My (loosely) annotated list of annotated Games Collections-UPDATED

I have 5 new games collections to add to my list since the last time I did this in September of 2010.

A couple of the new collections even made it into my (very unscientific) top 5!

So here is the list:

23.   A First Book of Morphy by Frisco Del Rosario

My favorite whipping boy among game collections!  This book had risen a bit the last time I updated this list but this book is so BAD that I decided it needed to be last.   As I have stated before the annotations are boring, uninspired, and also uninformative.  This book almost put a premature end to my Chessic pursuits! “ A First Book of Morphy”  is most d efinitely a primer on how NOT to write an educational game collection.

22.  My Love Affair with Tchigorin by A.E. Santasiere

This book has great games BUT it is a horrible book of annotations. Why?--- Because there are virtually NO annotations to speak of.  The only reason I am keeping it is to use as a reference to easily find some of the better Tchigorin games.  Tchigorin was an interesting player.  He deserves a better collection!!! (hello Neil McDonald!!)

21.  First Match For The Chess Championship Of The World: Steinitz vs Zukertort 1886

This book is useless! Cool games but once   again the  annotations are completely useless!! The only reason the Tchigorin book was listed last was that it was a real book. This is more like a pamphlet and from an older time!

20.  Pillsbury the Extraordinary by Andrew Soltis and Ken Smith

Yet another book of lazy annotations!! Smith did the annotations. Soltis wrote a fairly decent autobiographical section. I liked reading through the games but Pillsbury is another player who deserves a really good book!   Soltis is unique in that he writes stuff that is either brilliant or utter crap!  Where OH where is the good games collection on Pillsbury! (hello again Neil McDonald!!)

19.  Fischer Vs. Spassky: World Chess Championship Match, 1972 by Gligoric

Okay book on the match.  Gligoric’s annotations are pretty good but he sometimes feels a little like a shill for Fischer.  But still a very interesting read.

 18.  Paul Keres: The Road to the Top by Paul Keres

Cool games but this WAS a disappointment! I loved Keres' book, Power Chess, (see below) and I had heard such great things about this book, so it is with a heavy heart that I give it a bad grade. Power Chess was really good so I was confident that Keres would really shine in a book on his own games! NOPE. Not as educational or as lucid as I hoped. I will read his later volume at some point. It hurts a bit to rank this so low BUT it wasn't that great.  (INSTANT EDIT--I have just begun the second book in this series and so far it is OUTSTANDING!  Keres came to annotate in his later games! If this form holds Keres' second volume will be place much higher than this volume!)

 17.  50 Essential Chess Lessons by Steve Giddins

A good book but I was not ready for it when I read it.   So therefore it gets a lower ranking then it really deserves. I want to reread this at some point.

16.  Kasparov-Kramnik by Nigel Davies and Andrew Martin

Nice book on the Kasparov-Kramnik World Championship match.  Davies annotates the games (and he does quite well especially considering a few of the games were unconscionably short draws).  Andrew Martin writes little introductions to each game “from site”.    A nice book that helped  me to dig Kramnik a lot more.

15.  Why Lasker Matters by Andrew Soltis

A very good games collections book.   Soltis gives some great anecdotal nuggets and is never afraid to take on the analysis of prior annotators.   I do think Lasker deserves a bit better than this book.  Don’t confuse this with a negative review.  It is a GOOD book , just not a great book.

14.  The Art of Planning in Chess by Neil McDonald

Really, really good games anthology with an educational bent.   It is not as good as his earlier work (seen later on this list) in his modern move by move series.  Some of the games in this book felt like McDonald was rushing to get the book to the printer.  Other games were the pure annotation gold that McDonald is always capable of.  I like McDonald…a LOT!

13. Power Chess by Paul Keres

This is a very good book. And it is very cheap on Amazon. Keres' annotations are very informative and insightful. This has a lot of great games in it. Not essential reading but recommended nonetheless.

12. Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur by Max Euwe and Walter Meiden

Excellent book! Most of you probably know this one. A very instructive book! The games are not the most scintillating but they ARE instructive! (nothing new to add here...an excellent book!)

11. Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking by Neil McDonald

SUPERB move by move annotated game collection! The games are GREAT and McDonald's annotations are both entertaining AND instructive! I can’t recommend this book enough!!

10. Best Lessons of A Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry

I LOVE this book! I wish all instructional anthologies could be this well written. The FM at my local chess club recommended it to me and WOW was he dead on. One of the few books I want to read again.

9. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer

I LOVED this book! The games are beyond fascinating but over my head, yet that does not diminish how much I loved playing through them. Fischer's annotations are AMAZING when you use them for comparative analysis for your own or others' games. The only reason I don't have this higher on the list is that Fischer's annotations are not the most fun to read through when just playing through the game. This book is borderline indispensible!! And let's face it, Fischer's games rock!!

8. The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev

Excellent collection of a wide variety of games all selected with an education purpose.  Chernev is great…the only one close to him today in the educational annotation ballgame is Neil McDonald.

7. Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev

I love Chernev and after this book I fell in love with Capablanca's artistry at the board. This is one of the few game collections that had an immediate impact on my actual OTB play. I need more Capablanca games in my life!! (Chernev does get carried away sometimes in his adoration for Capablanca but I still love the book. In fact, if Del Rosario had showed an ounce of Chernev's passion I might not beat up on his Morphy book so much!)

 6. 300 Chess Games by Seigbert Tarrasch

Tarrasch was dogmatic, arrogant and fun as hell to read!! His games are a mish mash of attacking chess, positional chess and sometimes even boring chess. His annotations are surprisingly objective and VERY instructive. Great book!!

5.  Chess Praxis by Aron Nimzowitsch

What a FUN book to read through.  Nimzo’s games were rather adventurous!  His annotations are usually good and often great.  And each section has a little intro that gives an idea of the strategic theme he is trying to highlight.  Wonderful collection!

4.  My Fifty Years of Chess by Frank J. Marshall

This book was a surprise to me! I was so used to seeing Marshall get rolled by the other great players of his day that I was never interested in his own games collection. Was I wrong!! These games are SUPER fun to play through. Marshall's annotations are good but not great. He is not as self-deprecating and objective as Tarrasch. Marshall sometimes seems like he is trying to prove something. All that being said, these games are a hoot to play through.

3.  Tal-Botvinnik: 1960 by Mikhail Tal

All chess writers should take a lesson from Tal on how to write a games collection. This book has it all! Great games? Yep! Concrete variations in the Analysis? Yep! Clear verbal explanations? Yep! Details about the psychological aspects of the match? Yep! Opening plans? Yep! Some of the driest and funniest writing in any games collection you will ever see? YEP! 'nuff Said! If you like chess you will most likely love this book.

2.  Selected Games by Victor Bologan

A truly wonderful games collection written by a great player!  Great modern games!  Great annotations!  Lessons to be learned are listed at the end of each game!  And some great biographical information as well.  Bologan’s book is truly awesome.  I can’t recommend it enough. Was a strong contender to bump Chernev from the #1 spot!

And finally, still holding  at #1 (although Bologan was putting fierce pressure on this number 1 spot!):

1. Logical Chess: Move By Move by Irving Chernev

This might be might nostalgia speaking but this WAS the first games collection I read through and it was the one that lit my fire to learn and explore this game of chess. Chernev's love for the game is palpable! And he is not as rule oriented as he is made out to be. More than once in the book he reminds people that the position on the board is more important than any rule he or anyone else may try to set down as law! Whenever I think about this book I can still recall the excitement that I was feeling as I read through each and every game. This book started my love affair with the game so it must STILL be first on my list!

 So there is my updated list!  I was surprised by how much fun Nimzo's games were to play through!  I almost placed it higher than Marshal's collection which also surprised me.

Any thoughts, disagreements,, suggestions??

(as an aside I have found the only games collection books I don't like reading through are tournament books...and I am not sure why?!?)

Have a good one!