BCF Book of the Year 2006

Go back to the Awards page

Ray Edwards presenting the 2006 ECF Book of the Year award to Allard Hoogland on behalf of GC Van Perlo for his book Endgame Tactics.
Photograph by John Saunders

Last update: Monday October 1, 2007 11:55

English Chess Federation Book of the Year 2006

The choice came down to two books this year. Garry Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors V which covered Korchnoi and Karpov was excluded as the title matches between Kasparov and Karpov had been omitted – surely of the essence in assessing Karpov’s career - since these epic contests will be covered in a later volume. However Kasparov’s mammoth series has set new standards for writing about chess history.

All Rowson’s writings are interesting and readable and this book is no exception. Rowson uses his formidable academic erudition to explore in depth various aspects of chess playing and thinking. The chess content is remarkable for Rowson’s honesty in analysing the strengths and weaknesses of his games. This is a book that is simultaneously challenging, stimulating, instructive and guaranteed to make any reader think about how he plays the game.

None the less the choice fell upon a totally different type of book, one which has not featured in the Book of the Year before, even though it is a popular genre.

Collections of game positions for solving or instruction are not uncommon. Unfortunately many are computer generated with cursory instruction or comment added. This is emphatically not the case here. Van Perlo is a Dutch correspondence grandmaster who collected over a period of 30 years tactical end games that appealed to him. He cast his net wide and most of the 1105(!) positions were unknown to the judges. Van Perlo had a good chess eye for attractive situations and wrote about them in a humorous and entertaining manner. Above all he writes with wicked glee about the changes in fortune that lie in wait on the board for all players.

The New in Chess team has edited and organised the material so that there is considerable instructional content in the book. But the winning factor for the judges was the sheer entertainment value - a rare commodity in the chess world these days.

Short List

Our choice this year features two books where the quality of the writing is the distinguishing feature of the book. The other two books are first, the final volume in the best and most comprehensive chess history ever written and secondly one of the most entertaining books the judges have seen in years.

Chess for Zebras Jonathan Rowson (Gambit) pp 255 £17.99

Three times British Champion, Rowson is a skilled writer and deliberately chose a startling title to catch the reader’s attention. Using his formidable academic erudition Rowson explores in depth various aspects of chess playing and thinking. This is a book that is simultaneously challenging, stimulating, instructive and interesting.

In the fifth and final volume of his epic series on the world champions and their challengers, Kasparov considers just two players, Victor the Terrible (Korchnoi) and Anatoly the Twelfth (Karpov). As before the book is authoritative and comprehensive and particularly good on the three matches played between Korchnoi and Karpov. He clearly respects not only their chess talent but also their formidable, practical playing strength and resilience.

The Dutch grandmaster (1927-1988) was a chess writer, annotator, reporter and journalist famous for his humour, wit, irreverence and self mockery. The New in Chess team have collected all Donner’s lifetime writings to Dutch chess magazines and news papers. All chess life (and much else) is covered in Donner’s inimitable style. It is no wonder that an eminent chess editor chose The King as his “desert island” book.

Dutch correspondence grandmaster collected over 30 years tactical endgame positions that appealed to him. Von Perlo had a good chess eye, but above all he relishes and writes with wicked glee about the various misfortunes lying in wait for an unsuspecting player. The 1105(!) positions have been collated and edited by the New in Chess team. The result: great chess entertainment.