Power Chess: Great Grandmaster Battles from Russia, by Paul
Keres, Edited by Burt Hochberg, 1991 David McKay Co., Inc.,
English Algebraic Notation, Softcover, 281 pp., $14.00

The late 1960s and first half of the 1970s was one of the most
exciting and dynamic periods in the chess world. Fischer ended his
self-imposed exile from the game and re-emerged with a series of
tournament and match triumphs that culminated in his winning the
world title in 1972. New names began to appear in tournament
crosstables, names such as Timman, Mecking and Ljubojevic.

In the United States, the relatively small chess federation was about
to experience an upheaval that would result in an increase in
membership - of approximately tenfold - driven most by "Fischer
frenzy". The official magazine of the U.S. Chess Federation,
"Chess Life", would also undergo a startling transformation.

Under the guiding hand of its new editor, Burt Hochberg, it would
go from a small publication of uneven quality, never quite
appearing on time, to a major, world-class magazine with some of
the best known names in the chess world writing in its pages. One
of those writers was the Estonian (then Soviet) grandmaster Paul
Keres.

There has been much speculation, at The Chess Caf‚ and in other
chess journals, about Keres' relationship with Botvinnik,
particularly in the 1948 championship tournament. One thing is not
disputed by anyone, however: Keres was one of the greatest players
of his era, often called the greatest player never to become world
champion.

This world-class grandmaster was also a world-class annotator. As
Hochberg points out in his Introduction, "Keres had the rare ability
to make grandmaster chess comprehensible... A game annotated by
Keres is like an adventure story in which the connections between
all the characters and all the events can be clearly seen and
understood." In 1967, Hochberg was able to convince Keres to
write a regular column for Chess Life. When his first article
appeared in the January, 1968 issue of the magazine, Keres became
the first Soviet grandmaster to conduct a regular column in an
American chess magazine.

Power Chess is a collection of 22 of the most dramatic and
instructive chess struggles played in that period. These are divided
into three basic sections: Kingside Crushes, Middlegame
Masterpieces and Endgames under the Microscope. These are the
cream of the 40 articles by Keres that appeared in Chess Life.

Normally we would present, as part of a review, a complete game
with annotations, selected so that the reader can get a good feel for
the book. In this case, that approach is not practical. The
annotations are so deep and extensive that presenting even one
game would be much too long. Each game, however, is also
introduced by a brief narrative. Of particular interest is the one to
Game 13. Entitled "Inspiration or Preparation?", it features the
game Bronstein vs. Ljubojevic, an Alekhine's Defense from the
Interzonal Tournament held in Petropolis, 1973. It was written over
25 years ago...

If I were asked to name the most prolific modern grandmaster in
terms of innovative ideas, I would name neither Fischer, Spassky,
Larsen, nor Petrosian, but ... Bronstein!

I speak of new ideas and variations not only on the chessboard but
in many other aspects of the game as well. Among Bronstein's
myriad suggestions for making chess more lively and interesting
are: recording the time used for each move; allowing each player
half an hour to finish the game after the first time control; limiting
the time for an entire game to one hour; setting up national cup
competitions in the form of short matches (the first U.S.S.R. Cup
was held in 1970 and was won by Bronstein!); and many others.

His latest suggestion concerns world championship contests. We
already have the World Junior Championship, the World Student
Team Championship, men's and women's individual titles, men's
and women's team titles (the Olympiads) ... so why not the World
Senior Championship? asks Bronstein. His idea is to hold a
tournament to which would be invited all grandmasters over the
age of fifty who have participated in at least one Candidates'
tournament (or match). This proposal has its logic, and perhaps
FIDE will deal with it at one of its congresses.

But Bronstein's most interesting and valuable ideas are still
produced on the chessboard. I had the pleasure of watching him
play at the Interzonal tournament in Petropolis, where among his
many magnificent battles his brilliant game against Ljubo-jevic
deserves special mention. Bronstein's rook sacrifice on move
sixteen was a tremendous surprise, and during the game it took me
quite a while to find the point of it. No wonder this is considered
the most beautiful game of the tournament.

At the time I was not sure whether the sacrifice was an
improvisation or had been carefully prepared at home. I'm still not
sure. Up to move fourteen the players repeated a game between
Ljubojevic and Honfi at Cacak 1971. That game was a quick
victory for Ljubojevic, who played White. Here against Bron-stein
he was playing the same variation, but as Black, having in mind an
improvement on the fourteenth move. It is that improvement that
led to Bronstein's wonderful rook sacrifice two moves later.

Could it have been prepared by Bronstein at home? His sacrifice
recalls his famous game with Tal in Riga 1968 [Game 4 in this
volume]. He explained his rook sacrifice in that game by saying he
"could not miss the opportunity" to play such a move against Tal,
an opportunity he might never have again in his whole life.
Knowing Bronstein, it's my guess that his sacrifice in this game,
too, was an inspiration of the moment - to make the game more
interesting, more complicated, more distinct from other games.

In any case, it is a wonderful fighting game and one of the most
interesting grandmaster encounters of recent years...

If you belong to the "post-Fischer" chessplaying generation, it is
possible that you did not experience Keres' wonderful Chess Life
columns. Even if you are familiar with them, this collection will
stsill delight you. In short, Power Chess deserves to take its place
among the outstanding chess books of our time. Combining deep
analysis with interesting, insightful writing, it belongs on the
bookshelf of every chessplayer.