"Masterpieces of Attack: The Brilliant Games of GM Marcel Sisniega Campbell, by Gabriel Velasco, 1997 Chess Digest, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Softcover, 300pp., $19.95 Chances are that if you asked most chessplayers who Marcel Sisniega is, they would not be able to tell you. In fact, he is a Mexican grandmaster who, according to the author Gabriel Velasco, is the second or third strongest player ever from that country. His games are heralded as being "brilliant" and "works of art." Chess Digest has just released a collection of 663 games, enthusiastically put together and occasionally annotated by Velasco and others. The book is divided into four chapters: (1) Early Years (1973- 1975); (2) A Worthy Contender for the Title of World Junior Champion (1976-1978); (3) Striving Hard for the GM Title (1979- 1984); and (4) Caissa's Punishment: Years of Crisis, Disappointment and Retirement (1985-1993). Each chapter is introduced with a brief one or two page narrative summarizing the events the shaped the specific period of Sisniega's life and career. There is an enormous amount of material packed into these three hundred pages. Many games have brief introductory remarks, anecdotal or otherwise, about the game or its significance. These are quite interesting and informative. The games themselves are a mixture of unannotated, lightly annotated (by the author) and more heavily annotated (by Sisniega or others). Diagrams abound. However, the book does suffer from a number of deficiencies. The first problem with this book is the format. Much of the narrative text is set in what appears to be no more than eight-point type. This will make it very difficult to read for many people. The game moves are both in bold type and underlined. This is simply annoying. The underlining should have been omitted. Although the author concedes in the introduction that his English leaves something to be desired, that does not make many awkward phrases more acceptable. It appears that fewer manuscripts are seeing their way to editors these days before being published. More serious problems are posed by the failure of the author and/or the publisher to provide a table of contents, or, for that matter, any other road map to these "brilliant works of art." They may well be gems, but you will have to plow through the uncharted text to find these diamonds in the rough. Furthermore, the biographical material should have been assembled at the beginning of the book while some guidance to finding the extraordinary games should have been provided. Finally, we see here again what we shall call the "Cartier Syndrome" - an author who purports to contribute analysis (in this case game annotations and introductory material to many games) and yet whose identity and credentials are unknown to the reader. It should have been routine for the author and publisher to include a few paragraphs explaining who Velasco is and why we should read his book and annotations. A brief excerpt... Sisniega, M - Vilela, J.L [A35] Cienfuegos, 1979 Notes by G. Velasco G] 1 c4 c5 2 Nc3 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nxd4 Nc6 6 Nc2 Bxc3+?! [The Cuban IM tries to emulate one of Bobby Fischer's celebrated games (Quinteros- Fischer, Buenos 1970). The move might be good or not, but in that game it surely worked because Black was Bobby Fischer!] 7 bxc3 Qa5 8 Qd2 Nf6 9 f3 d6 10 e4 Bd7 11 Ne3 Rc8 12 Rb1 b6 13 Be2 Ne5 14 0-0 Be6 15 Rb5! Qa4 16 Rb4 Qc6 17 Nd5 Qc5+ l8 Khl Bxd5 19 cxd5 Qxc3 20 Bb5+ Ned7 21 Ra4 Qxd2 22 Bxd2 Rc7 23 Rc1! Rxc1+ 24 Rxc1 a5 25 Rc4 Kd8 26 Rc6 Nb8 27 Rxb6 Kc7 28 Be3 Nfd7 29 Bxd7! (White was enjoying the Bishop pair to be sure, but in chess one has to yield some advantages for the sake of other ones. White will presently win Black's a5 pawn and the rest will be sheer technique) 29...Nxd7 30 Ra6 Rb8 31 Rxa5 Rb1+ (White's technical procedure is going to be long and painstaking because his rook is favorably placed in front of his passed pawn). 32 Bgl Ne5 33 Ra7+ Kd8 34 h3 g5 35 Kh2 Rb2 36 Khl Rbl 37 a4 h5 38 a5 g4 39 Ra8+ Kd7 40 hxg4 hxg4 41 fxg4 Nxg4 42 a6 Nf2+ 43 Kh2 Ng4+ 44 Kg3 1-0 Sisniega won brilliant games against several of the world's top-level grandmasters, like Yusupov, Anand, Romanishin, Illescas, etc. In our next game GM Artur Yusupov is the victim of a typical K-side attack masterfully executed by Marcel Sisniega. Yusupov, A - Sisniega, M [D94] Cienfuegos, 1979 [Notes by Velasco, G] 1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 g6 3 e3 Bg7 4 d4 Nf6 5 Be2 0-0 6 0-0 cxd4 7 exd4 d5 8 Nc3 Nc6 9 Ne5!? Be6 10 cxd5 Nxd5 11 Nxc6 bxc6 12 Na4 Rb8 13 b3 Bf5! 14 Bb2 Qd6 15 Bg4 Bxg4 16 Qxg4 Qf4! 17 Qd7 Rfd8 18 Qxa7 Qg4 (followed by 19...Nf4) 19 h3 Qh4 20 Rae1 e6 21 Qc5 Nf4 22 Qxc6 Rd5 23 Bc1! Bxd4 24 Qc7 [24 Bxf4 Qxf4 25 Nc3 Rf5 26 Qe4] 24...Nxh3+! [This elegant sacrifice destroys the defenses around White's king] 25 gxh3 Rbb5 26 Qh2 Rf5 ( Followed by 27...Rf3-Rxh3) 27 Be3 [27 Rdl Rf3 (27... Ba7 25 Rd7! Unclear) 28.gxd4!] 27...Rf3 28 Kg2 [28 Bxd4? Rg5+ ( -+ )] (See Diagram) 28...Rxe3?! [Sisniega has conducted the attack with great vigor and energy, but now he missed a stronger continuation that would have brought about a quicker victory, namely: 28...Be5! This move was pointed out by IM Kenneth Frey, who kindly furnished the accompanying variations: (1) 29 Qxe5 Qxh3+ 30 Kg1 Rxe5 -+; (2) 29 Qg1 Rg3+ 30 fxg3 Qxg3+ 31 Khl Qxh3+ 32 Qh2 Qxh2#) 29...Rg3+ 30 fxg3 Qxg3# {This last note is exactly as it is the book. HWR}] 29 Rxe3 [29 fxe3? Be5 -+ ] 29...Bxe3 30 fxe3 Qe4+ 31 Rf3 Rg5+ 32 Qg3 [32 Kf2 Qc2+ 33 Kf1 Qxh2] 32...Rxg3+ 33 Kxg3 h5 34 Nb6 h4+ 35 Kg2 Qc2+ 36 Rf2 Qc6+ 0-1 The lack of any direction from the author makes this book a good deal more tedious to use and navigate than it should have been. If indeed we have a collection of games worth of respect and even awe, give us some help. Without it, the book is like a ship with presumably valuable cargo adrift at sea.