Chess Secrets: The Giants of Power Play

Neil McDonald is write up there with Jeremy Silman in terms of his ability to educate amateurs without confusing them with tons of ridiculous variations....The book is clear and concise. Excellent idea for a book and excellent execution!

Simply amazing! Packed with knowledge and tips. Great games.

Grandmaster Neil McDonald is my favorite current chess writer, so buying this book was a no-brainer for me. And I wasn't disappointed! What a wonderful collection of brilliant games, lucidly explained in an engaging style. Unlike some grandmaster-writers, GM McDonald is not pedantic nor does he analyze a game to death. He also provides many interesting anecdotes surrounding the games and the players. Mr. McDonald is not only an astute game collector and excellent analyst, but he is also just a damn good writer! He has published two books in this series of Chess Secrets. Each, in my experience, represents a rather unique approach to a game collection. Game collections usually meet one of these formats: the one-player collection, the just-about-everybody collection, the tournament or match collection, and the special-type-of-game collection (miniatures, king hunts, etc.) Here, Mr. McDonald has gathered the games of just five players who played from the 1850's to the 2000's whose common link is their skill at the power play. It's hard to imagine that these players, so far apart in time, could share similar playing techniques and yet they do! I was familiar with the games of Morphy and Alekhine but McDonald gave me a fresh look at their games. (He offers, by the way, an interesting take on the Great Upset, how Alekhine defeated Capablanca.) I was less familiar with the games of Bronstein, Geller or the new kid on the block, Topolov. But their games, like the games of Morphy and Alekhine, were wonderfully skillful and instructive! In my opinion, this book and the other in the series are destined to be classics of chess literature.[BUT BE AWARE: this is not a book for the chessplayer who is unfamiliar with chess literature, that is, with chess notation or chess techniques and concepts. If you (or maybe a giftee) don't know how to play d4 or h6, or you don't know why a pawn would be backward, what a 7th rank is, or what it means to be in zugszwang, then this book is not for you or your giftee.] IN SUM, THIS IS A SUPERB COLLECTION OF CHESS GAMES THAT DESERVES TO BE ON EVERY CHESS FAN'S BOOKSHELF. Thank you, Mr. Mcdonald, for a job well done.

This is a wonderful book. As far as I know this is the first book ever to create a sort of theory of dynamism. But first to the physical aspects. It is 239 pages long, which is above average, and has a nice floppy feel to it. The cover is straight forward (not some of those frankly embarrassing gambit ones), and it overall looks nice. But the content is what matters, so let's get started! McDonald begins with a definition: Power Play is made up of preparation, psychology and dynamism. He goes on to describe specific features associated with Power Play, including playing aggressively with black, threats to the opponents king and playing the man, not the board. However, McDonald does not split the book equally into his 3 sections, rather he focuses a lot on dynamism (a good choice in my opinion. Preparation and psychology often have old examples rehashed again and again because they are rather rare in top-level chess. Actually Reti-Alekhine is one old example of psychology, but McDonald says that rather than Reti simply not wanting to concede to a draw with Bh1, Alekhine wrongly claimed a draw by 3-move repetition). The content itself is wild and exciting, showing vicious attacking play, subtle queen moves, and the importance of maintaining dynamism. One of my favorite games is Bronstein-Botvinnik 1951. Bronstein gains a slightly better position in which he has a queenside attack. He moves his rooks to the a-file while Botvinnik places his knight on e4. In response to this Bronstein plays a seemingly illogical move, moving Bd2-Be1. This seems odd (as black clearly would not trade his strong knight for a bad bishop, would he?) but McDonald points out that by avoiding the piece exchange, white waits for the position to open up and eventually this bishop play a role in attacking black's king. "This is perhaps Bronstein's best game: he shows enormous strategic vision in combining pressure on the queenside with action in the centre and on the kingside. Not many players succeeded in outwitting Botvinnik in a positional struggle. The World Champion's sins - namely the avoidance of key exchanges - were dealt with in ruthless style." writes McDonald with wonderful insight. It is these kind of games that make us want to play chess: so much complexity, so much creativity, that even the World Champion failed to penetrate the secrets of the position. This isn't all. So many fascinating and creative games are shown in this book, so many interesting ideas, it really makes you want to play some chess.

This book covers games that embrace the dynamic element of chess. Many of the games feature moves that seek to open lines in order to increase the energy of the pieces. Over and over the concept of pieces and pawns working together is emphasized.The book consists of 10 chapters devoted to the games of Morphy, Geller, Alekhine, Topalov, and Bronstein. Each chapter consists of some unique theme - preparation, usage of pawns to blast open lines, Alekhine's unique placement of the queen on the third rank and many other interesting ideas. Overall 88 games are covered and I think the author once again seeks to emphasize ideas and concepts over tons of analysis. Thus this book is great for anyone over 1500 (USCF).If you ever wanted to review games that display active piece play or dynamics, this book is for you. I'll think you will end up with an understanding that a lot chess strategy involves playing actively or improving the activity of one's pieces.

Muito boa as análises do livro.

Excellent series well worth the money. An updated replacement for Chernev's Move by Move best seller for the modern player. Highly recommended!

Great book ! Like all Neil McDonald books , this book is easy to read , very clear and didactic. The great way of learning strategy and tactics. Thanks Neil !! Keep writing please.