Skip to main content

Bobby Fischer goes to war

I recently read and reviewed a book about the Fischer-Spassky match. While reading that book, I came across several references to another book on the match. So in order to properly commemorate the match, I decided to read one more. It is also considered to be one of the best books on the match, so I thought it should be worth it.

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?

If you are looking for a book on the Fischer-Spassky match, look no further. That is, unless you're looking for a book on the chess itself. Because this book has hardly any chess in it whatsoever. This means that the book does not require any knowledge about chess.

Bobby Fischer goes to war is a pure biography on the world championship match of 1972. The book covers the events before, during and after the match. 

Unlike The Match of All Time, this book does not give a history of chess or the world champions. In the beginning of the book, there is a list of all champions up to 1969. Just names and years, that's it. 

The book begins with a short biography of both players and then covers the tournaments that paved the way for Fischer's opportunity to challenge Spassky for the crown. The rest of the book is about the drama surrounding the tournament and the aftermath. The book describes not only what happened to Fischer after the match, but also how the outcome affected Spassky, which is quite interesting.

Overall, the book is has a logical (and chronological) structure, and it is well-written. So if you are looking for a book on the drama around this famous match, this is probably the book for you. But if you are looking for analysis of the chess games, you will not find it here.

Who should read this book?

This is a book for anyone who is interested in the history of chess, and especially the famous match between Fischer and Spassky. It is really well-written and quite entertaining. I can recommend it to anyone who is interested in the drama around what has been dubbed the match of the century.

About this book

Author:David Edmonds and John Eidinow
Title:Bobby Fischer goes to war
Type of book:Biography
Level:Any
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular reviews

Understanding middlegames

Have you ever found yourself unable to find a move in the middlegame? Of course you have. We all have. About ten years ago, this was a recurring problem for me, which led to a lot of frustration. My conclusion was that I needed to learn how understand middlegames. So what better way than to read a book with the title Understanding Chess Middlegames ? Sound like the perfect remedy, right? Ok, let's find out. 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? I first read this book when I was just starting to study chess seriously. I bought it after reading a recommendation in an online forum. I would say this was ten years ago, but the book came out 2011, so it couldn't have been before that. Anyhow, my playing strength was probably around 1200 (I was unrated at the time) and I was having trouble choosing moves in non-tactical positions. Basically, I was playing without ...
1 comment
Read more

Estimating playing strength

Have you ever felt like your chess rating doesn't represent your actual playing strength? Sometimes we want to be able to estimate playing strength based on individual games rather than rating (which changes more slowly). During the past few months, I've been taking a number of online courses and learning python for data analysis. In one of the courses, the final project allowed me to choose my own dataset. So surprise surprise! I chose something chess related. (Not really surprised, are you?) When we play games online, getting a computer evaluation is just a few clicks away. And a commonly used statistic is the average centipawn loss, or simply the average deviation from the computer's best move. Many of us tend to think that centipawn loss (CPL) is a good estimate of playing strength. And, of course, it gives some indication, but it's far from a perfect predictor. Fellow chess/statistics blogger Patrick Coulombe has investigated the correlation between rating and CPL ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blindfold chess

Are you impressed by people who can play chess without seeing the board? For the uninitiated, this is a very impressive display of skill. But it is a skill that can be learned, and you don’t need to be a grandmaster to achieve it. The trick is to start small, with few pieces on the board - or in a diagram. In this review, I will discuss a book that can help you on the way to becoming a blindfold chess wiz.   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? A few years ago, my chess club arranged a small chess display in a local shopping centre. One of the things we did was having someone playing blindfolded against one of the spectators. People around the table were completely blown away by this, and many even asked if it was a trick. (It’s not!) Although blindfold chess seems amazing, even impossible, to some people, it is a skill that is very attainable. I would even c...
Post a Comment
Read more

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,...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more