Vukovic Chess
In Libman
Vuković edited the monthly chess magazine Šahovski Glasnik (Chess Journal), the official periodical of the Yugoslavian chess federation.[8]He is the author of The Art of Attack in Chess (Oxford-London 1963),[9] which is widely regarded as a classic of chess literature.[10][11][12] Other books he wrote include Razvoj šahovskih ideja [The development of chess ideas] (Zagreb 1928) and The Chess Sacrifice (London-New York 1968).
The title of the the book under review at the moment is somewhat deceptive. While Art Of Attack In Chess is, indeed, about attacking play in chess, it is specifically about attacking the opponent's castled King. That's it. Almost the entire 350 pages of it!
At first this may seem a bit improbable. However, as I progressed through the book, it was clear that the author, Vladimir Vukovic, was drawing me into to a treatise of precision and depth, the likes of which I have not previously read, at least as far as chess literature is concerned. That may sound daunting, but Art Of Attack is actually an amazing work to read. The chapters elucidate the minutiae of the attack on the King, leaving no stone unturned, and yet each follows logically from the previous, slowly binding all the concepts into a cohesive whole. It is sometimes the case that Vukovic leaves issues incomplete when they are only tangential to the current chapter, but he returns to them in later chapters when the previously hanging topic is more relevant, and then all questions are answered.
The signal to noise ratio in Art Of Attack is very high, and therefore the information is very densely packed. Occasionally Vukovic will comment that he has eliminated some variations from his examples for brevity or clarity, but with how intensely he covers each example with myriad variations, it is hard to believe he left anything out.
Admittedly, Vukovic drew on the analyses of those that came before him, but the author has clearly toiled long and hard to add his own analyses and interpretations of games. And in the copy that I own, John Nunn adds his own commentary and corrections to the original Vukovic text. Nunn clearly did not just mechanically convert the old text to algebraic form. He has devoted considerable energy into giving this book the attention to detail and respect that it deserves.
Great. So, it's intense but readable, but what's in it?
A large part of Art Of Attack is devoted to what Vukovic considers to be the preconditions necessary for an attack against the castled king to proceed. Among these are the attacker's control of the center, prevention of counterplay on the side of the board opposite the opponent's castled king, proper posting of the attacker's pieces, and a weakening of the castled King's defenses. It is also important that the would-be attacker not commit to the attack until all the preconditions are met, and Vukovic writes at some length, with examples, about what happens when the attack begins too early or too late. Too early and the attack will fizzle, while if the attack begins to late, the attacker may have missed his window of opportunity.
Along the way, the author touches on subjects that are related to the attack on the castled King, but are useful bits of knowledge in their own right. There is a substantial discussion about castling itself: the correct time to castle, on which side of the board to castle, and under what conditions it is appropriate not to castle. The comparison between kingside castling and queenside castling is very instructive.
On my first read through any chess book, I sit in front of a chess board and play through all the main lines, and occasionally play through variations when they seem particularly interesting. That's what I did with Art Of Attack In Chess, however I played through many more variations than I would with most books and yet I left many enticing variants for later reads - otherwise I'd never get to write this review! In truth, I generally learn most effectively buy working my way through a book from front to back, understanding the main points of the text, and then returning to the book a few months later to absorb the details. This book will definitely warrant fine comb treatment in the near future.
I normally study books while at a proper wooden chess board, but I suggest that a digital chess board may be more appropriate. Trying to keep track of all the variations, even in a single example, is a lot of work. Let your computer help you out for a change!
Now we come to the question of who should read this book. Art Of Attack In Chess is certainly readable by anyone of reasonable intelligence, but there is a certain amount of experience required to understand the information well enough for it to be useful. If you are still working on basic tactics and haven't yet learned a reasonable amount of positional play, this book isn't for you. If, on the other hand, you meet those two requirements, I think you should be able to gain a considerable amount of useful information from Vukovic, and with concerted effort applied to each topic in this book you will be repaid with improvement in your game for a long, long time.
So, there you have it: a very dense book, but far from impervious to best efforts. I'm putting it into rotation as one of my go-to books for study.
As always, I'm Stick, your resident wordslinger, and I'll see y'all out there on the gridiron!
We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements.
If you agree, we'll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie notice. Your choice applies to using first-party and third-party advertising cookies on this service. Cookies store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Click "Decline" to reject, or "Customise" to make more detailed advertising choices, or learn more. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy notice.
One of the finest chess books ever written, now in the revised algebraic edition. The author expounds both the basic principles and the most complex forms of attack on the king. A study of this masterpiece will add power and brilliance to any chess enthusiast's play.
Welcome to our rare and antiquarian online bookshop! The books on this site are NOT the books on the shelves at our brick and mortar bookshop in downtown Carrollton, but our uncommon offerings housed at our off-site online office.
London: Cadogan, 1999.
Paperback. 8 1/4" X 5 3/4". 352pp. Mild wear to pictorial wraps wtih rubbing to covers and light creasing to edges. Spots of soiling to edges of text block. Price sticker to rear cover and inside of rear cover. Pages are clean and unmarked. Binding is sound.
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
One of the finest chess books ever written, the Art of Attack has been transcribed into algebraic notation for the first time. In this revised edition of the great classic, the author expounds both the basic principles and the most complex forms of attack on the king. A study of this masterpiece will add power and brilliance to any chess enthusiast's play.(Publisher). Good +. Item #7249
ISBN: 1857444000
The Chess Tempo Chess Database provides over two million searchable chess games. The database can be searched via many criteria, including chess players, chess opening, player ratings, game result, and the year the chess game was played. Chess opening statistics can been viewed on the display to the right of the board. To search the chess database, either enter your criteria into the quick search box or use the advanced search by clicking on the advanced search label. To see the chess games in the database for the current position, click on the "Games for Position" tab. You can start from any position by using the paste FEN/moves button directly below the chess board. By default, the database only shows chess games where both players were rated over 2200, you can change the database subset using the database selector at the top of the page.
In this revised edition of the great classic, which has been transcribed into algebraic notation, Vladimir Vukovic expounds both the basic principles and the most complex forms of attack on the king.
In this attacking bible, Vukovic first reveals how to spot the preconditions necessary to launch an attack. Vukovic then goes deep into the timing of an assault - when to launch it, when not - and discusses when it's safe to castle.
It's a book for every chess player and covers a range of topics:
Vukovic edited the monthly chess magazine Sahovski Glasnik, the official periodical of the Yugoslavian chess federation. He is the author of "Der Rochadeangriff", which was translated into English as "The Art of Attack in Chess" (1963), which is widely regarded as a classic of chess literature. Other books he wrote include Razvoj sahovskih ideja (Zagreb 1928)
Media Mail shipping from the US Postal Service is the cost-effective way to ship Books, Software and DVDs. With shipping rates starting at only $5.00, it's the most affordable shipping method available.
I am one of many. I am an amateur chess player trying to improve, but I have limited time because of, well, life and stuff. If you can identify with this description, then this site is for you. On the site I post book reviews, game analyses and tips for chess improvement and training. I am also proud to be a founding member of the #chesspunks community.
64591212e2