Ivanchuk move by move

For sjakkspillet og sjakkelskerne er det naturlig og gledelig med en ny grundig bok med Ivanchuk og 40 av de mest minneverdige partiene hans. Forfatteren er blant dem som mener at ingen i verden spiller bedre sjakk enn Ivanchuk i god form.

I en datamaskinalder for sjakken er det mildt sagt forfriskende med en ekstrem menneskelig begavelse og søken som hos denne spilleren. Denne store boka inneholder også en del interessant biografisk stoff, og blant annet god innsikt i mange ulike sjakkåpninger.

Fra innledningen i boka:

All-round player Our hero is an all-round chess player, strong in all aspects of the game – equally at home in opening theory, positional mano euvring, strategic play, taking the opponents’ psyche into consideration, and landing tactical punches; he has powerful endgame technique and pos- sesses a relentless will to win. Although he has fallen short at the very highest level due, it is generally assumed, to his nerves or mood swings, that really has nothing to do with an instructional book on dissecting the type of powerful chess he plays. Indeed, Ivanchuk has been widely regarded as a genius. His own honest assessment of the “genius” tag was that sometimes it motivates him to work harder at chess, and yet it can make him complacent and lose objectivity, especially when he suffe rs defeats, preventing him from being able to recover and adjust quickly. Ivanchuk himself admitted that nervous te nsion can get to him, especially “in the time between games, the wa iting, the butterflies in the stomach, expec- tations and nerves” ( Chess in Translation website).

Logic, clarity and quality of play Ivanchuk’s play is highly logi cal and has a distinct clarity in the ideas he formulates and realizes, especially if one puts in the effort to study them earnestly. My personal opinion is that the masterpieces that Ivanchuk produce s are of the highest quality (humanly) possi- ble. Do not just take my word for it. This is what his contemporary, GM Boris Gelfand (the 2013 World Cup Champion) thinks of him – when Gelfand was queried on the composition of the world’s elite players, he commented: “W ho plays better, Ivanchuk in good form or Carlsen? It seems to me, it’s Ivanchuk in good form.” Garry Kasparov considers Ivanchuk a “first class chess player”, in a “caste” ahead of Gelfand, Topalov and even Aronian. The ra- tionale Kasparov proffered was that Ivanchuk has overtaken the world’s best (such as Kas- parov and Karpov) in major elite tournaments.

Practical strength Ivanchuk might have missed the mark on the biggest chess trophy possible – at the FIDE World Championships in 2002, he faltered at the last, losing in the final to his compatriot GM Ruslan Ponomariov. However, in the elite events such as Linares, Wijk aan Zee, Tal Memorial, M-Tel Masters, he had finished conv incingly ahead of the world’s best. In par- ticular, he has won Linares three times ( 1989, 1991 and 1995) and tied for first in the 2009 edition (second to Grischuk on tie-break) and in the Amber tournament 2010 (overall) with Magnus Carlsen. He won the 2004 European Cham pionship title too, as well as the World Team Championships twice (with Ukraine) and the Olympiad four times ...

Forlagets egen omtale:

Vassily Ivanchuk has been one of the World's leading chess players for over two decades.

He announced his arrival as a 21-year-old when he defeated Garry Kasparov on the way to winning the Linares Super-Grandmaster event. In a distinguished career he has won countless elite tournaments and was a FIDE World Championship finalist.

Ivanchuk is considered by many contemporaries to be a chess genius, and he has acquired a huge fan base that delights in his enterprising and creative play.

His original style has helped to create games full of brilliant attacking chess and masterful strategy.

In this book, Junior Tay invites you to join him in a study of his favourite Ivanchuk games, and shows us how we can all improve by learning from Ivanchuk's masterpieces.

Move by Move provides an ideal platform to study chess. By continually challenging the reader to answer probing questions throughout the book, the Move by Move format greatly encourages the learning and practising of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of knowledge.

Carefully selected questions and answers are designed to keep you actively involved and allow you to monitor your progress as you learn. This is an excellent way to improve your chess skills and knowledge.

Junior Tay is a FIDE Candidate Master and an ICCF Senior International Master. He's a former Singapore Rapidplay Chess Champion and has represented Singapore in numerous international events, including the Asian Team Championship.