John Donaldson's *Bobby Fischer and His World*
I was offered a review copy of IM John Donaldson's massive new book (645 pages!), Bobby Fischer and His World, but declined. It's not that I'm uninterested - it's a book I'm very likely to purchase - but because I didn't want to commit to reading the whole thing as a precondition of writing a proper review.
So, this is not a review, but an FYI and a recommendation. I've read other works by Donaldson and he is, if nothing else, a diligent researcher, and I would be very surprised if this work doesn't break plenty of new ground compared to Frank Brady's Profile of a Prodigy (originally published in 1973, I think) and Endgame (published in 2011 and reviewed by yours truly, here).
In addition to the biographical narrative, there are over 100 pictures and 99 annotated games*, so there's a bit - or rather, a lot - of everything, and the book is very reasonably priced for its size. The Amazon page is here, and although there's no "Look Inside" for the book, New In Chess has an excerpt here. You'll also get a nice sense of the book from this interview Donaldson did with Jesse Kraai shortly before the book's publication. In short, if you're not already overly repulsed by Fischer, or glutted with books on the man, Donaldson't book is almost certainly one that any fan of chess history will want. But, once again, I'm saying this based on what I think about Donaldson's previous work, and not based on first-hand experience with the product itself, so caveat emptor (and see below). If any of you already have the book and would like to chime in, that would be appreciated.
* In the NIC excerpt, the first game of the Fischer-Larsen Candidates match is given and numbered, as if it's one of the 99, but there are no notes. So if someone has the book could please confirm or disconfirm the publisher's "99 annotated games" claim that would be appreciated.
Reader Comments (1)
The Fischer-Larsen Match Game 1 (July 6, 1971) is technically not annotated, although the text right before the game refers to 19.f5! from the game (thus one can claim annotation). Most games (99 in total) are very deeply annotated. Some games have only brief notes at critical moments (e.g. a sealed move in Spassky-Fischer 1972 (13).
I haven't gotten very far into the book yet. I have read the first 5 chapters of Part 1 (there are 9 Parts, with approximately 5-8 chapters each!). But, what I have read is very enjoyable. It's unlike any Fischer book I've read before. Deeply researched by IM Donaldson, with lots of historical context. It reminds me of how Kasparov presented his Great Predecessors; a chapter on a given Predecessor would have information on the top opponents of the Predecessor. So, too, here, as we get a bit of discussion on Larry Remlinger, Ron Gross, Charles Kalme, and other top players that were Fischer's early sparring partners. Originally from California, I also enjoy all the stories and photos relating to Jeremy Silman, Yasser Seirawan, Viktors Pupols, etc. Some fresh stories where Donaldson has clearly researched all the old tales and opines on what likely happened, given the historical record.
Really looking forward to spending some time with this book (a long time!).
[DM: Thanks, Allen. Maybe you can write a review of it for the website. Are you game?]