, I may have a cure. You need a fun chess book. Something that will rekindle your joy for the game and inspire you to play creatively. I give you Tiger’s Chaos Theory ! This book found me at a time when I needed it the most. My inspiration and motivation to study chess was way down. And like a bolt from the blue, the Swedish Chess Federation approached me and wanted me to review this book. And the kind people at Quality Chess agreed to send me a review copy. An offer I couldn't refuse. So after this happy turn of events, I have a new review for you. If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from this book? Grandmaster Tiger Hillarp Persson, a multi-time Swedish chess champion, has al...

Master of strategy

During the past two years, I’ve been working on improving my strategic/positional play. In this process, I have read a number of books, and two books that have long been on my reading list are the strategy books by Johan Hellsten. So when the Swedish chess federation requested reviewers for two of these books, I didn’t hesitate. I am happy that I was given the opportunity to review these books, and hope this review can be of help to you as a reader. If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from these books? Johan Hellsten has created a name for himself as one of the leading experts of chess strategy in modern times. His series of strategy books ( Mastering Opening Strategy , Mastering Chess Strategy and Mastering Endgame Strategy ) have received glowing reviews from many parts of the chess world. So it feels good to finally dig into these nuggets. His endgame book is still in my boo...

Perpetual chess - the book

The Perpetual Chess podcast has been the chess podcast for several years. Since its launch in 2016, Ben Johnson has made almost 500 episodes in which he has interviewed many of the most notable people in chess. After all of these conversations, he has collected a massive amount of material on the topic of chess improvement. So when he announced that he had gathered the most important lessons from the podcast and put them in writing, I was very excited. Unfortunately, I have had many other things in life that have required my attention, so my review was delayed. But now, it's finally here! Hope you find it useful. If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from this book? Perpetual Chess Improvement is essentially a distillation of hundreds of conversations from Perpetual Chess Podcast into a single, highly digestible volume. Rather than presenting a rigid training system, Ben Johns...

My system should be your system?

One of the greates classics of chess literature. That's at least what it says on the cover. But let's not judge a book by the cover. Instead, we could listen to what others have said about this book. In his review of My system , John Watson writes: "We no longer consider many classics to be essential to a chess education, not since the Internet; but if there’s an exception, Nimzowitch’s work is it". These are big words from a big man. Watson is an authority of chess theory, so his evaluation should not be taken too lightly. Although My system has frequently been mentioned among the greatest books of all time, and has been recommended by many players , it has also been the subject of controversy. Of course, when the book was first published (almost 100 years ago), many ideas in the book challenged many of the established principles of chess theory at the time, and other authorities dismissed the ideas. But also to this day, many people are unimpressed with the b...

Patzer's review

Search This Blog