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Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44
by Vladimir Kramnik & Iakov Damsky
Everyman, 272 pages, £17.99
Any book of Kramnik's games was
always going to be welcomed and now even more so in view of his forthcoming
World Championship match, and indeed Kramnik and Damsky do not disappoint.
Damsky has written the biographical side of this work as well as annotating some of the more lightly annotated games. The opening chapter, 'An Unusual Childhood', provides much interesting reading, whilst readers will quickly realise from both his childhood and games just how naturally talented Kramnik is. 'A Vertical Take-off' takes over Kramnik's story, starting with his phenomenal 8.5/9 at the 1992 Manila Olympiad, when Kramnik burst onto the international chess scene, up until the Las Vegas FIDE World Championship of last year. Here Kramnik annotates more games, whilst there are many interesting quotes from Kramnik himself embedded in Damsky's text, which reveal much about Kramnik the man and player. Kramnik's ability at blindfold and rapidplay is just as good as in normal play, and this is very much evident in 'The Spirit of Time', where he continues to create beautiful strategic masterpieces as well as some delightful sacrificial attacks.
More than half of this work features Kramnik's selected games, chosen and annotated by the man himself. These 54 games are the real core of this work; not only are they clearly annotated but are also of amazing quality and will entertain and instruct readers for months. Kramnik's choice of openings is fairly wide and features many original ideas which should further inspire readers. Even though this book was translated by Ken Neat, the English is often stilted but this does not really detract too much from this work. The layout is very clear throughout, whilst the front cover beats your average chess book front cover hands down. There is a photograph of Kramnik, deep in thought, with his glasses reflecting the board. The very artistic front cover sets a high standard which the rest of the work maintains. This work of Kramnik's continues the high standard of best games collections by the top players. Kramnik's annotations are clear whilst his beautiful games should provide readers with much enjoyment. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Richard Palliser