A Chess Book I Didn't Like

 

    There was a tournament in 1929 that was won by Capablanca who finished with a superb +13 -0 =1 which put him 1.5 points ahead of Tartakower who was also undefeated. Colle was a half point behind Tartakower and the rest of the field, which consisted of minor masters, weren’t even close. 

    While he was there Capablanca gave a simultaneous and one of the games made its way into a book titled The Fine Art of Chess that was published in 2019 by Lyudmil Tsvetkov. The book is a BIG one! There is a total of 40 games and 812 pages! The Kindle edition is only $1.99 which, I think, is $1.98 more than the book is worth 

    It got 4.5 stars on reviews, but one reviewer (with whom I agree) rated it “really quite bad” and “a bunch of drivel.” I don’t know that I would agree with the reviewer that reading this book would make you a worse player, but in one game, Goglidze-Botvinnik, Moscow, 1935, after 1.d4 Tsvetkov give Botvinnik’s 1...Nf6 a “?!” and said it’s “reasonable” and “frequently chosen,” but it’s “very slightly sub-optimal” because “it neglects a sound opening principle, namely that minor pieces should not block (it’s) own Pawns on their home ranks, if possible to do so.” 

    In the game presented in this post, after 1.d4 Nf6 he says of Ribera’s 2.Nf3, “2.c4 was markedly better. Again, it is axiomatic that, in the very early opening, central pawn moves are preferable to piece-developing ones.” 

    He was critical of Capablanca’s 2...e6, saying, “Sails toward Indian structures. Doesn't fix the center and relies on unobstructed figure activity.” What?! 

    In this game, at move 4, he speaks of black’s development of his two Bs in terms like “bringing out both sweepers” and advises the reader to “See how agile and vigorous the newly-positioned raker is, not to mention that it also has placed its sights on the hostile f3-horse and h1-cannon.” 

    Also, I found the author’s attempt at humorous annotations anything but. When Ribera castled on move 10 the comment was, “God bless, the lofty royal personality has gotten to a safe place!” I could go on, but I won’t. There are a few minor glitches in the English, but that’s not really a problem. 

    Of course, not everyone agrees that the book is bad and that’s OK. IM Gerard Welling, who is a far better player than I, thinks the average club player will benefit from the book because it teaches how to play with “a bit more understanding.” Welling also observed that a “stronger player will accept large parts and probably debate others, but will surely be triggered to think about certain aspects of chess, which can help him to improve or vary his game." 

    Who is the author, Lyudmil Tsvetkov? He is a political scientist, former career diplomat, Bulgarian Candidate Master (US Expert, 2000-2199) since 1998 and one of the main Stockfish contributors. 

    His bio adds that “the rise of computer chess with the appearance of top-level programs like Stockfish and Komodo soon captivated him entirely, and in late 2013 he decided to quit his full-time job to be able to concentrate completely on playing and analyzing chess.” 

    Here is a game from the book that Capa won in a simul. Like a lot of Capa’s games, it’s deceptively simple, but instructive. Tsvetkov lists the themes as demonstrating advanced pieces (N outpost), Bishop pair, Rook on the 2nd rank, doubled Pawns, isolated Pawns. 

[Event "30 Board Simul, Barcelona"] [Site "?"] [Date "1929.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Angel Ribera"] [Black "Jose Capablanca"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E12"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "68"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.05.03"] {E12: Queen's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Be7 {Normally black plays 5...Bb4, but he has also tried 5...h6 first.} 6. e3 { The alternative is the equally good 6.Qc2} Ne4 {One of several reasonable moves. 6...Bb4 and 6...h6 are also quite playable.} 7. Bxe7 {It's odd...this move is hardly bad, but in practical play it fares far worse than 7.Nxe4} (7. Nxe4 Bxe4 8. Bf4 {is completely equal.}) 7... Qxe7 8. Nxe4 {Tsvetkov's comment on this move is, "Very natural, avoiding the aforementioned jeopardy of twinning a pedestrian at c3."} (8. Bd3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 {White's doubled Ps are hardly a serious liability.} d6 10. O-O Nd7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. e4 {is equal.}) 8... Bxe4 9. Bd3 Bb7 (9... Qb4+ 10. Qd2 Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 Bxd3 12. Kxd3 {and Kogan,A (2530)-Epishin,V (2643) Port Erin 2002 soon agreed to a draw.}) (9... Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Qb4+ 11. Qc3 Qxc3+ 12. bxc3 {fizzled out to a draw in Navarro,T (2215)-Valle,A (2307) Brasilia BRA 2011}) 10. O-O d6 {The main alternative is 10...O-O and 11...c5} 11. Re1 (11. d5 e5 12. Qc2 Nd7 13. Bf5 g6 14. Bxd7+ Qxd7 15. e4 O-O 16. Qd2 {This whole line doesn't offer either side much scope for imaginativer play. Philippe,G-Venkatraman,T Moscow 1956 was eventually drawn.}) 11... Nd7 {[%mdl 32]} (11... Nc6 {would not be the best place for the N. After} 12. d5 exd5 (12... Nb4 13. Qa4+) 13. cxd5 Ne5 14. Bb5+ Kf8 15. Rc1 {white is clearly better.}) 12. e4 O-O {Also good was 12.e5 with a fully even position.} 13. e5 (13. a3 e5 14. Bc2 Nf6 15. Qd3 {is equal. Neither side has much play.}) 13... Rad8 {[%mdl 32]} (13... dxe5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Rad8 16. Qc2 g6 17. Rad1 {is fully equal.}) 14. Qe2 {This is not a serious mistake, but he should have taken the opportunity to get rid of the light squared Bs. Now Capa has a tiny advantage, but that's all he needs!} (14. exd6 Qxd6 15. Be4 Bxe4 16. Rxe4 {is equal.}) 14... dxe5 {Watch what happens on this file!} 15. dxe5 (15. Nxe5 { is inaccurate because after} c5 16. Be4 Bxe4 17. Qxe4 Nxe5 18. dxe5 (18. Qxe5 { Blunder!} Rxd4 19. Qe2 Qd6 20. Rad1 Rd8 21. Rxd4 Qxd4 22. b3 Qd2 23. Kf1 Qxe2+ 24. Rxe2 Rd1+ 25. Re1 Rd4 {and in the long run black will wecure the win.}) 18... Rd2 {black has the more active (not winning!) position.}) 15... Nc5 16. Bc2 Bxf3 {This allows the R to invade on d2. It's not fatal, but it will make life difficult for white.} 17. Qxf3 Rd2 {[%mdl 2048] White is going to have to walk a tightrope to avoid disaster on the d-file and second rank.} 18. Qc3 Rfd8 19. Rad1 {It's natural to want to clear the d-file, byt this is the place where white begins losing the game!} (19. g3 {gives the K an escape and it's hard to believe, but there is absolutley no way black can capitalize the d-file!} f5 20. exf6 Qxf6 21. Qxf6 gxf6 22. Rad1 R8d7 23. Rxd2 Rxd2 24. b4 Rxc2 25. bxc5 Rxc4 26. cxb6 axb6 27. Rxe6 Kf7 {and this position is drawn.}) 19... Ne4 {If white doesn't take the N then from here it exerts tremendous pressure.} 20. Qe3 (20. Rxe4 Rxd1+ 21. Bxd1 Rxd1+ 22. Re1 Qd7 23. g3 Rd3 24. Qc2 h6 { Black is better, but us it enough to win?! Yes...in Shootouts black scored 4 wins and a drfaw. However, the games were long, one going 124 moves!}) 20... Rxc2 21. Qxe4 Rxb2 22. a3 Rdd2 23. Rxd2 Rxd2 {[%mdl 4096] Black's control of the d-file assures the win. Watch how Capa uses it to invade white's position.} 24. h3 c5 {Excellent! it controls d4 and white's Q is limited.} (24... Qxa3 { is tempting. Black still wins but white has some annoying play.} 25. Qa8+ Qf8 26. Qxa7 Qd8 27. c5 Rd1 28. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 29. Kh2 Qd8 30. c6 {and black will have a long way to go to squeeze out a win.}) 25. Re3 (25. Qa8+ {leads to delicate play, but black would prevail after} Rd8 26. Qe4 g6 27. Qe2 Qd7 28. Qe4 Qd2 29. Kf1 Rd4 30. Qb7 Rf4 31. Re2 Qc1+ 32. Re1 Qxc4+ 33. Kg1 Qd4 34. Rf1 (34. Qxa7 Qxf2+) 34... c4 35. Qxa7 c3 {and wins.}) 25... Rd4 26. Qa8+ Rd8 27. Qf3 Qd7 { Simple. The threat is to exchange Qs with 28...Qd1+ which would leave black with a routine win in the R ending.} 28. Kh2 {Ribera correctly wants to keep his Q on the board.} Qd4 {Unfortunately for white his Ps are too weak and cannot be defended.} 29. Re4 Qd3 30. Qg4 h6 {this is really an unnecessary safety precaution, but it doesn't hurt anything.} 31. Re3 {Everything is defended, but white is still lost.} Qd4 32. Qe2 Qd1 33. Qb2 Qd2 {Unfortunately for white he must now exchange Qs or give up a P. He decides to keep the Qs on, but then after Capa's next moive he realized the futility of continuing.} 34. Qc3 (34. Qxd2 Rxd2 35. Kg1 Rd1+ 36. Kh2 g5 {White's R has few moves and his K is shut out of play and his Ps are weak...all point to a loss.}) 34... Qxf2 { White resigned. What's interesting is that in the Fritz program white was assigned a very good Weighted Erroe Value of 0.28. The problem was that Capablanca's was about a quarter of that...a very precise 0.10 which means he nearly matched Stockfish's level of play.} (34... Qxf2 35. Rf3 Qd4 36. a4 Qe4 37. Qe3 Rd4 38. Qxe4 Rxe4 39. Rc3 g5 40. Kg3 Rxe5 41. h4 Re4 42. h5 Kg7 43. Kf3 Rd4 44. a5 bxa5 45. Ra3 Rf4+ 46. Ke3 Rxc4 47. Rxa5 Rh4 48. Rxc5 Rxh5 49. Ra5 Rh4 50. Rxa7 {with an easy win.}) 0-1