"Secrets of Grandmaster Chess" by John Nunn, 1997 American
Batsford Chess Library, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Softcover,
333pp., $26.95

British GM John Nunn has not only been one of the world's
leading grandmasters for the last decade, he has also been one of
the world's best chess authors. Whether the topic is opening
analysis, endgame theory or game annotations, he is usually
thorough and entertaining. His latest book, actually a revision of a
1988 title, maintains the high quality of work for which he has
been deservedly recognized.

"Secrets of Grandmaster Chess" is an updated edition of his earlier
1988 work of the same name. However, he has added
approximately forty pages that deal with the early part of his career
and included an additional 49 complete games or positions in this
material. The result is a tour de force belonging on every player's
top ten list.

Strictly speaking, twenty-four very heavily annotated games are
presented from the period 1974-1985. The deep annotations mix
easily with Nunn's narratives to give the reader a true sense of
sharing the grandmaster's thoughts as he does battle with some of
the world's best players. His discussions of difficult tactical and
strategic positions also serve as a very fine de facto instructional
manual.

However, in addition to these games, snippets of dozens of other
games and anecdotes are sprinkled throughout the text. Here is an
excerpt that will serve nicely as an example...

In 1979 I was captain of the Oxford University National Club
Championship team and this was one of the rare occasions when
Oxford took the title. My game from the Final reached a
remarkable position: (See Diagram)

White: Kg1, Re7, Rf4, Nc7, Bg4 - pawns: a2, b4, d5, f2, g2, h3
Black: Kg8, Rb8, Rf8, Na4, Nb6 - pawns: a6, b7, d6, f7, g7, h7

J. Nunn - N. Holloway National Club Championship Final, 1979

31Rfxf7 Rxf7 32 Be6 Rf8 33 Ne8 Nc4

Forced, in order to defend d6.

34 Rxb7 a5 

Desperation, but after the natural 34...Nab2 35 Rc7 Black is
curiously paralysed. Despite his extra rook, not a single one of his
five pieces can move without heavy material loss, for example
35...Rxe8 36 Bxf7+ Kf8 37 Bxe8 Kxe8 38 Rxg7 is an easy win.
After Black runs out of kingside pawn moves he will fall into a
fatal zugzwang. One line is 35...g6 36 a3 h6 37 Kh2 h5 38 h4 Ne5
39 Nxd6 Kg7 40 Nxf7 Nxf7 41 Bxf7 Rxf7 42 d6 and wins. The
unusual feature of this position is that thanks to the knight on e8,
Black cannot free himself by playing ...Kg7 at some stage.

35 Rc7 Nab2 36 bxa5 1-0

After this I gave up the captaincy of the National Club
Championship team. More and more the eligibility rules seemed
designed simply to exclude strong players, and many teams
exploited these rules to try to have Oxford players disqualified
(sometimes successfully, as in the case of Adrian Hollis, even
though he had not been a member of any other club for at least 20
years). When the time spent on these wrangles exceeded the time
spent playing chess in the event, I decided to call it a day. In the
mid- 1990s, the 4NCL (a league organised independently of the
chess federation) evolved with practically no restrictions on the
composition of teams. It has proved immensely popular and has
severely reduced interest in the 'official' National Club
Championship.

Next I took part in the Clare Benedict team tournament (a
European Team Event) held in Teesside. This was memorable for
the fact that when I beat Robatsch in 20 moves, he hit the table
with his fists and announced in a loud voice (while most other
games were still in progress) that in 30 years of tournament play,
he had never competed in an event with such miserable conditions.
To be fair, there were good reasons for this opinion.

This was immediately followed by the 1979 British Championship
held in Chester. There was a disconcerting episode when I was
looking at a position with Mestel and Speelman in the analysis
room. A man came in with his young son: 'Look over there,' he
declared, 'those are good chess players. I don't want you to grow up
like them.'

The Championship ended in a triple tie for first between Bellin,
Short and myself on 8/11. In previous years there had always been
a play-off in the event of a tie, but this had been scrapped in favour
of a numerical tie-break, which favoured Bellin. Press reports
focused on Bellin (because he had won) and Short (because of his
youth). Some even failed to mention my name at all. Somewhat
put out by this, I pressed for the re-introduction of a play-off. More
about this later!

My successes in weekend events continued: joint first with Cuartas
at LARA (Lambeth in London) with 5Vz/6 and joint first at the
Civil Service Open with 4.5/5. This put me in a strong position
before the final pre-Christmas event at Islington. When my nearest
rival, Murray Chandler, slipped up, I was guaranteed first place.
My score of 186.5/200 looks pretty feeble by today's standards, but
it was considered high at the time.

I saw in the New Year at Hastings. This was a great success, as I
scored 10/15 to share first place with Ulf Andersson, and became
the first British player to win Hastings since Alexander tied with
Bronstein in the 1953/4 event. Most of my best results depended
on avoiding defeat as far as possible. This was no exception;
thanks to some judiciously chosen quick draws, I was able to
concentrate my efforts on the really critical games, with the result
that I won five and drew ten of my games. Of course, if this
strategy does not work then one can expect some bad press
comments, but so be it - the idea is to win and not to live up to the
expectations of chess journalists who are often players retired so
long they have forgotten what tournament chess is all about.

Shortly after Hastings, the English team set out for the final of the
European Team Championships in Skara, Sweden. As usual at
such events, on arrival we discovered that there were insufficient
hotel rooms. Our captain, David Anderton, was always at his best
in such situations. When the organisers explained that, owing to
the dearth of hotel rooms, we would have to double up, David
declared 'I can't have grandmasters sleeping together!' The
organisers' position was further undermined when Tony Miles
discovered that the hotel next door had plenty of spare rooms,
demolishing their story that there just weren't any more hotel
rooms to be had in Skara.

Fortunately the Swedish team had already been persuaded to move
out of the hotel to alternative accommodation. To short-circuit
further argument, David just grabbed a bunch of spare-looking
keys at the hotel reception and handed them out. I went to 'my'
room, which did indeed appear to be vacant, and started unpacking
my suitcase. Suddenly Campomanes strode into the room, looked
surprised and asked what I was doing in 'his' room.

"Your room?," I queried, "it looks empty."

"I'll prove it. Look...." and with that Campo went to the bed, lifted
up the mattress and pulled out a thick wad of cash. I was
convinced. 

The first edition of this book won the British Chess Federation
Book of the Year Award in 1988. If possible, the second edition is
even better. Nunn has combined a fine writing style and
comprehensive approach to presenting annotated games. The result
is a marvelous book that will surely set the standard for other game
collections to come.