Going Postal The Chess Analyst, by Jon Edwards, 1998 Thinkers' Press, English Algebraic Notation, Softcover, 154pp., $19.95. Reviewed by Taylor Kingston In most of the world chessplayers are a minority sub-culture, and correspondence chess (CC) is yet another minority sub-culture within it. Countless books have been written about the world champions of over-the-board play, and names such as Capablanca, Alekhine, Fischer and Kasparov have been famous even among non-chessplayers, but correspondence champions, such as Cecil Purdy, Hans Berliner, Vladimir Zagorovsky, or Victor Palciauskas are often either little known even to the chess public or they are deemed somehow a lesser sort of champion by those who have heard of them. Even the term "over-the-board" for face-to-face play (a misnomer if there ever was one, for CC players spend much more time at the board than any others do) implies a certain inferiority for postal play, as if it were somehow conducted "under the table." In fact, though, correspondence play is the highest quality chess, for the most part superior to OTB play in every aspect of the game. Furthermore, good postal players make the best annotators, since in analyzing each move deeply before sending it they are in effect annotating the game as they play it. Therefore, when a strong correspondence player writes a book, it's usually worth reading. Jon Edwards, of Princeton University, comes with good CC credentials. Playing primarily within the American Postal Chess Tournaments (APCT) organization, probably the strongest CC group in the U.S., Edwards has since 1986 taken four firsts and one second in their annual Rook Championships, and in 1997, after a tournament of 7 years duration, he clinched 1st place in the 10th U.S. Championship of the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF). He has twice won the APCT's "game of the year" award, and the APCT News Bulletin has carried his column "Win, Lose or Draw" since 1990. These provide much of the material for the book. The Chess Analyst presents, in 66 games over 24 chapters, various episodes from Edwards' chess career. The format varies little: a title, sometimes straightforward (e.g. "In Search of a Theoretical Novelty"), sometimes a bit corny ("Hedgehog Heaven", "Don't Feed the Pelikan"), a brief, breezy introduction, followed by an annotated game. What counts is the quality of those games and their often very deep annotations. Both are excellent. Edwards demonstrates ability both to annotate specific variations in depth, and to express the strategic essence of a position. This kind of analysis is highly instructive and Edwards' informal style keeps it accessible. A excellent example is his commentary on this position, Edwards-Frumkin, 1990 (See Diagram), White: Ke1, Qh2, Rb1, Rh1, Nb3, Nc3, Be2, Bf4; pawns - a2, c2, e5, f2, g2, h4 Black: Kg8, Qc7, Ra8, Rf8, Nb8, Nf5, Bc8, Bg7; pawns - a7, b7, c6, d5, e7, g6, h7 which I would like to quote at length. The reader may wish to print this portion of the review and play over the analysis at leisure, to get its full flavor. "It was clear that an immediate kingside assault by White still will not work. I still cannot play 17. g4 because, after ...Nh6, the Knight and B/c8 combine to pressure the g4 pawn. The B/f4 and Q/h2 are both required to defend the e5 pawn, and so 17. h5 meets 17...g5 18. h6 Bh8!. And 17. Kf1 Qb6 18. g4 Nd4 19. Be3 Nxe2! 20. Bxb6 (20. Kxe2 Bxg4+) Nxc3!... However ... White has the opportunity to create a middlegame zugzwang, an extremely rare condition in which one side cannot move without creating irreparable weakness. ... Black cannot place anything between the B/c8 and the g4-square or White will be able to play g4. On 17... e6 or 17... Nd7, for example, White would play 18. g4 Nh6 and the Knight no longer generates a second attack upon the g4 pawn... For the same reason, the B/c8 must not move to b7 or to a6. The B/c8 cannot move to d7 because White gains time for the N/b3-c5-d3 maneuver. Once the Knight arrives on d3, White will have overprotected the e5 pawn sufficiently to permit h5 (since the B/f4 will no longer be required to cover e5). If Black plays ... Nh6 with the idea of adding pressure to e5 with ... Nf7, White simply responds with Nf1-d3 [sic; Nc1-d3 is correct] ... The black King cannot retreat to h8 because that square is needed for the B/g7 in the line that begins with h5. Pawn moves are becoming equally disastrous. After ... a7-a5 White would play a4 sealing the queenside and removing a5 from the Queen's vision. ... c6-c5 permits Nxd5. ... d5-d4 permits Ne4. ... e7-e6 kills the B/c8 and permits White to play g4. ... Rf7 permits e6... Bh6 encourages Bg5 and g4... Bh8 permits White to play h5 because Black no longer has the h8 square for the R/f8. And given the dilemmas of the other queenside pieces, Black's R/a8 can get into the game only via a7, but even then it would have no future along the 7th rank unless Black gave the game away with ... e7-e6. "And so it goes. For the moment, Black's only playable idea is b5 and Na6. So that's why I should have considered 17. a4. If then, 17. ... a6 (with the idea of ... b5), White could then shut down everything with 18. a5 making even the N/b8 look silly." Quite a mouthful for one move, but that is the kind of depth good CC requires. I'm not sure famous OTB GM analysts such as Timman or Huebner could have done any better. The above is one of the lengthier examples, but not by much; it's not unusual to see Edwards devote half a page to a single move. It's a sort of advanced version of Chernev's classic Logical Chess Move by Move. As a result one gets a very thorough understanding of the games, of both their strategic elements and of specific tactical variations. It's not all depth and seriousness, though. The annotations are often spiced with humor, especially when Edwards is joined by his opponent. In the game Edwards-Guillot, after 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 Guillot writes "The Pirc/Modern is the perfect defense. It is fundamentally sound, and it offers the complexity within which an enterprising player can play to win." Edwards replies: "Sound for Black? Probably. Play to win? Harumph! ... I learned chess in a more classical age. ... 1. ... g6?! ... Kill!". Edwards also drops in delightfully apropos quotes; for example after playing the odd- looking 16... Nh8! in this position (See Diagram) White: Kg1, Qd2, Ra1, Rf1, Nd1, Nh4, Be3, Bg2; pawns - a2, b2, c3, d3, f4, g5, h3 Black: Kg8, Qb6, Rb8, Rf8, Nb5, Nf7, Bc8, Bg7; pawns - a7, a5, b4, c5, d6, e7, f5, h7 he cites Proverbs 2:19: "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house." When the Knight emerges several moves later he notes "For this thing was not done in a corner." (Romans 26:26). The short introductions for each chapter are well-written and often amusing. Edwards relates in one how he was asked by the producer of Searching for Bobby Fischer to find a game for use in the film, one fitting a very specific scenario of White losing his Queen early on but gradually fighting back and winning. Burning the midnight oil, he found several. The producer was supposedly thrilled, but three weeks later it was announced in the New York Times that after an extensive search no one in the world had found a suitable game. Edwards justifiably gripes "My guess is that to help further their publicity efforts, I wasn't supposed to find a game. I couldn't help but feel annoyed." Postal chess has been a productive laboratory for opening experimentation, both in terms of innovation and in testing various lines, sometimes to a final verdict of soundness or unsoundness. Some of that is in evidence here. Those with particular interests in the Benko Gambit, the English (Rubinstein variation), the French (Winawer, MacCutcheon, and several unusual lines), and especially the Kan Sicilian, will find much worthwhile. Edwards does not present any systematic exposition of his approach to postal chess, but one can still glean a fair number of practical tips on what it takes to reach CC's higher levels. A deep and wide variety of reference material is clearly a must. Edwards often notes how he found a certain opening line or key middlegame strategy by searching through back copies of Informant, New In Chess, Inside Chess, ECO, Tournament Chess, Schach Archiv, or the lamentably defunct Players' Chess News. One gets the distinct impression that a CC player without all or at least most of those sources is a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. Another important CC tool is the home computer, especially chess databases and their related software, which over the last ten years have had an impact on CC play comparable to what gunpowder or airplanes had on warfare. Edwards gives some information on his use of these, for example in a game beginning 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nge2 cd4 6. ed4 d5 7. a3 Be7 8. c5 b6 9. b4 a5 10. Na4 bc5 11. dc5 ab4 12. ab4 Nc6 13. Bd2 (TN) Ne4 14. Nb6? (See Diagram), he felt a sacrifice of some sort was possible, and describes using ChessBase to examine 200 similar Nimzo-Indian games for thematic shots. This research helped him find 14. ... Bxc5! 15. bc5 Qf6, 0-1. However, aside from a few other mentions of ChessBase and one of CB Motiv (apparently a search engine which finds games of a given pawn structure) there is surprisingly little on the subject. From Edwards, a computer and information science expert, a more extensive treatment was perhaps in order. Possibly, as a still active player, Jon is bit reluctant to reveal too many secrets. (A better, though still incomplete discussion of databases in CC, as well as a very good all-around examination of the correspondence game in full can be found in Tim Harding's Winning at Correspondence Chess, Henry Holt, 1996 - see The Chess Cafe Archives). However, the above omission is the book's only notable shortcoming. Both postal and OTB players will find in The Chess Analyst ample instruction and entertainment. We recommend it highly. [The Chess Analyst by Jonathan Edwards is available at The Chess Cafe Online Bookstore.]