Patzer's review

Would you like to know a fun fact? You know that online chess community that everyone is talking about? Back in the day, there were a few different suggestions for which hashtag we should use. As you all know, we arrived at the decision to use #ChessPunks, and the rest is history. But initially, this was not the leading suggestion. Instead, it was #Chess4Life, but for various reasons we had a new poll and got a different result. This has nothing to do with the book in this review, apart from the fact that they share the same name. But with slightly different conditions, we would have a thriving chess community with the same name as this book. That would have been a fun coincidence. So after this pointless introduction, you may have chosen to stop reading. But if, for some reason, you are still reading, I hope you enjoy this review.   If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect f...

What goes on inside the head of a world champion? Many champions have shared their analyses of chess games, and even some inside stories. But the mental struggles that surround the chess tournaments and championship matches has not been revealed to the general public to the same extent. So when former world champion Vishy Anande published a book on this topic, it felt like a must-read.  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? Vishy Anand is a very fascinating person for a number of reasons. He was at the top level for more than three decades, and reigned as world champion from 2007 to 2013. Despite losing his title to Carlsen, he kept playing in top events and even managed to win the candidates tournament for a rematch against Carlsen in 2014. He has also won the prestigious Wijk an Zee tournament five times. When I visisted the tournament in 2020 , I reflected o...

In recent years, there has been a growing movement to promote greater gender equality in chess. One of the most influential chess profiles in this regard is Jennifer Shahade. A few months ago, I heard an interview with her on Daniel Lona's podcast, where Shahade talked about her latest book and some compelling stories about the most prominent female chess players throughout history. After hearing this interview, I felt that I was painfully uninformed about female chess players. Curious to find out more, I read her book Chess Queens . 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? Jen Shahade is an American chess player, writer, and commentator. She is a WGM and two-time U.S. Women's Chess Champion. In addition to her work in chess, Shahade has also been involved in advocacy for women in chess and other fields, and has served as an ambassador for the game. Chess Queens...

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 c...

Fifty years have passed since the famous match that made Bobby Fischer the World Champion. Many books have been written about Firscher in general, and this match in particular. And recently, a new book was published in which one of the match organizers tells the inside story of the match and what happened behind the scenes, before, during and after the match. I was very excited to read this book, and I am ready to share my impressions with 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? As mentioned above, The Match of All Time  is a book about the World championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972. The match was played in Reykjavik, Iceland between July 11 and August 31. So this week, 50 years ago, Bobby Fischer became the 11th world chess champion. The Match of All Time  is written by Gudmundur Thorarinsson, who was the chairman of the Icelan...

What is a chess genius? Well, you could find an argument for a number of different criteria, but one that seems quite feasible is that every World champion was a genius. At least that's the argumentation in the book Sjakkgeniene by Norwegian authors Atle Grønn and Hans Olav Lahlum. I bought this book when I was in Norway over Christmas, and I have enjoyed it very much. For most of you, I guess this review will be of little value, since the book is in Norwegian. But who knows, it might be translated to other languages in the future? We'll see about that, but for those of you that can read Norwegian, I hope you'll enjoy this little bonus review. What can you expect from this book? This is not your typical chess book. It is a one-volume book about all the chess champions to this day. In other words, it follows in the tradition of Kasparov's My great predecessors series, but everything is captured in one volume instead of five. So how is that? Well, it is quite simp...

A while back, I set myself a challenge to memorize all the 16 undisputed world champions along with the matches they played. During this process I became aware of the long periods that some champions reigned. This fact alone made me realize that Botvinnik was one of the great champs, but I knew next to nothing about him. Curious to learn more, I decided to pick up the definitive (?) book on the world champions - My great presecessors by Garry Kasparov. What can you expect from this book? This is a book that will be different thing to different readers. It gives an account of the lives and games of past world champions along with the events that took place in (and outside) the chess world at the time. Some will be in it for the chess; others for the history. My great predecessors is a massive work of chess literature. It is a five-volume series that covers a more than a hundred years of chess history. Since I was curious about Botvinnik, I picked up vol 2. I have not read the o...