Was it only about attacking the king, or did it also talk about static positional elements?
Can anyone recognize a book from a description only?
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It sounds so much like a reprint of Reinfeld's Attack & Counter Attack in Chess: 160 pages, American Author, uncited games and game fragments, etc. But, the reprint did not come out until 1986, so if you had it before that, it would have been the 1954 or 55 edition, which probably wouldn't have seemed new. This is what it looks like though:
May 1, 2013
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#5
It has got to be the first edition of John Walker's Attacking the King, Oxford University Press published 1976, 173 pages. Cadogan reprinted it in 1996, and I believe Harpercollins published a version in 1990.
Other books that came to mind are W.H. Cozen's The King-Hunt in Chess which came out in 1970, or Vladimir Vukovic's The Art of Attack in Chess which first came out in 1965.
May 1, 2013
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#6
It sounds a bit like The Art of Attack in Chess by Vukovic, as Riga mentioned.
Was it algebraic or descriptive, and how long ago were you a "wee lad"?
Well, strategy of attacking the king, The Art of Attacking in Chess by Vladmir Vukovic springs to mind. Not that I've actually read it, but that book is practically a classic in the area of attacking the king. Although I got the impression that it was for higher rated players (1600+?). And I seem to recall it being bigger than 200 pages. Do you remember the cover color or anything?
I see 2 other people beat me to it . . .
May 1, 2013
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#9
The King-Hunt was written by John Nunn, and that made quite a splash. There were excerpts in Chess Life and I think it may have won some awards.
May 1, 2013
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#10
The 1996 edition of The King-Hunt was based on William Cozens' original book with Nunn converting the notation to algebraic, and adding some new games.
ucraymond wrote:
- It seemed relatively new circa 1980. No old-fashioned language. Engagingly written, but not cutesy in the manner of the "For Dummies" books.
Basically rules out John Walker's Attacking the King, with it's Bobby and Mr. Woodpusher... throughout the whole thing it's set up as a dialogue between Bobby, Mr. Woodpusher, and a teacher. Very odd book:
There are also 1958, 1965, and 1972 versions of Reinfeld's Attack & Counter Attack in Chess from a different publisher that I see for sale, so there is a good possibility it was that book.
rigamagician wrote:
It has got to be the first edition of John Walker's Attacking the King, Oxford University Press published 1976, 173 pages. Cadogan reprinted it in 1996, and I believe Harpercollins published a version in 1990.
Other books that came to mind are W.H. Cozen's The King-Hunt in Chess which came out in 1970, or Vladimir Vukovic's The Art of Attack in Chess which first came out in 1965.
Bingo! (Oops, wrong game.) Looking at the description and the excerpt posted by M_Hassen, I am pretty sure that was it.
Apparently what a kid considers annoyingly cutesy is different than an adult. I confess to not remembering anything about Mr. Woodpusher. Just that the book was really illuminating given the level I was at.
Apparently Walker's books have some fierce adherents although they are relatively obscure. For example.
Another advocate says the Vucovic book is very similar in content to Walker's, though in an entirely different style, so that was a good guess too. Thanks to everyone for your guesses!
When I was a wee lad, I read a few books about chess. Some historical, some about openings, some about endgames. But the one I enjoyed the most was about strategy. Unfortunately, I only checked it out of the library, and I now have no idea what it was called or who it was by. I'm now (after decades) playing chess again. And I'm curious if the minds here can recognize that book from my vague description.
The thing that made this book so fun was that it was focused on how you develop an attack on the opposing king. Before I read it, I just tried to win by grabbing territory and avoiding mistakes, but reading this book gave me ideas about a positive approach to the game.
Other points:
- There was very little history in the book. There were a bunch of example games but I am guessing they were all made up.
- The book was definitely pitched at the lower-level player (though not at absolute beginners). Nobody was going to become a grandmaster by reading this.
- It wasn't tremendously long - I'd guess 200 pages.
- It seemed relatively new circa 1980. No old-fashioned language. Engagingly written, but not cutesy in the manner of the "For Dummies" books.
- It was probably by a single author. Most likely British, or perhaps American, though I could be wrong.
- I had the impression it was from a university press, perhaps Cambridge, but I don't actually see that they publish any chess books.
I realize this is incredibly vague, but does anyone have any nominations for what this might be? It might take a while for me to track down and recognize the book if you do, so thanks in advance for any ideas.