"Samuel Reshevsky: A Compendium of 1768 Games with
Diagrams, Crosstables, Some Annotations, and Indexes" by
Stephen W. Gordon, 1997 McFarland & Co., Hardcover, English
Figurine Notation, 406pp., $65.00

The American Grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky was one of the
great players in the history of the game. His passing in 1992
marked the end of an era in American chess. During the last ten or
twelve years of his life, this reviewer was fortunate enough to be
counted among the few in Reshevsky's inner circle.

When we first learned of author Stephen Gordon's goal to collect
and publish all the games of Reshevsky, we were both impressed
and skeptical. After all, his career spanned eight decades, and he
was active almost to the end. Well, the product of Gordon's labor
has finally appeared and it is a mixed-bag.

Gordon is a U.S. National Master living in Utah. Readers may be
familiar with a monograph penned by him a few years ago entitled
"The Lisitsin Gambit" which was published by Chess Digest. It is
clear from the author's introduction and other comments
throughout the book that he holds Reshevsky in very high regard;
it is almost reverence in fact. Although this colors his objectivity, it
does not prevent him from being critical when necessary.

The book is divided into eight main chapters, each devoted to a
decade, beginning with the 1920s and ending with the 1990s. The
chapters contain all the games that the author could find played by
Reshevsky in that decade. These games include simultaneous
exhibitions, national and international tournaments and matches.
Some of the games are annotated. (Although the annotator is listed,
the author never indicates where the annotations originally
appeared and if permission was obtained to reprint them).
Diagrams and crosstables are also included. The introduction to
each chapter presents biographical and other relevant material to
put the section into perspective. As described by the author...

"The bulk of this book is, of course, devoted to the games. But,
chess is more than just the moves played at the board. For this
reason a brief overview of Reshevsky's career is presented decade
by decade. While not forming a complete biography, these
overviews do provide the context in which the games were played.
Reshevsky took part in some of the most famous and important
events ever held in the history of chess. These events shaped the
nature of modern chess, and often reflected events in the world at
large. Reshevsky acted in these events and at times was acted on
by them."

This makes for good reading, although the emphasis the author
places (or fails to place) on certain events is curious. For example,
the significance and tension surrounding the game played against
Fine in the 1938 U.S. Championship is not mentioned at all. A win
would have given Fine the title and indeed he had Sam completely
busted out of the opening. The reader will have to consult Soltis'
recent book (second edition) to get the full story.

At any rate, on its face, this book appears to be quite an
accomplishment - almost 1800 games, immense biographical
information and the record of a stellar career spanning eight
decades all reflect hard work and research. The problem is the
price and the format. It has a coffee-table book look and price
about it. The suggested retail price of this book is $65. And with a
12" x 9" size, it is hardly very convenient to use to play through a
game. When spending $65 for a hardcover book, one might expect
high quality paper and an abundance of photographs. Not so here.
The paper is just average, and there are no photographs at all.

What could have been done? A practical publish approach,
eliminating the hardcover and reformatting the text could have
preserved all the advantages of this book and reduced the price by
at least fifteen dollars. As it is, this is probably a book that only
more affluent chess historians will acquire. Too bad, as Gordon,
and Reshevsky, deserved better.