Victor Bologan: Selected Games 1985-2004

En sjelden samling av verbalt svært godt kommenterte partier av en av dagens superstormestere. Her er 52 instruktive partier og historien om dem, og verdifullt er det at Bologan avrunder hvert parti med en liste over leksjoner å lære av dette partiet.

Moldoveren Viktor Bologan (født 1971) har tilhørt den nesten ypperste verdenseliten siden før midten av 90-tallet. Han vant bl.a. Dortmund-turneringen i 2003: Bologan 6 1/2, Anand og Kramnik 5 1/2, Radjabov 5, Leko 4 og Najditsch 3 1/2.

Det siste partiet i boka er seieren mot Magnus Carlsen i det spanske lagmesterskapet i 2004, med et lekkert avslutningstrekk.

Fra Garry Kasparovs forord:

"This is a book that ought to be read by every chessplayer who is serious about continuing to mature as a player ... This book contains games with many different types of plans, beginning with the most varied kinds of openings. Today, it's the fashion to expand ones opening repertoire, incorporating different sometimes structurally contradictory openings; this book will give you advice, usually from the author's perspective, on how to choose an opening. The author talks about the method he used to make his choices, and about the concrete philosophy standing behind each decision. These could be elements of chess psychology relating to a specific opponent, or perhaps changes in creative attitudes stemming from work with different trainers. Or it could be just following the current fashion in chess for every chessplayer, even the most creative, is obliged to study the development of chess thinking, and try to keep up, to stay always on the cutting edge of contemporary chess developments. And here too, in practically every game, one may find general recommendations, 'fine-tuned' to the concrete particulars of each position. I find this sort of advice to be the most valuable, because general advice that is not illustrated by a concrete example loses the greater part of its practical value."

236 sider.